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

In this episode, my guest is Dr. Diego Bohórquez, PhD, professor of medicine and neurobiology at Duke University and a pioneering researcher into how we use our ‘gut sense.’ He describes how your gut communicates to your brain and the rest of your body through hormones and neural connections to shape your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. He explains how your gut senses a range of features such as temperature, pH, the macro- and micronutrients in our foods, and much more and signals that information to the brain to affect our food preferences, aversions, and cravings.
Dr. Bohórquez describes his early life in the Amazon jungle and how exposure to traditional agriculture inspired his unique expertise combining nutrition, gastrointestinal physiology, and neuroscience. We discuss how the gut and brain integrate sensory cues, leading to our intuitive “gut sense” about food, people, and situations. This episode provides a scientific perspective into your gut sense to help you make better food choices and, indeed, to support better decision-making in all of life.
For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com.
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Timestamps
00:00:00 Dr. Diego Bohórquez
00:02:37 Sponsors: Joovv, LMNT & Helix Sleep; YouTube, Spotify & Apple Subscribe
00:06:49 Gut-Brain Axis
00:11:35 Gut Sensing, Hormones
00:15:26 Green Fluorescent Protein; Neuropod Cells & Environment Sensing
00:26:57 Brain & Gut Connection, Experimental Tools & Rabies Virus
00:35:28 Sponsor: AG1
00:37:00 Neuropod Cells & Nutrient Sensing
00:43:55 Gastric Bypass Surgery, Cravings & Food Choice
00:51:14 Optogenetics; Sugar Preference & Neuropod Cells
01:00:29 Gut-Brain Disorders, Irritable Bowel Syndrome
01:03:03 Sponsor: InsideTracker
01:04:04 Gut & Behavior; Gastric Bypass, Cravings & Alcohol
01:07:38 GLP-1, Ozempic, Neuropod Cells
01:11:46 Food Preference & Gut-Brain Axis, Protein
01:21:35 Protein & Sugar, Agriculture & ‘Three Sisters’
01:25:16 Childhood, Military School; Academics, Nutrition & Nervous System
01:36:15 Plant Wisdom, Agriculture, Indigenous People
01:41:48 Evolution of Food Choices; Learning from Plants
01:48:15 Plant-Based Medicines; Amazonia, Guayusa Ritual & Chonta Palm
01:56:58 Yerba Mate, Chocolate, Guayusa
02:00:22 Brain, Gut & Sensory Integration; Variability
02:06:01 Electrical Patterns in Gut & Brain, “Hangry”
02:12:43 Gut Intuition, Food & Bonding; Subconscious & Superstition
02:22:00 Vagus Nerve & Learning, Humming
02:26:46 Digestive System & Memory; Body Sensing
02:32:51 Listening to the Body, Meditation
02:40:12 Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, YouTube Feedback, Sponsors, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter
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