When the gut is under stress ..BY: By Yam Cher Seng.

(From New Straits Times (Malaysia))

BAYLISS and Starling were the first scientists to observe that even after all the extrinsic nerves from the brain to the gut have been severed, it was still able to propel food through the digestive tract. Modern science confirms that the gut is innervated with its own nervous system called the enteric nervous system. The sensation of butterflies in the stomach and feeling all knotted up inside are just some of the emotional signs of the gut under stress. No wonder it is sometimes referred to as the second brain.

The enteric nervous system ensures that the gut environment is self- cleaning by working together with the immune system to defend the bowel and regulating the rate of proliferation and growth of mucosal …