131: How Your Gut is Speaking With Your Brain | Dr. Azza Gadir, PhD

There's a community of 38,000,000,000,000 microorganisms (mostly bacteria) living in and on us. Seeded by our mothers, this is our microbiome—our non-human half we can’t live without. In an astonishing journey of symbiosis, microbes co-evolved with us, carrying in their genes, and therefore in us, the entire history of the world.

The gut. Microbiome. Microbiota. Probiotics, probiotics. What on earth are these words and how do they affect the brain? We have all heard of the gut brain axis. I know I see the word being thrown around and it’s almost impossible to not want to know more about it. 

This subject has always been a mystery to me because like you will learn in this episode, the microbiome is an entire universe. It takes so much knowledge and time to really understand it and it’s relation to our lives and our health. So in order to understand this fully and in more depth I recruited the amazing Dr. Azza Gadir to the neuro experience to explore the depths of microbiome with us. 

Azza is an immunologist who completed her postdoctoral training in the laboratory at Harvard Medical School where her published research was focused on the immunological mechanisms that underlie the role of the gut microbiome in conferring protection to diseases early in life. For this work, she holds issued and pending patents and has collaborated with industry partners to accelerate the discovery of microbiome-related immunotherapies for food allergy.

She is also the head of research and development at Seed. If you haven’t checked them out please do so on Instagram and you will be just as inspired as me when you see their work of art literally coming to life on your phone. 

Seed is an ecosystem of scientists, doctors, innovators, entrepreneurs, and translational storytellers from around the world. Who collectively believe in the potential of the microbiome to improve human and planetary health. Together, they're raising the bar in bacteria.

In this episode you will learn: 

1. What is the microbiome and how does it play a role in our BrainHealth 
2. Azza Gadir’s career from start to finish- how women in science are shaping the world
3. What is the immune system and the ‘gut microbiome’ 
4. The link between neurodegenerative disease and the gut microbiome 
5. What is B12 deficiency and is it related to the gut microbiome? 
6. How can we impact the function of our microbiome 
7. What is the ‘gut-brain axis’ and the link between mental health and gut bacteria
8. Best diet to eat for a health microbiome 
9. How to protect your gut throughout the lifespan 

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