Coprophagia, Pica, Dimentia

Here are two articles that appeared side-by-side in Medical Express today:

Brain scans of dementia patients with coprophagia showed neurodegeneration

Mouse study finds link between gut bacteria and neurogenesis

Anybody see where I'm going with this?

A couple quotes from these papers:

From the human study:

Brain scans of the six dementia patients showed medial temporal lobe atrophy, including a part of the brain called the amygdala, had moderate to severe atrophy. The cause of degeneration was unknown, although one patient who had died with a brain autopsy showed a type of brain degeneration known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Dr. Josephs says.

Additional behaviors were common in these patients, including scatolia (fecal smearing), hypersexuality, aggression and pica (eating objects of any kind).

And from the mouse paper:

Antibiotics strong enough to kill off gut bacteria can also stop the growth of new brain cells in the hippocampus, a section of the brain associated with memory, reports a study in mice published May 19 in Cell Reports. Researchers also uncovered a clue to why— a type of white blood cell seems to act as a communicator between the brain, the immune system, and the gut.  

Luckily, the adverse side effects of the antibiotics could be reversed. Mice who received probiotics or who exercised on a wheel after receiving antibiotics regained memory and neurogenesis. 

I think that our gut bugs try really hard to help us out, forcing us to eat our own feces, or crazy powders, in an attempt to restore balance. The usual cure, as stated in the human paper, is "Behavioral modifications, such as restrictive clothing and drug therapy with antiepileptics and antidepressants."

Did you know that eating crazy, non-food items like raw starch is also a considered a mental disease?

A Little Known Eating Disorder Is on the Rise

Some pica behaviors involve substances that are foods but are not usually eaten alone or in large quantities. For example, small amounts of cornstarch thicken gravies and fruit pies. People with amylophagia may eat two or three boxes of cornstarch a week. Ingesting one-half box or more of cornstarch daily releases enough sugar into the blood stream to send blood glucose levels rocketing...

Since pica is generally considered an obsessive-compulsive or addictive disorder, the services of a qualified psychologist or psychologist may be just what you need to help you combat your eating disorder and return to good mental and physical health.

Anybody else think there is a connection here?  Call me crazy, but maybe we need to promote the eating of certain starchy things, not commit people who crazily gobble raw starch.

Later!
Tim