Ten years ago, if you had asked a neuroscientist are we on the right path to understanding the inner workings of the brain, she probably would’ve gave a hearty “Yes!” But more recent research calls a lot of older assumptions about how the brain — and in fact, the whole body — works.
We’re only now beginning to understand that the brain doesn’t stand alone in being responsible for our thoughts and emotions. Instead, new research is shedding light on how the gut and the bacteria that call it home have a much bigger role to play than anyone had ever suspected.
Scientific research into the ways our gut and brain interact have been ongoing now for over a decade. To date, a lot of the studies examining the brain-gut connection have either used animal studies or small pilot studies on just a handful of humans. Research like this can give us clues and help guide future research direction, but it can’t really answer the big questions of how strong the connection is, what’s its purpose, and how does it work.
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