The Effects of stress on the gut microflora
Probiotics Ease Gut Problems Caused By
Long Term Stress
Stress affects
the parts of the body related to the nervous system, especially the
gastrointestinal tract. Emotional breakups, ill loved ones, pressures at
work, mounting bills . . . whatever the cause, emotional stress causes
an increase in adrenaline, which triggers a release of stored sugar from
your liver.
In response to this adrenaline rush, blood is diverted from your
intestines to your muscles, which causes a dramatic slowdown of your
digestive processes. Chronic stress compromises the health of your
friendly bacteria. If this pattern continues over a long period of time,
the most obvious effects occur in the large intestine.
In sufficient strength, the friendly lactobacteria can indirectly help
in alleviating stress. During fermentation, lactobacilli release
essential amino acids, including tryptophan. Tryptophan produces
serotonin—a calming neurotransmitter. Probiotics literally compete for
space with harmful bacteria and dampen down inflammatory responses, and
as such, offer a potentially promising approach to the management of
intestinal problems caused by stress. Click here to read more.
Probiotics may help to reduce gut symptoms caused by long
term stress, indicates research published ahead of print in the journal
Gut.
The researchers base their findings on analysis of gut tissue taken from
rats subjected to either water avoidance stress, which involves placing
the rat on a small platform surrounded by water, or sham stress for one
hour a day for 10 consecutive days. The stress sessions were designed to
mimic psychological stress to produce the type of effects that would be
seen in the human gut. Half the rats were fed drinking water containing
probiotic bacteria in the form of Lactobacillus helveticus and
Lactobacillus rhamnosus for a period of seven days before and during the
stress sessions.
Unlike sham stress, brief but repeated water deprivation made the gut
"leaky" and boosted the adherence of harmful bacteria to the cells
lining the gut wall. Bacteria were also detected in the mesenteric lymph
nodes, which drain fluid coming from the intestine, indicating that
bacteria had entered the body and activated the immune system.
However, probiotic treatment minimized the changes in chemical
signalling and prevented bacterial "stickiness" and movement to the
mesenteric lymph nodes. Chronic stress is known to be implicated in the
development of irritable bowel syndrome and in the worsening of symptoms
of inflammatory bowel disease, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative
colitis. It also sensitizes the gut, producing allergies to certain
foodstuffs.
The authors say that probiotics literally compete for space with harmful
bacteria and dampen down inflammatory responses, and as such, offer a
potentially promising approach to the management of intestinal problems
caused by stress.