Dr. Veronica Di Nardo, Biologist Nutritionist, is adjunct Professor at Guglielmo Marconi University in Rome where she teaches nutrition and antiaging life style. Dr. Veronica Di Nardo is European Second Level Master in Integrative Oncology.

2017 Lecture: The Second Brain for Your Healthy Aging.

The human gut plays host to a multitude of microorganisms: bacteria, archaea, yeasts, single-celled eukaryotes, as well as helminth parasites and viruses, including bacteriophages, collectively referred to as the microbiota. The interaction between the bacteria and host is mutually beneficial with the bacteria involved in energy regulation, gut barrier function, protection from pathogens, and immune system function amongst others, while the host provides the nutrients and environment in which the bacteria can thrive.

In the gut there is a real "second brain" that bidirectionally communicates with the first brain. At the center of this communication is the bacterial population residing within the gastro-intestinal tract. This population can affect our emotions. This system uses several lines of communication with the central nervous system: essentially the bloodstream and the vagus nerve. Dysbiosis of the gut bacteria communities can cause many chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, cancer and autism. In the case of Leaky Gut Syndrome, an alteration of gut permeability, the translocation of bacterial products (in particular inflammatory cytokines) which pass through blood brain barrier into the blood, is mechanism responsible for behavioral changes.