Genes and Mood: How Serotonin Can Affect Your Mood
/Finding Your Happy Place With Serotonin
In my last blog post, I introduced the topic of Genes and Mood. I talked specifically about how dopamine is your “good job” and “pat on the back” brain hormone and how cortisol plays a key role in fight or flight which you might otherwise know as your stress response. Too little dopamine and you’re struggling to get off the couch or get motivated. To much and you might be literally bouncing off the walls, looking for the next thrill to make your day, or be lying in bed at night looking at the ceiling. Too much cortisol and you’re a jittery ball of stress. No fun for you or you friends!
In this blog post I am switching gears and focusing on serotonin. Another key brain hormone or communicator which I like to think of as your contentment and happiness communicator.
If you’d like to hear me talk about Serotonin specifically, start the video above at time stamp 40:55. Or listen to the whole video if you want to learn about Dopamine too.
The Ying and Yang of Serotonin
Serotonin is linked to good mood, good outlook and that feeling that all is snug and cozy with life. Of course, there is always a flip side where we find that too little serotonin can lead to depressive symptoms, anxiety, insomnia, panic attacks, headaches, low self-esteem, unusual pain sensitivity, fatigue and overeating. Even weight gain.
That’s a lot of signs and symptoms, which is why figuring out what’s at the heart of how you are feeling and the symptoms you are experiencing, can be a challenge. It turns out that there is an inverse relationship between serotonin and dopamine. High levels of dopamine can drive down serotonin (think of a seesaw) and persistent stress can deplete both of these hormones.
The serotonin receptor gene is called HTR1A and any variants or inefficiencies in this gene can alter serotonin availability.
About 95 percent of serotonin is made in the gut and the rest is made in the brain. This means that if you have a poor diet or poor gut function you may not be making enough serotonin. Add to that poor serotonin binding (HITRA Gene) and you may indeed be searching for serotonin.
With Nutrients…It’s Back To The Gut
Your body has the ability to absorb the information from your diet to do its business on a day-to-day basis. The information your body needs comes from food and food supplies the base nutrients to build Serotonin (our hormone of focus here) and other hormones. BUT If you can't get essential nutrients absorbed from your gut, or produced by your gut, how are you going to get to your happy place?
This is why we say that the gut is connected to the brain. It is
Bacteria in your gut can make up to 95% of the serotonin your body needs (If you can get it where it’s needed).
This requires both a healthy gut and a diet providing the “information” your gut bacteria needs so that they can perform the tryptophan to serotonin transformation act.
Now if we want to talk about making serotonin outside the gut, Serotonin needs the same starter amino acid molecule, tryptophan. Tryptophan starter foods include pumpkin seeds and sesame seeds. Notice I said that Tryptophan is the starter molecule. It has to be transformed into the active serotonin hormone. This requires a whole bunch of enzymes. And as you know from me, enzymes need support which in this case is in the form of vitamins B3, B6, folate and C, and the minerals magnesium and zinc.
So if you want to get to your happy place, getting the right starter nutrients and a slew of vitamins and minerals is non-negotiable.
It all comes back to providing your body with all the information it needs to function and a healthy gut to transform or absorb the information. You cannot trick your gut, or your brain.
If you’re interested in getting some building blocks in place to get to your happy place, download our Serotonin Boosting Recipe Pack above.
Calm Comes In Another Molecular Package Too!
GABA is another communicating molecule or brain hormone that is linked to calmness and good mood. It helps you feel at ease and mediates anxiety and panicky feeling. Think of GABA as the great soother in your brain.
In order to work, GABA needs to bind to the receptor called GABRA2. If the gene for GABRA2 has any modifications (variants), the efficiency of GABA uptake and utilization by your body can be impacted
But as with all neurotransmitters and hormones, you've got to have the base nutrient building blocks and your gut has to be in working order to help improve your mood.
When it comes to GABA, the base building block is glutamine. Glutamine is converted into glutamate (and vice versa actually), and requires Vitamin B6. See you can never get away from those vitamins and minerals! Fortunately, glutamine is found abundantly in high protein food sources, perhaps making it the most abundant amino acid in the body’s protein pool. However, human beware, it is rapidly depleted during illness or high stress demands on the body. Perhaps this is why people feel so anxious when they are sick. Think about it…
Key Take-Aways
Overall, when we look at genetics and your genes, they can influence how your body handles certain information and nutrients, but they're also bathed by the environment that we put them in.
Your moods and mental health are intimately connected to your genes via chemicals called neurotransmitters and hormones.
Genes encode for enzymes needed to create neurotransmitters and hormones as well as the receptors that can impact how well you utilize them.
Nutrients can impact your ability to make and break down important neurotransmitters and hormones (e.g., dopamine, serotonin).
Many other genes (which we did not talk about) can influence your behavior, impulsivity, compulsivity and mood swings. Depending on their variants they can potentially heighten the sensations you receive from dopamine and serotonin.
Genes are ONE tool a clinician may consider to evaluate your serotonin, GABA (dopamine and cortisol) levels and their impact on how you feel.
We NEVER guess how your genes are influencing your mood. We always use additional laboratory testing to validate, as well as a conversation with you as an individual.
Gene information and nutrition provide useful insights into your mood-brain connection. They show us patterns, but are not diagnostic and do not replace medical advice or behavioral therapy.
At the Genomic Kitchen, my work is in the interpretation of DNA information and how I can correlate that with nutrients and food, your diet and exercise. Learn more about my work.
MEDICAL DISCLAIMER: If you're someone who's really been struggling with mood, anxiety, really not sure from one day to the next which end is up, then it is really important that you talk with a licensed healthcare provider, behavioral therapist or your doctor. All of these individuals have expertise in that space, especially if there is a medical component.
