The Psychobiotic Revolution: Mood, Food, and the New Science of the Gut-Brain Connection
by Scott C. Anderson, John F. Cryan, Ted DinanPublished on November 7, 2017
Written by the leading researchers in the field, this information-rich guide to improving your mood explains how gut health drives psychological well-being, and how depression and anxiety can be relieved by adjusting your intestinal bacteria.
This groundbreaking book explains the revolutionary new science of psychobiotics and the discovery that your brain health and state of mind are intimately connected to your microbiome, that four-pound population of microbes living inside your intestines. Leading medical researchers John F. Cryan and Ted Dinan, working with veteran journalist Scott C. Anderson, explain how common mental health problems, particularly depression and anxiety, can be improved by caring for the intestinal microbiome. Science is proving that a healthy gut means a healthy mind—and this book details the steps you can take to change your mood and improve your life by nurturing your microbiome.
Purchase Links
National Geographic | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
I love the discoveries that are being made about the role of the gut and the gut microbiome in all aspects of health. I’ve been applying them in my practice with good success in GI disease. That’s why I was excited to read this book about the connections between the flora in the GI tract and human brain health.
This book is written for a lay person. It does a very good job of explaining some difficult concepts in a way that will be easily understood by people who don’t have any biology background without dumbing the subject matter down so much that people with more knowledge would cringe as they read it. That’s a fine line to walk.
The main point of the research is that bacteria in the GI tract break down the food that we eat. They are also responsible for some defense against bad bacteria. They secrete substances that help stabilize our moods.
It is our job to make sure that we don’t harm the good bacteria (probiotics) that we have. In addition we need to give them the right types of food (prebiotics) to make sure that they thrive. There are suggestions in this book for all do help do all of these things.
My only criticism is that in their enthusiasm to tie together gut health and brain health, the authors made it seem like the whole key to everything is the microbiome. That leaves out the very real multifactoral issues that go into mental health problems. A proper and healthy microbiome can definitely help but it shouldn’t be thought to fix everything on its own.
I hope more people start to understand the correlation between probiotics and overall health – not just in GI disease. People seem to be getting more open to the idea. The only real pushback I’ve ever had when dispensing probiotics was actually from a human physician who told me that there was no evidence in humans that probiotics did anything beneficial. He allowed that maybe it was different in animals. I hope he reads a book like this someday and opens his mind to the possibilities.
Tour Stops
Wednesday, November 1st: Sapphire Ng
Thursday, November 2nd: Peppermint PhD
Monday, November 6th: Based on a True Story
Thursday, November 9th: Jathan & Heather
Monday, November 13th: Instagram: @caitlyn_block
Tuesday, November 14th: Literary Quicksand
Thursday, November 16th: Patricia’s Wisdom
Friday, November 17th: Instagram: @leahbhealthy
Monday, November 20th: Instagram: @wellnesswithedie
Tuesday, November 21st: Dreams, Etc.
TBD: Instagram: @danidoeshealth
IG Story: Instagram: @sierranielsen
I think there is a lot to be said about probiotics – I’ve seen it make a big difference in some people’s lives.
Thanks for being a part of the tour.
Thanks for adding this one to my TBR. I’ve read a couple of others on the subject, but had missed this one! Although I agree that no single area of change can fundamentally and lastingly solve a problem, I can see where the authors here would weigh heavily on the importance of the microbiome, given that we have generally ignored/overlooked it in the past; it’s hard to get people to listen to something “new” without making things sound dramatic!