Hello and welcome to Zoe Recap, where each week we find the best bits from one of our podcast episodes to help you improve your health.

Today we're exploring the connection between your gut and your brain.

For years, the brain was seen as somewhat detached from other parts of our body, working in isolation above all else.

However, emerging research is flipping our idea of the brain on its head.

Scientists now know that the gut acts like a second brain,

influencing everything from our mood and memory to our risk of neurological disease.

So have we been neglecting a vital piece of the brain health puzzle?

Joining me to unpack this topic is Professor John Cryan, a world-leading expert in the gut-brain axis.

He's here to explain how the two communicate and what you can do to support that connection.

Are there links between the gut and the brain?

What we know now, and there's been an evolution over the last two decades, I would say,

is that there is now concrete evidence that the composition of the microbes in your gut

influences brain development, influences brain function, and can help steer the brain in specific ways.

The evidence is coming largely from studies in animal models.

And John, just to make sure everyone is an animal model, what does that mean?

Usually a mouse or a rat.

Because we can get mice that can grow up without microbes, ever having a microbe,

you know, if you want to find out

if something is important in a process, we know from engineering or other areas of biology that

if you take it out and see what happens, it's probably one of the best ways to see if it's important.

So mice that have grown up without bacteria, they allow us to answer the question, is the microbiome

relevant yes or no?

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