One of my three interviews on The Anxiety Summit 5: Gut-Brain Axis airs on day 1 of the summit. The topic is: GABA & Tryptophan: The Gut-Anxiety Connections. In this interview, I’m interviewed by my colleague and friend Dr. Nicole Beurkens, PhD, and you’ll learn about:
- Low serotonin: fear, overwhelm, gut motility & anorexia
- Low GABA: physical tension, gut & rectal pain, burning mouth
- Blood brain barrier, phenibut, candida & CBD
I start with some background on why a summit on the gut-brain axis, what we don’t know about the incidence of anxiety and the huge increase we are seeing. The big message is that we have growing awareness but no real solutions. This goal of this summit is to create awareness around gut issues as a possible root cause and the growing research in nutritional psychiatry – AND to provide solutions!
We cover some of the basics in case you don’t know anything about GABA and tryptophan. If you’ve been following my work you’re likely going to be familiar with this section.
I cover plenty of new research throughout the interview and we start with 5-HTP as it relates to both gut health and anxiety. We discuss this 2019 paper: Effects of Serotonin and Slow-Release 5-Hydroxytryptophan on Gastrointestinal Motility in a Mouse Model of Depression:
- Administration of 5-HTP SR [slow release] to mice restored [serotonin] to the ENS [enteric nervous system] and normalized GI motility and growth of the enteric epithelium.
- 5-HTP SR [slow release] might be used to treat patients with intestinal dysfunction associated with low levels of 5-HT [serotonin].
This paper doesn’t mention anxiety or depression but we know that serotonin support with 5-HTP or tryptophan addressed this aspect too. And given this, it’s very possible that we could extrapolate some of this research to tryptophan.
We cover motility issues at length in the SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) interviews with Dr. Alison Siebecker and Shivan Sarna – SIBO: Anxiety, Testing, Probiotics and Fecal Transplants (Part 1 and 2). We also talk about the fear and overwhelm factor when starting a new protocol in that interview and in this interview of mine – and how addressing low serotonin helps so much.
We also talk about one of my favorite topics: GABA and the controversial blood-brain-barrier question and point you back to the discussion I have with Dr. Datis Kharrazian in his interview: Fix the Brain to Fix the Gut. Be sure to tune in to that one.
I also share some research on low serotonin and gut health in anorexia; interesting anti-candida properties of serotonin; how CBD can make tryptophan more effective (be sure to tune in to Dr. Hyla Cass’ interview for more on this: Endocannabinoid System and Your Gut); new GABA studies; the phenibut FDA ban; and updates on some possible reasons why one or more of the amino acids don’t work as well as expected when you do the questionnaire, you have all the symptoms, you review the precautions and a do a trial.
I mentioned this is one of 4 interviews I do on the summit. My other 3 interviews cover:
- How Collagen Can Cause Anxiety and Insomnia
- Simple Solutions for Anxiety and Gut Health
- Glutamine, DPA and Tyrosine for Anxiety and Sugar Cravings
Please join us and listen to my interviews and all the others on The Anxiety Summit 5: Gut-Brain Axis.
If you’d like to give feedback or ask a question, please post in the comments section at the bottom.
I’d love to hear from you once you’ve listened in to this interview and the others.