Protecting one’s memory is a hot topic these days. With the rates of neurodegeneration beginning to rise, many of us have had to care for a loved one who no longer remembers our name. This is devastating, to say the least, and extremely terrifying to think that one day may be us. As you guys know my story, when my grandpa got sick I started to dive into the research to find out exactly what I could do to protect my parents and myself (and now, my clients!) from succumbing to this same fate. I learned a ton about how diet and lifestyle changes can make a huge difference when it comes to protecting your brain (and your memory!) from declining. This is especially true when it comes to your gut.
Now, I know at first this sounds odd. What does your gut, something that’s on the complete opposite end of your body, have to do with your brain? Short answer, pretty much everything. Your gut is connected to your brain by your Vagus Nerve, which helps to mediate a very intricate, bi-directional relationship. Little do we know it, but our gut and our brain are in constant communication. This is what makes the gut so important in all things related to mental health and cognitive performance. The health of your gut can impact everything from your mood, your ability to learn, your focus, your executive functioning, and, of course…your memory. In today’s post, I’m going to talk about 3 of the ways your gut impacts your memory, both protecting it from decline in the future, and helping it to be as sharp as possible in the now.
Is Memory a Gut Feeling?
Your gut, and the tiny microorganisms that inhibit it, have many responsibilities. Here are three that have a direct and considerable impact on your memory.
- Butyrate Production: your gut has trillions of bacteria living inside of it, this is called the gut microbiota. It sounds gross, I know. But these little bugs are SO helpful when it comes to our health! One of their responsibilities plays a large part in the functioning of your brain, and that is to synthesize what are called short chain fatty acids (SCFA). These SCFA are neurometabolites, and they are produced by the beneficial bacteria in our intestines when we feed them their favorite food. SCFA travel up from our guts to our brains via the Vagus Nerve, and are able to cross the protective lining that surrounds our brain, appropriately named the blood brain barrier (BBB). One SCFA in particular, butyrate, has been shown to facilitate long term potentiation and the formation of memories, among other important cognitive processes (Mohajeri et al., 2018). Research is also showing that butyrate may have neuroprotective effects, helping to restore neuronal function in animals with Alzheimer’s Disease (Mohajeri et al., 2018).
- Regulating Neuroinflammation: as you saw above, we have trillions of bacteria living inside of our guts, and the beneficial ones help us out. However, not all of these bugs are beneficial, there are some species of bacteria living inside all of us that are pathogenic. Under healthy circumstances, the amount of beneficial bacteria will outnumber the amount of pathogenic bacteria. However, due to several dietary or lifestyle factors, this isn’t always the case. When the amount of pathogenic bacteria outnumber the amount of beneficial bacteria, it is said our gut is in a state of dysbiosis. This causes an immune response, which can set off chronic inflammation throughout the entire body (Oriach et al., 2016). Now, this is a problem, because the composition of our gut microbiota regulates the integrity of that protective barrier I told you about above, the BBB (Cenit, Sanz, & Codoñer-Franch, 2017). When the gut becomes “leaky” due to dysbiosis, so does the BBB, which allows for the inflammation to make its way into the brain, where it does some damage. The part of the brain that is responsible for processes such as learning and behavior, the Hippocampus, is very susceptible to inflammation. When this brain area becomes inflamed, there are impairments in working and global memory (Beilharz, Maniam, & Morris, 2015, Leigh & Morris, 2020). Not only does chronic inflammation impact our ability to remember in the now, but it is associated with an increased risk for neurodegenerative diseases as well (Marsland et al., 2015).
- Neurotransmitter Synthesis: another role of these beneficial bacteria is to produce neurotransmitters and regulate their function within the central nervous system (and you thought YOU had a lot of work responsibilities..). Neurotransmitters are chemical messenger cells that control everything from your cognitive functioning, your automatic processes (like breathing and heart rate), your mood, your sleep, and, of course, your memory. The neurotransmitters that are produced in the gut aren’t able to cross the BBB themselves, but they do affect the concentration of the related neurotransmitters and their precursors in the brain. Certain bacterial strains will produce certain neurotransmitters, and if we lose these bacterial strains within our gut (due to dietary and lifestyle factors), we risk not being able to synthesize these neurotransmitters (Cenit, Sanz, & Codoñer-Franch, 2017, Chen, Xu, & Chen, 2021). The bacteria in our gut synthesize and regulate the synthesis of neurotransmitters that are crucial for memory such as acetylcholine, GABA, and dopamine (Liang, Wu, & Jin, 2018). Imbalances in neurotransmitters can lead to cognitive performance challenges, and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s (Chen, Xu, & Chen, 2021).
The importance of gut health cannot be overstated when it comes to both brain health, overall health, and cognitive performance processes like memory. In fact (warning: gross details about to be shared), some studies are showing that a fecal matter transplant (literally transporting a healthy person’s poop into a sick person’s gut) results in rapid improvements in memory and mood in Alzheimer’s patients (Chen, Xu, & Chen, 2021). This is pointing to a potentially new therapeutic treatment for patients suffering from these devastating diseases. How cool/disgusting is that?!
Unfortunately in today’s society, our medical system, food system, and environment is wreaking havoc on our guts. With neurodegenerative diseases on the rise, paying close attention to the health of your gut is of utmost importance. This is why gut health is one of the pillars in my MINDPEAK program, and usually the one I help my clients to build first. With my 3R approach to gut healing, I help my clients to build a solid foundation of gut health, allowing them to improve their memory in the now, and reduce their chances of developing neurodegenerative diseases in the future. If you want to learn more about my 3R approach to gut healing, or to find out how the health of YOUR gut might be impacting your memory and overall cognitive performance, sign up for a free 30 minute coaching session here. In this session, we’ll talk all things gut health, and see if you would be a right fit for my MINDPEAK program.
If there’s one thing you do today to help make sure your memory stays sharp for all the tomorrows to come, it’s to pay attention to the health of your gut.
References
Beilharz, J., Maniam, J., & Morris, M. (2015). Diet-Induced Cognitive Deficits: The Role of Fat and Sugar, Potential Mechanisms and Nutritional Interventions. Nutrients, 7(8), 6719–6738. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu7085307
Cenit, M. C., Sanz, Y., & Codoñer-Franch, P. (2017). Influence of gut microbiota on neuropsychiatric disorders. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 23(30), 5486. https://doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v23.i30.5486
Chen, Y., Xu, J., & Chen, Y. (2021). Regulation of Neurotransmitters by the Gut Microbiota and Effects on Cognition in Neurological Disorders. Nutrients, 13(6), 2099. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13062099
Leigh, S. J., & Morris, M. J. (2020). Diet, inflammation and the gut microbiome: Mechanisms for obesity-associated cognitive impairment. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) – Molecular Basis of Disease, 1866(6), 165767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2020.165767
Liang, S., Wu, X., & Jin, F. (2018). Gut-Brain Psychology: Rethinking Psychology From the Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2018.00033
Marsland, A. L., Gianaros, P. J., Kuan, D. C. H., Sheu, L. K., Krajina, K., & Manuck, S. B. (2015). Brain morphology links systemic inflammation to cognitive function in midlife adults. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 48, 195–204. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2015.03.015
Mohajeri, M. H., La Fata, G., Steinert, R. E., & Weber, P. (2018). Relationship between the gut microbiome and brain function. Nutrition Reviews, 76(7), 481–496. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuy009
Oriach, C. S., Robertson, R. C., Stanton, C., Cryan, J. F., & Dinan, T. G. (2016). Food for thought: The role of nutrition in the microbiota-gut–brain axis. Clinical Nutrition Experimental, 6, 25–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yclnex.2016.01.003