Personalised nutrition and lifestyle medicine are emerging as important ways to improve health and wellbeing. Our individual state of health is dependent on the dynamic function of our bodies systems and their response to our internal and external environment Improving our physiological function with lifestyle changes can sometimes be superior to drug treatments for optimising health.

Advances in science are informing practical, personalised, and preventative health care that optimises wellness with nutrition and lifestyle medicine Food supplements, herbs, and other natural products are also of growing interest as evidence-based ways to improve health and wellbeing. And social, environmental, and planetary health are powerful determinants of our own health.

THE GUT BRAIN CONNECTION:

The brain has a direct effect on the stomach and intestines. For example the very thought of eating can release the stomachs juices before food gets there This connection goes both ways. A troubled intestine can send signals to the brain, just as a troubled brain can send signals to the to the gut , therefore a person’s stomach or intestinal distress can be a result of anxiety, stress or depression. The brain and the gastrointestinal tract are intimately connected.

HeartMath is backed by more than 25 years of scientific research. Our research shows that regulating breathing and generating positive emotions facilitates a body-wide shift to a specific, scientifically measurable state called psychophysiological coherence, or coherence for short.

Coherence is characterised by increased order and harmony in both our psychological (mental) and physiological (bodily) processes. It is a state of optimal function. When we activate this state, we experience greater emotional stability, increased mental clarity and improved cognitive function. Simply stated, our body and brain work better, we feel better, and we perform better.

Coherence also promotes homeostasis, the body’s natural way of keeping everything in balance and of maintaining resilience to challenge, stress and damage. As such you can think of coherence as the engine for resilience and of the coherence techniques as ways to boost your inner battery and keep your resilience engine running effectively. Coherence can be learnt, practiced and developed and the physical and mental benefits can be profound.

Even after a strict gluten-free diet digestive symptoms can continue to be an important problem for people with celiac disease. A promising new study suggests probiotics might help.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)-symptoms affect about 38% of people with celiac disease despite a strictly following a gluten-free diet with no well established treatments options to help resolve symptoms.

One possibility is that an imbalance in gut bacteria, or dysbiosis, could be responsible, so based on this observation a research group decided to test a probiotic in celiac disease patients who had IBS-symptoms despite a strict gluten-free diet.

Over a 6-week treatment period the study participants took either a placebo or the probiotic mixture (5 strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacteria) at a dose of 40 billion CFU once daily.

Clinical assessments revealed that the probiotic significantly reduced digestive symptoms, including pain, compared to placebo. In addition, those taking probiotics had changes in their gut bacteria, including an increase in Bifidobacterium and lactic acid bacteria such as Lactobacillus.

A small number of previous studies have assessed probiotics in people with celiac disease but with inconsistent evidence of benefit. The authors of the current study suggest that one reason for their good results may be that they found a positive modification of gut bacteria, which has not been demonstrated in previous studies.

“In recent years, an increasing amount of data have appeared with regard to the role of gut microbiota in celiac disease patients, suggesting that dysbiosis could result in a modification of the mucosal homeostasis, causing persistent immune activation and clinical symptoms,”

“In recent years, an increasing amount of data have appeared with regard to the role of gut microbiota in celiac disease patients, suggesting that dysbiosis could result in a modification of the mucosal homeostasis, causing persistent immune activation and clinical symptoms,” commented the authors. “If we consider the alterations of gut microbiota as an environmental factor involved in celiac disease expression, probiotic administration may have a primary role in the overall manifestation of the disease.”

Reference: Francavilla R, Piccolo M, Francavilla A, et al. Clinical and Microbiological Effect of a Multispecies Probiotic Supplementation in Celiac Patients With Persistent IBS-type Symptoms: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled, Multicenter Trial. J Clin Gastroenterol. 2019 Mar;53(3):e117-e125.