Are Bacteria Making You Hungry?

Gastrointestinal Bacteria play an important role in your everyday life as they can have varying affects.  They are hosted in your stomach and feed on all the same nutrients you do and also creating byproducts of microbes in the process.  These microbes interfere with the nervous system and can affect our mood.  They produce hormones such as the neurotransmitters tryptophan, tyrosine, and GABA.  These are mood altering and affect serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain. Dopamine and serotonin affects ones mood, depression, appetite, and sleeping.  If these bacteria are in our gut directly communicating with our brains the way they do themselves it could lead to plenty of possibilities understand chemical imbalances and correlating some mental problems to diet.  The gut bacteria could even be controlling our mood for food picking what they want to eat.  I think we need to understand how much of the bacteria’s actions are natural and how much we need to avoid creating a balance. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121219142301.htm