The Pathway Between “You Are” and “What You Eat”

Significant connections between the brain and gut that influence mood and cognitive processes have long been hypothesized. In the 19th century, Ireland ’s psychiatrists described “the insanity of malnutrition,” a concerning correlation between rising asylum admissions and patients’ inability to acquire healthy food (1). Earlier still, Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar proclaimed, “Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much.” These rudimentary observations alluded to what is now widely recognized as the gut-brain axis, the intricate system of neural and endocrine cells in the gut that reciprocally communicate with the brain.
Source: Biological Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Authors: Tags: Early Career Investigator Commentary Source Type: research