We all suffer from stomach upsets time to time and put it down to a dodgy dinner
or a bit of excess over the weekend. Herein lies the problem, how seriously do we
take our digestive system? Learning to live with it so to speak is an attitude which
1 in 5 people in Britain do when it comes to IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). IBS is
a term used to cover anything from constipation, constipation and diarrhea amongst
the more commonly known illnesses. IBS is also amongst the worst diagnosed
conditions because of a general lack of awareness and education.

As reported in the UK’s Daily Telegraph recently, things could be about to change as
people begin to realize the importance of the gut and the role it plays in keeping
everything else in the body functioning. Referred to as the ‘second brain’ by experts in
this field particularly lead by Michael Gershon, a professor of anatomy and cell biology
at Columbia University in New York, the gastrointestinal tract qualifies as a
‘second brain’ because it can function by its own.

‘When I was at medical school I was taught erroneously that the brain controlled everything
– including the gut,’ he says. ‘In fact, if you cut the vagus nerve – the major nerve between
the brain and the gut – the gut would soldier on. We now know it can work completely
independently of the brain and spinal cord. While the “first brain” gets on with religion,
philosophy and poetry, the “second brain” deals with the messy business of digestion.’

Importantly diseases like Parkinson’s, osteoporosis and autism display early symptoms
in the gut.

‘It has been found that mimicking signals from the gut to the brain by stimulating the vagus
nerve can improve learning and memory, and regulate mood. It’s been used as a treatment
for epilepsy and depression, and could help conditions such as Alzheimer’s, migraine and
tinnitus.’

Given how much bacteria passes in and out of our bodies, what we eat and how much we eat
takes on even bigger significance when confronting IBS. As the Daily Telegraph reported this
month treating ‘our guts with the kind of reverence and respect we tend to afford other parts of
our bodies’ is the best possible way to combat IBS.

As Gershon says, eating a well balanced and healthy diet is the way forward. Green vegetables,
fibre and cutting down on sugar, coffee and alcohol are to be recommended.

Charlie Inglefield

Technology continues to pave the way forward on improving patient diagnosis
and monitoring. Electronic skin patches with the thickness of a human hair have
been introduced to check your heart rate and other vital bodily signs.

As recently reported in the UK’s Daily Mail, Professor John Rogers of Illinois
University and his team have been working on creating skin patches which
can be used by healthy people and for those with ongoing medical conditions.
Looking at the wider scope, having a health and wellness monitoring tool for
individuals who are in decent health will help diagnose early signs of a medical
problem.

If this latest technology innovation proves to be successful then GP appointments
could be significantly reduced, with obvious financial and HCP resource advantages.
For normal electrical procedures like ECGs and EEGs which are normally carried out
in a clinic, a patch can now do a similar job but within the comfort of a patient’s home.

These products are due to be launched in the US towards the end of the year.

Charlie Inglefield