The probiotic known as Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 has been shown to normalize anxiety-like behavior in mice with infectious colitis.

A study found that chronic colitis was associated with anxiety-like behavior.  Treatment with B. longum was found to reduce the symptoms, and to also positively affect hippocampal brain derived neurotrophic factor.

According to the study, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“As B. longum decreases excitability of enteric neurons, it may signal to the central nervous system by activating vagal pathways at the level of the enteric nervous system.”

A new study indicates that probiotics (“good” bacteria) may be able to lower levels of inflammation in your body.  This could potentially benefit patients who have inflammatory diseases such as ulcerative colitis.

Inflammation helps your body fight off infection, but persistent, high levels of inflammation can damage tissues. Inflammation is thought to play a role in illnesses such as ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

According to MSNBC:

“In the new study, patients with one of these conditions who took the probiotic bacteria B. infantis for eight weeks had lower levels of inflammation … The results suggest that probiotics may lower levels of inflammation, regardless of the affliction”.

Both gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and cow’s milk allergy (CMA) are conditions that commonly occur in infancy. A recent study looked at the relationship between the two.

The study found that children whose symptoms of GERD did not respond to drug treatment presented none of the signs and symptoms of GERD just four weeks after elimination of cow’s milk from their diet.

According to the study, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“A diagnosis of CMA was considered in one third of the pediatric cases with signs and symptoms of GERD. This finding shows that CMA can mimic or aggravate all signs and symptoms of severe GERD during infancy.”

Visceral fat has a strong correlation with metabolic dysfunctions such as insulin resistance, hepatic steatosis, and inflammation. One theory is that impaired gut barrier function, leading to increased leakage of gut-derived antigens, may help to drive visceral fat deposits.

A recent study sought to determine whether this is the case.  The researchers found a positive correlation between waist circumference and intestinal permeability.

According to the study, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“This novel finding of an association between intestinal permeability and visceral adiposity and liver fat content in healthy humans suggests that impaired gut barrier function should be further explored as a possible mediator of excess visceral fat accumulation and metabolic dysfunction.”

Recent studies have shown that inflammation may be involved in the pathogenesis of depression. In fact, some research has demonstrated that depression is frequently associated with gastrointestinal inflammations and autoimmune diseases as well as with other ailments in which chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor.

It is possible that depression could be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome. And the primary cause of inflammation may be the dysfunction of the “gut-brain axis”.

According to a study reprinted on the website Green Med InfoL

“… [A]n increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammations with probiotics, vitamin B, D and omega 3 fatty acids, through attenuating proinflammatory stimuli to brain, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life. All these findings justify an assumption that treating gastrointestinal inflammations may improve the efficacy of the currently used treatment modalities of depression and related diseases.”

In early studies of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), it was shown to be most prevalent in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and those in northern Europe. However, studies in recent years have suddenly found that Canada has become the country with the highest incidence of IBD.

A paper published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology theorized that the cause of the increase could be impaired inactivation of digestive proteases due to the inhibition of gut bacteria by dietary chemicals, such as saccharin.  However, saccharin fails to provide an explanation for the recent high incidence of IBD in Canada, which adopted stringent standards for the use of saccharin in 1977 — but this is not the case for sucralose (Splenda).

According to the article, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“If not saccharin, then what caused the remarkable increase of IBD in Canada? … [S]ucralose may be the culprit … In 1991, Canada was the first country to approve the use of sucralose, and it was allowed to be used as a tabletop sweetener in breakfast cereals, beverages, desserts, toppings, fillings, chewing gum, breath mints, fruit spreads, salad dressings, confectionary, bakery products, processed fruits and vegetables, alcoholic beverages, puddings and table syrups.”

In early studies of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), it was shown to be most prevalent in countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and those in northern Europe. However, studies in recent years have suddenly found that Canada has become the country with the highest incidence of IBD.

A paper published in the Canadian Journal of Gastroenterology theorized that the cause of the increase could be impaired inactivation of digestive proteases due to the inhibition of gut bacteria by dietary chemicals, such as saccharin.  However, saccharin fails to provide an explanation for the recent high incidence of IBD in Canada, which adopted stringent standards for the use of saccharin in 1977 — but this is not the case for sucralose (Splenda).

According to the article, as reprinted on the website Green Med Info:

“If not saccharin, then what caused the remarkable increase of IBD in Canada? … [S]ucralose may be the culprit … In 1991, Canada was the first country to approve the use of sucralose, and it was allowed to be used as a tabletop sweetener in breakfast cereals, beverages, desserts, toppings, fillings, chewing gum, breath mints, fruit spreads, salad dressings, confectionary, bakery products, processed fruits and vegetables, alcoholic beverages, puddings and table syrups.”

The health benefits of ginger are astonishing.  It is more effective against bacterial staph infections than antibiotics, it can kill cancer cells, it can resolve brain inflammations, it can fight radiation damage, and it can ease or cure a variety of gut problems.

The compounds in ginger responsible for its health benefits may include shogaol, zingerone, and gingerols; however, trying to find the active ingredient in a herb and use it alone tends to diminish its effects and remove balancing components.

Gaia Health has assembled a list of ginger’s beneficial properties, which you can take a look at, at the link below.  According to that website:

“The range and severity of conditions that ginger can help is stunning, and the degree of effectiveness is even more amazing. It’s time for modern medicine to take a step back and ask itself how it got on such a wrong track. When drugs and treatments that are less effective and also full of adverse effects are used instead of first looking to a natural treatment like ginger, then surely a wrong turn has been taken.”

Most people who get nighttime heartburn have heard the advice that they should avoid eating any later than three to four hours before bedtime.  But although the advice is ages old, it’s only recently been studied scientifically.

And according to the researchers, it’s a good rule to follow.  One study found that eating dinner within three house of sleep was associated with a sevenfold increase in the risk of reflux symptoms.  Another study confirmed the result, finding that a late evening meal created significantly more reflux.

According to the New York Times:

“As for why three to four hours is the threshold, researchers say that is roughly the amount of time it takes for food to clear the stomach. In chronic heartburn, stomach acid slips into the esophagus, and that’s more likely when lying in bed shortly after a meal, when gravity is not helping to keep digestive juices in the stomach.”

In our never-ending quest for happiness, it sometimes doesn’t occur to us that what we’re searching for may be as close as our own bodies. And now, a new study shows that it’s possible the answer to our search may begin with the bacteria in our bellies. According to Science News:

“Mice fed broth fortified with a type of friendly intestinal bacteria called Lactobacillus rhamnosus behaved less anxiously than mice fed broth without bacteria. Those behavior changes were accompanied by differences in levels of a brain-chemical sensor and stress hormones.

The bacteria telegraph these brain-chemical and behavior-changing messages via the vagus nerve, which connects the brain stem to various internal organs, researchers report online August 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.”

More than five times as many people have celiac disease today than did during the 1950s, according to a recent study, Yahoo Health reports. The disease is an autoimmune intestinal disorder caused by gluten, a protein found in wheat. Another report found that the rate of celiac disease had doubled every 15 years since 1974, and is now believed to affect one in every 133 U.S. residents, Yahoo said. Scientists have several hypotheses as to why this is happening, from too few women breast-feeding today to the consumption of grains that are much richer in glutens today than they were 70 or 80 years ago.

A new study shows that 25 percent of people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) also have food hypersensitivies (allergies). The study included 160 patients with IBS, 40 with other gastrointestinal diseases, and 50 healthy individuals as controls. After strict elimination diets without cow’s milk or derivatives, or wheat, egg, tomato, or chocolate, it was found that 40 of the patients with IBS also had food hypersensitivies, based on  results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled, oral food challenge (with cow’s milk proteins and then with wheat proteins).

“Ancestral Health: Past, Present, and Future” by Boyd Eaton, MD from Ancestry on Vimeo.

Ancestral health is a new area of science based on the premise that ancient genes and contemporary lives are discordant. In this video, Dr. Boyd Eaton explains why we must abandon the current paradigm and pursue a more natural path toward health and well-being, not unlike the life our hunter-gatherer ancestors lived.

If you’re not convinced yet to give up that soda pop you’re about to reach for, this graphic may help you understand how that fizzy stuff damages your health and contributes to overall health care costs. And it’s not just the old it-harms-tooth-enamel mantra that we’re talking about: from heart disease to kidney issues to asthma, soft drinks contribute to many major health problems. For example, did you know that soft drink cans are coated with a resin that contains BPA (bisphenyl-A) that is the same cancer-causing chemical found in plastic bottles?

A widely used sweetener in foods and medications is commonly used as an alternative to high-energy supplements in diabetics, and a new study shows that this sweetener, xylitol, may be beneficial in preventing the development of obesity and metabolic abnormalities in rats with diet-induced obesity. But is it really an acceptable sugar substitute?

Who doesn’t love the aroma of freshly-baked bread or the sweet taste of cinnamon buns with sticky caramel syrup dripping down their sides? If the mere thought of the smells and tastes of carbohydrates like this make you want to run to the nearest store to stock up on them, then you may be interested in knowing before you eat them that a diet flush with carbohydrates can reprogram your body into wanting more, just as if they were drugs.

Although the USDA food chart doesn’t tell you this, the truth is foods like this give you a rush quite similar to cocaine, leading to cravings in your brain and intrusive thoughts when you go too long without a “fix.”

“Think of this stuff as more than a drug—it’s like a metabolic parasite, taking over your body and feeding itself.” according to Details.com.

A vast amount of research has reported that breast-feeding plays an important role for the development of newborn. Non-breast fed premature born infants have higher risk of developing infantile diarrhea and necrotizing enterocolitis.

In a recent study, the content of brain cell growth factors and cytokines in human breast milk was analyzed.  Growth factors and cytokines were found in all breast milk samples at varying concentrations.

According to the study, as linked by Green Med Info:

“It could be demonstrated that protein extracts of breast milk increased the amount of surviving enteric neurones as well as neurite outgrowth. Additionally it was shown, that the number of nestin and S100-expressing glial cells increased significantly after incubating in breast milk protein extracts. The data suggest that milk-born proteins support the development of the enteric nervous system.”

For more information about the benefits of breast milk and breastfeeding, you can click on the Green Med Info links below.

Researchers recently found that people who get colon cleanses are quite likely to develop complications from the procedure, and that there’s no evidence that the cleanses have any health benefits.

The results come from a review of 20 studies on colonic cleansing. While the idea of cleaning out your intestines sounds on the surface like it might be a good idea, you actually need a good growth of bacteria in your gut to ease digestion and voiding of waste.

According to Time Magazine:

“Those who underwent colon hydrotherapy, in which technicians insert a tube in the rectum and flood the colon with liters of fluid, often water, experienced infections and complications from bacteria that were introduced into the colon or from accidental punctures made by the hose.”