by Catherine Haug, July 25, 2013, updated July 29,2013
In college I took a class on comparative vertebrate anatomy – we studied the anatomy of many vertebrates as a way of better understanding our own anatomy. This study began with the tiny fertilized egg of each species studied, and progressed through the development of the adult. One of the things I took home from this class is that the first organ to form is the gut, and it serves as the brain for the developing individual while the heart and circulatory systems form, and finally the central nervous system (CNS) and the brain. But we also learned that the primitive brain in the gut continues to function in intimate contact with the actual brain, throughout the life of the individual.
What does this mean for us humans? It means that while modern medicine has pretty much ignored the effect of the gut on human health and happiness, the gut deserves more study and respect. We need to ensure that our gut has healthy colonies of gut flora (probiotics), and that it is not overburdened with toxins in our food.
It is important to remember that diet and gut health are not the only factors that influence the overall health and longevity of a human individual, but it may well be one of the most important. Other factors include (but are not limited to) genetics, lifestyle and stressors (7), medical care, gender, accident, and environment.
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