Good Book on the Digestion-Brain Connection

[Guest guest]

Here's a good book that explains the relationship between what happens

in the digestive tract and how that relates to behavior. You can Google

the title and find where it's sold in your area...*

The Second Brain: A Groundbreaking New Understanding of Nervous

Disorders of the Stomach and Intestine (Paperback) *

by Gershon

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/002-1804727-7627264?%5Fenco\

ding=UTF8 & search-type=ss & index=books & field-author=%20Gershon>

(Author)

*Average customer rating: *

*the other white matter*

Gershon is apparently the father of neurogastroenterology, the

science behind the " brain " that resides in the digestive system. This

second brain is just like the first one, being composed of the same

types of cells and using the same neurotransmitters. Consequently both

brains are affected by many of the same drugs and diseases, even though

they operate largely independently. It's not an easy read, as Gershon is

not afraid to use heavy-duty technical lingo in his detailed

descriptions of experiments and theories. He also has a weird sense of

humor that actually grew on me as I read the book. One of the sections

is entitled " Everything has its place, especially gastric juice " . I

notice that the hardcover edition of the book was advertised as a

description of " the scientific basis of gut instinct. " Thankfully that's

not true, nor does the book provide anything that could possibly be of

interest to fans of alternative medicine. Buyers should also be aware

that the book does not contain any advice about which diets or

treatments might be effective for the various diseases that affect the

digestive system. Instead, the book provides a very interesting

description of the kinds of intellectual challenges that motivate

scientists to investigate complex biological phenomena, even those that

are somewhat smelly.

*Important read...*

Honestly, I have not been able to complete this book because I bought it

for my Dad to read. The little I was able to read before I gave it away

was very informative. Dr. Gershon writes clearly and concise. You don't

have to be a doctor to understand his book. He starts out by explaining

the inner workings of the intestines and then proceeds on with how it

really does have a mind of its own. I highly recommend this book if you

or someone you know has or has had an intestinal disorder. Even if

that's not the case, I think this book holds a lot of important

information for someone who is healthy.

*A wonderful and fascinating read....*

Gershon is a gifted writer and equally gifted scientist. He

takes the world of the gut and explains its workings in great detail

eliminating historical misunderstandings and common misperceptions along

the way. thought his development of the history of the branches of the

nervous system was fascinating and demonstrated some of the politics and

the effects of unexamined assumptions on how scientific discoveries are

interpreted. There is an extensive section on the use of various toxins

to discover how the nervous system was organized and this section is

developed very logically and includes a lot of interesting scientific

history. Sometimes, it included more than I wanted to know, but I must

say he was very comprehensive. This book is also well organized in

thorough in every respect. The tour of the GI is well done and includes

all the important things one would want to know. I have a very good

background in biology and for me this book was a pleasant read. However,

it is not always an easy read and it certainly doesn't read like a dime

store novel. It is a book that is intellectually challenging, but

fascinating and relatively easy to read considering the scope and depth

of the topic This is not a quick fix manual for people with

gastrointestinal ailments. It is more about how the gut is built and how

it works. It would be useful book for someone with gastrointestinal

ailments for understanding this part of the body, but the emphasis is

not on disease mechanisms and treatments. If that is the only thing you

are looking for, then this book may not be for you. I think we all admit

tacitly at some level that the gut has some sort of special relation to

the rest of the body in terms of sophisticated neurological processing.

I think this is revealed by common sayings such as " I have butterflies

in my stomach " or " I had a gut feeling something was wrong. " Gershon

presents a plausible explanation for the sophistication of the GI tract

that sheds some light on why these expressions may have entered our

lexicon. If you are interested in the mind-body connection, this is also

a useful book. It reopens many questions about the gut and how it

interacts or works independently of the brain. It is great food for

thought that reopens a lot of questions about how the body is organized

and the relationship of the brain to the internal workings of the body.

I'm not saying it's revolutionary, but it certainly challenges the

current paradigm in some significant ways. Some interesting facts that

Gershon bring up is that the vast majority of serotonin is made in the

gut, not the brain. He also points out that if the vagus nerve is cut,

the bowel can still go on functioning without input from the brain. He

also talks about the density of neurons in the gut and how no other area

of the body except the brain can match it. These facts have interesting

implications and lead one to formulate some interesting questions for

reflection.

____________________________________________________________

GET FREE 5GB EMAIL - Check out spam free email with many cool features!

Visit http://www.inbox.com/email to find out more!