In this episode, my guest is Dr. Diego Bohórquez, PhD, professor of medicine and neurobiology at Duke University and a pioneering researcher into how we use our ‘gut sense.’ He describes how your gut communicates to your brain and the rest of your body through hormones and neural connections to shape your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. He explains how your gut senses a range of features such as temperature, pH, the macro- and micronutrients in our foods, and much more and signals that information to the brain to affect our food preferences, aversions, and cravings.

Dr. Bohórquez describes his early life in the Amazon jungle and how exposure to traditional agriculture inspired his unique expertise combining nutrition, gastrointestinal physiology, and neuroscience. We discuss how the gut and brain integrate sensory cues, leading to our intuitive “gut sense” about food, people, and situations. This episode provides a scientific perspective into your gut sense to help you make better food choices and, indeed, to support better decision-making in all of life.

For show notes, including referenced articles and additional resources, please visit hubermanlab.com.

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Timestamps

00:00:00 Dr. Diego Bohórquez

00:02:37 Sponsors: Joovv, LMNT & Helix Sleep; YouTube, Spotify & Apple Subscribe

00:06:49 Gut-Brain Axis

00:11:35 Gut Sensing, Hormones

00:15:26 Green Fluorescent Protein; Neuropod Cells & Environment Sensing

00:26:57 Brain & Gut Connection, Experimental Tools & Rabies Virus

00:35:28 Sponsor: AG1

00:37:00 Neuropod Cells & Nutrient Sensing

00:43:55 Gastric Bypass Surgery, Cravings & Food Choice

00:51:14 Optogenetics; Sugar Preference & Neuropod Cells

01:00:29 Gut-Brain Disorders, Irritable Bowel Syndrome

01:03:03 Sponsor: InsideTracker

01:04:04 Gut & Behavior; Gastric Bypass, Cravings & Alcohol

01:07:38 GLP-1, Ozempic, Neuropod Cells

01:11:46 Food Preference & Gut-Brain Axis, Protein

01:21:35 Protein & Sugar, Agriculture & ‘Three Sisters’

01:25:16 Childhood, Military School; Academics, Nutrition & Nervous System

01:36:15 Plant Wisdom, Agriculture, Indigenous People

01:41:48 Evolution of Food Choices; Learning from Plants

01:48:15 Plant-Based Medicines; Amazonia, Guayusa Ritual & Chonta Palm

01:56:58 Yerba Mate, Chocolate, Guayusa

02:00:22 Brain, Gut & Sensory Integration; Variability

02:06:01 Electrical Patterns in Gut & Brain, “Hangry”

02:12:43 Gut Intuition, Food & Bonding; Subconscious & Superstition

02:22:00 Vagus Nerve & Learning, Humming

02:26:46 Digestive System & Memory; Body Sensing

02:32:51 Listening to the Body, Meditation

02:40:12 Zero-Cost Support, Spotify & Apple Reviews, YouTube Feedback, Sponsors, Social Media, Neural Network Newsletter

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