The Science of Your Gut Sense & the Gut-Brain Axis | Dr. Diego Bohórquez

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Diego Bohórquez. Dr. Diego Bohórquez is a professor of medicine and neurobiology at Duke University. He did his training in gastrointestinal physiology and nutrition and later neuroscience. And by combining that unique training and expertise, he is considered a pioneer and leader in so-called gut sensing or the gut brain axis. Now, when most people hear the words gut brain axis, they immediately think of the so-called microbiome, which is extremely important. But that is not the topic of Dr. Bohórquez's expertise. Dr. Bohórquez focuses on the actual sensing that occurs within one's gut, just as one would sense light with their eyes or sound waves with their ears for hearing. Our gut contains receptors that respond to specific components of food, including amino acids, fats, sugars, and other aspects of food, including temperature, acidity, and other micronutrients that are contained in food, that give our gut the clear picture of what is happening at the level of the types and qualities of food that we ingest, and then communicate that below our conscious detection to our brain, in order to drive specific patterns of thinking, emotion, and behavior. And of course, everybody has heard of our so-called gut sense, or our ability to believe or feel certain things based on perceptions that are below or somehow different from conventional language. Today, Dr. Borges teaches us about all aspects of gut sensing, how it occurs at the level of specific neurons and neural circuits, how the brain responds to that, how specific foods and components of food impact, not just our feeling of digestion or feeling good or bad about what we ate, but indeed how we feel overall, how safe we feel, how excited we feel, whether or not we feel depressed or sad, angry or happy. Today's discussion, I promise you, is unique among all discussions of neuroscience, at least that I've heard previously, in that it combines two seemingly disparate fields, nutrition and neuroscience. Indeed, today's discussion gets into how different foods and food combinations impact how we feel and what we crave and what we tend to avoid. We also get to hear the absolutely extraordinary story of Dr. Bohórquez upbringing in the Amazon jungle and how his knowledge and intuition about plants has influenced his science and how the incredible science that his laboratory is doing relates to all of us and our ability to better tap into our gut sense. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, I'd like to thank the sponsors of today's podcast. Our first sponsor is Joovv. Joovv makes medical-grade red light therapy devices. Now, if there's one thing that I've consistently emphasized on this podcast, it's the incredible impact that light, meaning photons, can have on our mental health and physical health. Red and near-infrared light has been shown to have profound effects on improving cellar health, which can help with faster muscle recovery, boosting healthier skin, reducing pain and inflammation, enhancing sleep, and much more. What sets Joovv apart is that it uses clinically effective wavelengths, emits a safe and effective dose of red and near-infrared light, and most importantly, offers the only true medical-grade red light panel available. I personally try to use the handheld Joovv Go unit, as it's called, every day, and especially when I'm on the road traveling. If you'd like to try Joovv, you can go to joovv.com/huberman. That's joovv.com/huberman.
Joovv is offering an exclusive discount to Huberman Lab podcast listeners with up to $400 off Joovv products. Again, that's joovv.com/huberman. Today's episode is also brought to us by Element. Element is an electrolyte drink that has everything you need. That means the electrolyte, sodium, magnesium and potassium in the correct amounts and ratios and nothing you don't, which means no sugar. Now, I and others on this podcast have talked about the critical importance of hydration for proper brain and body functioning. Even a slight degree of dehydration can diminish cognitive and physical performance. It's also important that you get adequate electrolytes. The electrolytes, sodium, magnesium and potassium, are critical for the functioning of all the cells in your body, especially your neurons, your nerve cells. Drinking element dissolved in water makes it very easy to ensure that you're getting adequate hydration and adequate electrolytes. To make sure I'm getting proper amounts of hydration and electrolytes, I dissolve one packet of element in about 16 to 32 ounces of water when I wake up in the morning and I drink that basically first thing in the morning. I'll also drink element dissolved in water during any kind of physical exercise I'm doing, especially in hot days when I'm sweating a lot, losing water and electrolytes. They have a bunch of different great tasting flavors of element. My favorite is the watermelon, although I confess I also like the raspberry and the citrus. Basically, I like all the flavors. And element has also just released a new line of canned sparkling element. So these aren't the packets you dissolve in water. These are cans of element that you crack open like any other can drink, like a soda, but you're getting your hydration and your electrolytes with no sugar. If you'd like to try element, you can go to drink element spelled lmnt.com/huberman to claim a free element sample pack with the purchase of any element drink mix. Again, that's drink element.com/huberman to claim a free sample pack. Today's episode is also brought to us by Helix Sleep. Helix Sleep makes mattresses and pillows that are of the absolute highest quality. Now I've spoken many times before on this and other podcasts about the fact that getting a great night's sleep is the foundation of mental health, physical health and performance. When we aren't doing that on a consistent basis, everything suffers. And when we are sleeping well and enough, our mental health, physical health and performance in all endeavors improves markedly. Helix mattresses are different in that they are customized to your unique sleep needs. So if you go to the Helix website, you take a brief two minute quiz and it asks you questions such as do you sleep on your back, your side of your stomach? Do you tend to run hot or cold during the night? Things of that sort. Maybe you know the answers to those questions. Maybe you don't. Either way, Helix will match you to the ideal mattress for you. For me, that turned out to be the dusk mattress. I started sleeping on a dusk mattress about three and a half years ago, and it's been far and away the best sleep that I've ever had because it's customized to my unique sleep needs. So if you go to helixsleep.com/huberman and take that brief two minute quiz, you can figure out what mattress is ideal for your unique sleep needs. For the remainder of this month, May 2024, Helix is giving up to 30% off mattresses and two free pillows as part of their Memorial Day offer. Simply go to helixsleep.com/huberman to get 30% off and two free pillows. And now for my discussion with Dr. Diego Bohórquez. Dr. Diego Bohórquez, great to have you here.