The Gut-Brain Axis & Nutrition
- Sabrina Stadelman
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
The important role of nutrition & the gut-brain axis in helping you to feel your best
Written by interns Jena Pinkard, Lauryn Kasten, Paige Milam. Edited by Cristina Luibil MS, RD, LDN
You may have heard about the importance of gut health, but how does your gut relate to your brain from the foods you eat? The gut-brain axis is a two-way communication system between your digestive system and your brain. What happens in your gut can impact how you feel, and what happens in your brain can impact your digestion.
Gut Microbiota
The gut contains trillions of microorganisms, including bacteria, which are known as your microbiota. There are different types of microbiota. Beneficial types can include lactobacillus and bifidobacterium, most commonly seen in yogurt and kefir. All types of bacteria/microbiota live in your gut and impact your health. The foods you eat determine which bacteria thrive. Fruits, vegetables, fiber-rich foods, and fermented foods support healthy microbiota. Eating more of these will increase the beneficial bacteria in your gut, which then, in turn, helps with digestion and keeps you regular.1
Why Does Gut Health Matter?
The gut plays a major role in the body, including digestion, immune function, and nutrient absorption. Disruptions to these processes can negatively impact the body. Damages to the intestinal lining have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric conditions.2 While it's true that dietary patterns higher in saturated fat and processed food can impact the gut environment and may contribute to these disease states, it’s important to practice gentle nutrition and find the dietary pattern that works best for you.
What Can You Do?
Many foods support a healthy gut-brain connection. Foods containing prebiotics and probiotics can support your gut health. Probiotics are provided in the diet by foods with “live cultures”, such as Greek yogurt, kefir, or fermented foods. Prebiotics are the food for the probiotics, such as oats, apples, and flaxseeds. You can think of prebiotics as the food that feeds the probiotics, so that the probiotics thrive in our gut. For example, if you eat Greek yogurt that has live cultures of probiotics and you eat apples that have prebiotics, you are essentially feeding the probiotic foods, so these beneficial microbiota flourish.
As mentioned, fermented foods can also support a healthy gut. These foods are fermented with the help of beneficial microbiota. Examples of fermented foods include sauerkraut, kimchi, sourdough bread, and tempeh.
Adding these foods can support your brain power and lower inflammation in the body.2 This could be as simple as adding flaxseed, oats, and apples to Greek yogurt. You can check out one of our favorite non-diet recipe blogs here for fun recipe ideas with foods to support your gut.
Gentle Nutrition (the 10th Principle of Intuitive Eating), which encompasses eating regularly, pairing food groups, and adding in foods and nutrients (instead of restriction), can create a beneficial gut-brain environment. This style of eating can help you create balanced and sustainable patterns that work for your lifestyle and preferences.
How the Gut-Brain Axis Connects to Mental Health
One’s mental health and their gut-brain axis have been shown to influence each other. Healthy central nervous system functioning is connected to healthy gut functioning. Probiotics have been used to help combat anxiety and depression along with therapy and medication, when indicated. A variety of studies have been conducted showing the connection between nutrition and mental health. One of the biggest findings has been a correlation between including probiotics and prebiotics in your diet, which can help to curb symptoms of anxiety and depression.4
Why Should You Care?
There is a reason you feel sluggish after lunch. Throughout your body, a system of neurons connects the brain and the gut, sending signals to the brain based on what and how much you have eaten. The nutritional value of the food you consume determines what signals your gut sends to your brain.5 Gut microbiota is shaped by early nutrition and continues throughout life.
Alterations in diet can have a large impact in just 24 hours.4 When your body receives nutrient-dense foods on a regular basis, your brain gets sent positive signals. These positive signals help to make more neuron connections, which helps improve your thinking, reasoning, and learning. Additionally, nutritious foods produce protective proteins, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), that not only protect but also improve your mood, memory, and attention span. Nutritious foods, plus eating regularly, optimize the overall functioning of the body and brain.5
On the contrary, when your body is not getting enough food in general, thus receiving fewer nutrients, the brain receives distress signals.6 These signals send the brain into stress overdrive, which can lead to a variety of concerns. These concerns include difficulty with focus and memory, as well as an increased risk of anxiety symptoms. To prevent this, implementing changes to ensure balanced nutrition in your diet can help tremendously. One specific example is adopting a dietary pattern that focuses on gentle nutrition!
The gut-brain axis highlights how closely nutrition, mental health, and digestion are connected. The foods we eat shape our gut microbiota, which can in turn influence our moods and digestion. Incorporating these ideas through gentle nutrition -eating regularly and focusing on nourishment- can help you feel your best.
Aterra Nutrition partners with Azalea Mental Health to bridge the gap between mental and physical health. Our dietitians take a weight-inclusive approach, focusing on overall health and nutrition rather than weight, and they specialize in disordered eating, eating disorder recovery, women’s health and gut health.
Our Intuitive Eating Membership, Nourish Your Life, is currently enrolling. Become a part of our community.
Nourishing Notes from Aterra Nutrition
Subscribe to our free Substack newsletter for down-to-earth nutrition tips, resources, and offerings from our team of registered dietitians and interns. Our new ebook, The Grounded Cookbook, also available through Substack with paid subscription.
Disclaimer: The information shared in this blog is for general educational and informational purposes only. It may not be tailored to your specific health needs as it is written here. This content is not intended to replace personalized medical advice, nutrition counseling, or medical nutrition therapy. Any recipes or suggestions provided are meant to inspire and should be used at your discretion. Always consult with your own registered dietitian, physician, or healthcare provider before making changes to your nutrition, lifestyle, or treatment plan. If you choose, Aterra Nutrition would be happy to help you in your own, individual nutrition and intuitive eating journey.
References
Berding K, Vlckova K, Marx W, et al. Diet and the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis: Sowing the Seeds of Good Mental Health. Adv Nutr. 2021;12(4):1239-1285. doi:10.1093/advances/nmaa181
Tuigunov D, Sinyavskiy Y, Nurgozhin T, et al. Precision Nutrition and Gut-Brain Axis Modulation in the Prevention of Neurodegenerative Diseases. Nutrients. 2025;17(19):3068. Published 2025 Sep 26. doi:10.3390/nu17193068
Valentino V, Magliulo R, Farsi D, et al. Fermented foods, their microbiome and its potential in boosting human health. Microbial Biotechnology. 2024;17(2):1-30. doi:10.1111/1751-7915.14428
Clapp, M., Aurora, N., Herrera, L., Bhatia, M., Wilen, E., & Wakefield, S. (2017). Gut microbiota’s effect on mental health: The gut–brain axis. Clinical Practice, 7(4), 987. https://doi.org/10.4081/cp.2017.987
Appleton, J. (2018, August). The gut-brain axis: Influence of microbiota on Mood and Mental Health. Integrative medicine (Encinitas, Calif.). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6469458/
Comments