Your gut-brain pyramid is connected through the immune system.

The gut and gut microbes play an important role in your immune system and inflammation by controlling what is passed into the body and what is excreted.  The lining of the gut is one cell thick and with constant irritation from environmental toxins, food sensitivity and allergy, chronic reflux, IBS, diarrhea and constipation, underlying chronic infection as well as autoimmune disease, that lining becomes “leaky” or in other words, the cells spread apart and allows foreign interaction with our immune system to be on overdrive. 

If your immune system is switched on for too long, it can lead to further inflammation, which is associated with a number of brain disorders like depression, mood disorders and Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s Disease, AML, MS, autoimmune diseases, inflammatory bowel diseases and sometimes even cancers long term.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is an inflammatory toxin made by certain bacteria.  It some people immune cells to LPS is high eluding to a chronic infection or leaky gut / immune disruption.  It can cause inflammation if too much LPS passes from the gut into the blood due to “leaky” gut as discussed above, creating a slippery slope cascade effect of Gut-Immune-Brain symptoms.

The brain is essentially the same lining as the gut and treatment of one can’t be mutually exclusive.  It is important with brain health to measure by testing gut markers, immune cells known to be brain specific as well as chronic infection as thoroughly as possible to address the multi-facets of brain inflammation.