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.

Today my guest is Dr. Justin Saunenberg.

Dr. Saunenberg is a professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford School of Medicine

and one of the world's leading experts on the gut microbiome.

The gut microbiome is the existence of trillions of little microorganisms throughout your gut.

And by your gut I don't just mean your stomach, I mean your entire digestive tract.

Turns out we also have a microbiome that exists in our nose, in any other location in which our body interfaces with the outside world.

In fact there's a microbiome on your skin and while it might seem kind of intrusive or kind of disgusting to have all these little microorganisms,

they can be immensely beneficial for our health, meaning our hormonal health, our brain health and our immune system function.

Dr. Saunenberg teaches us about the gut microbiome, how it's organized, especially meaning which microbiota live where he teaches us about these incredible things called crypts and niches,

which are little caves within our digestive tract that certain microbiota take residence and at that premiere real estate they're able to do incredible things to support our health.

He also talks about the things that we can all do to support our microbiome in order for our microbiome to support our brain and body health.

Dr. Saunenberg co-runs his laboratory with his spouse, Dr. Erica Saunenberg, and together they've also written a terrific and highly informative book called The Good Gut,

taking control of your weight, your mood and your long term health.

Even though that book was written a few years back, the information still holds up very nicely.

And today he also builds on that information informing us about recent studies that for instance point to the important role of fermented foods and the role of fiber in supporting a healthy gut microbiome.

So if you heard about the gut microbiome or even if you haven't, today you're going to hear about it from one of the world's leading experts, he makes it immensely clear as to what it is, how it functions and how to support it for your brain and body health.

During today's discussion, we don't just talk about nutrition, we also talk about the impact of behaviors and the microbiome.

Behaviors such as who you touch, who you kiss, who you hug, whether or not you interact with or avoid animals, whether or not those animals belong to you, or whether or not they belong to somebody else.

If all that sounds a little bit bizarre, you'll soon understand that your microbiome is constantly being modified by the behavioral interactions, the nutritional interactions, and indeed your mood and internal reactions to the outside world.

This is an incredible system. Everyone has one. Everyone should know how it works and everyone should know how to optimize it. And today you're going to learn all of that from Dr. Saunenberg.

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