It’s all about the vagus nerve!

Still looking into this, but here’s the scoop... first published in PNAS and then picked up and reported by Ira Flatow for NPR’s Science Friday yesterday:

Reporting in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers write of reducing anxiety and stress in mice by feeding them a probiotic-laced broth. Study author John Cryan discusses how the gut influences the brain, and whether the same might hold true in humans. 

Other reports of this story:

Michael Barr is a board certified acupuncturist and herbalist and can be reached at Manhattan Acupuncture Associates, with offices at Columbus Circle and Flatiron. His expertise and interests include sports acupuncture, pain syndromes, liver health, immunological support, low energy, mood disorders, anxiety, insomnia, GI complaints, and herbal and acupuncture approaches to getting off/putting off prescription medications of unsatisfactory or unclear benefit, and in helping to manage the side-effects of other necessary and life-saving biomedical interventions. He has also been busy exploring the application of Chinese herbal therapies, and specific acupuncture protocols, for all aspects of sexual health and anti-senescence.