After listening to most of the lectures from the anti-anxiety summit, I just wanted to add a few more pieces of information. I wanted to talk about spore producing bacteria as Microbiome Labs (Kiran Krishman) did a talk on these organisms. These are organisms that coat themselves with armor in the deeper intestines where they can function as a probiotic. They are able to make it through the digestive tract and colonize deep in the intestine. These are ubiquitous organisms in nature. These spore producing bacteria stimulate EC cells in the gut to produce serotonin. Bacillus coagulans spores produce serotonin which can be found in some strains which decreases depression and decreases IBS. Spore producing bacteria increase dopamine and decrease anxiety.
Foods that we bring into our body from the outside world can expose us to toxins. For instance, food that we eat can be contaminated by microbes such as campylobacter jejunum and this pathogen has been linked to anxiety and panic attacks. Medications that we take can harm our microbiome. For instance, common antibiotics (fluoroquinolones) have been linked with potentiation of side effects of benzodiazopenines. As, the gut produces 90% of your serotonin, it is important to understand that what you take in to your gut such as food or medication is influencing your state of brain health. Just having awareness of that and understanding that the state of your gut health has a major impact on brain health and neurotransmitters is key.
In the gut microbiome, diversity is paramount to health. Spores increase the diversity of the microbiome. In 3 weeks you can start to change the diversity taking spore based probiotics. I am doing an experiment by taking Megaspore Microbiome labs probiotic which I ordered from Florida. It has the strains Bacillus indicus, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus coagulans, Bacillus licheniformins, and Bacillus clausii which are strains I have not taken before. It is only 4 billion C.F.U. but that is all that is needed to go in and change the diversity because spores are so strong in their action. It is recommended to start at even 1/2 capsule a day because there can be a die off reaction as these spores kill other pathogens in the gut. Die off reactions may include cramping, bloating and a rash. I have not add any side effects so I have started taking one capsule every other day with food for the first week. Spore based organisms are universal colonizers. If I have positive results after the next month of taking these spore based organisms, I may start stocking some at Parallel Wellness. They are expensive but they have extensive research backing their use. For more information on spore based probiotics and how they can influence serotonin and GABA as well as produce anti-oxidants, go to www.microbiomelabs.com