adhd and the gut microbiome
Photo credit: Jaqueline Pelzer
a little food for (improved) thought
Happy new year – happy new onslaught of ridiculous promises hitting your social feeds.
Like people declaring that they’ll live on nothing but sawdust and unicorn milk from now on.
Or that they’ll be swan diving naked into an ice cold lake every day before sunrise.
You know the kind of stuff.
As impressive as it’s all intended to be, there’s almost zero chance of me joining in.
And the fact that you’re reading this means there’s a good chance you won’t be either.
I’m not for one second suggesting that us ADHD types are incapable of affecting positive change in our lives.
In fact, biased though I am, I remain a massive supporter of the idea that the world has been altered in some of the best, most exciting ways by people in history who’ve revealed more than a trait or two of ADHD.
But there’s truth in the sweeping statement that our inherent distaste for routine – coupled with an interesting approach to organisation – leaves us prone to abandoning many a new venture in favour of the next.
And that absolutely includes New Year’s resolutions.
Maybe that’s you, maybe it’s not. Either way, I’d urge you to stick around for another hundred seconds – and hear me out on one switch-up you might want to make this January.
A reframing of your diet that could have an amazing effect on your mental state – for 2023 and beyond.
The background to it begins, rather randomly, when you were born.
Let’s just say you entered this world by way of a natural delivery.
Within a few milliseconds of leaving the sterile environment you’d called home for the past nine months, you got covered all over in tiny micro-organisms.
A cocktail of different bacteria, fungi and viruses – too small for the human eye to see.
Your first sip of human milk ensured that these microbes got well inside your digestive system too – multiplying at warp speed to well and truly colonise your gut.
By adulthood, tens of trillions of the critters were hitching a ride.
And you’ve been lugging around more un-human cells than human ones ever since.
Your gut microbiome (all the microbes in your gut plus their genes) weighs in at an incredible two to three kilograms.
That's heavier than your brain.
Now, before we all freak out, I should make it clear that these stowaways are actually good for us.
Vital.
Today’s humans need to have them on board every bit as much as early humans did, two million years ago.
When our microbiome’s in good shape – that is, the diversity of its microbial population is striking a healthy balance between helpful bacteria and harmful ones – it performs some seriously important functions in the body.
The more useful guys produce genes that help us digest food – by breaking down certain fibres that we’re unable to process by ourselves.
Others liberate nutrition from foods that would otherwise remain locked in.
And many do wonders for our immune system (despite the best efforts of antibiotics, the western diet and modern-day stress levels pushing back).
Plus (and here’s the exciting bit), it’s now known that our microbiome also produces neurotransmitters – those chemical messengers, so often wrongly thought of as being exclusive to the brain, that allow neurons to communicate with one another and, therefore, our neural circuits to work.
Having been manufactured in the digestive tract, these gut-made neuro-chems are sent up in the elevator directly to the top floor.
Here, they’re put to good use along with those already synthesised in the brain – to regulate basic physiological and mental processes.
Gaba is a great example of a neurochemical that is, in part, now known to be synthesised by our gut microbes.
It’s an inhibitory neurotransmitter, thought to play a major role in controlling anxiety, stress and fear.
Serotonin is another.
Eighty-five percent of this mood-affecting neurotransmitter is actually made in the gut.
Even our levels of the mighty dopamine – poster child for all neuro-chems and the one renowned for its influence over motivation and reward – is given a helping hand by the little guys.
All of this means that the functioning of our brains, and even our sense of wellbeing, is hugely supported – even dependant upon – the goings on inside our gut.
And much of the goings on inside our gut is controlled by creatures that aren’t even… us.
What’s more, recent leaps forward in the fields of nutritional psychology and psychobiotics suggest that it might be possible for us to promote the health of our microbiome simply by ensuring it constitutes a diverse population of the right microbial species.
That’s something we can affect simply by being a little more mindful of what we choose to eat.
Much is being said and written recently calling out high-fibre prebiotic foods (found in many fruits and vegetables) and probiotic fermented foods (think live yoghurts and kimchi) as being superstars in this area.
The Mediterranean diet gets a lot of airtime too, rich as it is in vegetables, grains and fish.
I’m absolutely not a nutritionist; you’ll need to do your own research and make your own decisions as to what goes on your plate.
I should also state here that evidence-based findings on diet being directly influential over the symptoms of ADHD is not yet concrete.
But when the science is suggesting that emotions like anxiety and stress – and even our mood – might be improved by eating microbiome-friendly foods, you have to wonder what harm there could be in giving your diet a few minutes’ extra thought.
Besides, there’s now two to three kilograms of added motivation involved.
If you don’t want to consider tweaking your diet for the sake of your own mental wellbeing, do it for the trillions of tiny critters inside.
Take care,
Kevin
Copyright © Kevin Exley 2023
You should not regard the information contained in this article/post as being, or as a replacement for, professional medical advice or treatment. The words contained herein represent the thoughts and opinions of the author, who is not clinically or medically trained, or in any way qualified to provide professional nutritional advice. Should you have any concerns or questions about your diet and/or your health, you should seek the advice of a physician or other healthcare professional.