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Dr. Ari | Brain Health & Neurodevelopment | Pregnancy+

@dr.aricalhoun

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Supporting healthy brains from the womb onwards!
😊Holistically optimizing neurodevelopment and emotional regulation by addressing the root cause.

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🧠🔥 CHRONIC STRESS DOESN’T JUST STAY IN YOUR HEAD — IT CAN REACH YOUR GUT.

Research suggests psychological stress can precede and aggravate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) flares through the two-way gut–brain–immune axis.

Persistent stress can alter several systems at once: the HPA axis increases CRH → ACTH → cortisol; sympathetic “fight-or-flight” activity rises while vagal anti-inflammatory signalling may fall; inflammatory pathways involving NF-κB, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 and IL-23 can become more active; and the microbiome may shift toward dysbiosis, fewer SCFA-producing bacteria and weaker gut-barrier integrity.

The communication also travels back to the brain. Gut inflammation, immune signals, microbial metabolites, pain and poor sleep may contribute to anxiety, low mood, fatigue, irritability, hypervigilance and brain fog.

Importantly, stress does not cause IBD by itself. But it may worsen symptoms, disease activity and quality of life—making stress management a meaningful part of whole-person care.

🧬 Biological: sleep, regular movement, nutritious foods, hydration and appropriate medical care.
🧠 Psychological: CBT/ACT strategies, slow breathing, mindfulness and reframing symptom fear.
🤝 Social: connection, peer support and coordinated gastro + mental-health care.
🌿 Environmental: predictable routines, bathroom access, reduced overload and recovery time.

A useful starting point: track stress and gut symptoms together to identify patterns and triggers.

📚 Key research:
Ge Y et al. Frontiers in Immunology (2022). doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.1016578
Black J et al. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2022). doi: 10.1111/apt.17202

The brain affects the gut. The gut affects the brain. Better care may need to address both.

Asphar Mental Health Neuroscience
🌐 www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

Education only — not personal medical advice.

#GutBrainAxis #IBD #MentalHealth #Neuroscience #ChronicStress GutHealth Microbiome Inflammation VagusNerve HPAaxis Psychoneuroimmunology BrainHealth

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🧠 NEW DISCOVERY IN A 2026 CREATINE STUDY

Creatine may be doing far more than helping build muscle.

A new 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial studied 10 g/day of creatine monohydrate in healthy sedentary adults aged 45–65. The results suggest potential benefits across muscle, cognition and metabolic health.

Remarkably, participants taking creatine without structured exercise gained about 1.1 kg (2.4 lb) of lean tissue over 12 weeks, alongside improvements in strength and muscular endurance. The exercise + diet + creatine group also gained lean tissue and achieved greater reductions in body-fat percentage.

🧠 And the brain findings were particularly interesting.

Creatine was associated with improvements in selected measures of delayed word recall, episodic memory, picture-recognition speed and cognitive processing speed. But not every cognitive test improved, and the researchers emphasise that these individual cognitive findings were exploratory.

Why might this happen?

Creatine helps maintain the phosphocreatine → ATP energy-buffering system. The brain is extraordinarily energy demanding, and supplementation can increase cerebral creatine/phosphocreatine availability, potentially supporting ATP regeneration when neuronal energy demand rises.

The study also reported favourable changes in selected metabolic markers, including HbA1c and some blood lipids, although these findings also require confirmation.

The bigger picture

Creatine isn’t a replacement for resistance training, nutrition, sleep or mental-health treatment. But the evidence increasingly suggests we should stop thinking of creatine purely as a bodybuilding supplement.

Muscle energy. Brain energy. Healthy ageing. One remarkably well-studied molecule.

📚 Chun J, Liu Y, Kibler GL, et al. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2026;23(Suppl 1):2716273.
DOI: 10.1080/15502783.2026.2716273.

Education only — not medical advice.

#Creatine #CreatineMonohydrate #Neuroscience #BrainHealth #MentalHealth HealthyAgeing Cognition Memory MuscleHealth Longevity ExerciseScience AspharMentalHealthNeuroscience

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🧠 PSYCHOSIS MAY NOT BE ONE DISORDER — IT MAY REFLECT SHARED BRAIN CIRCUITS DISRUPTED IN DIFFERENT WAYS.

A new 2026 Neuron review proposes a transdiagnostic model for understanding hallucinations, delusions and disorganised thinking across psychiatric and neurological disorders.

Instead of asking only “What diagnosis is this?”, neuroscience may increasingly ask:

“What brain mechanism is producing the symptom?”

The framework connects:

🧬 Neurochemistry: dopamine, glutamate, GABA, serotonin and acetylcholine can alter neuronal gain and synaptic signalling.

⚡ Prediction & salience: disrupted weighting between sensory evidence, prediction errors and internal expectations may cause internally generated information to feel unusually important or real.

🔄 Brain circuits: these disturbances may spread through cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits and larger brain networks involved in perception, attention, learning and cognitive control.

This could help explain why symptoms such as hearing voices, paranoia, unusual beliefs and disorganised thought can occur across different diagnoses.

The bigger idea:

Symptoms → mechanisms → circuits → more personalised treatment.

Support remains multi-layered: stabilising sleep and physical health, appropriate medication and medical assessment, CBT for psychosis and grounding strategies, supportive relationships, predictable routines and reducing isolation, stress and substance-related triggers. Psychological interventions including CBT have evidence of benefit in psychosis.

📚 FEATURED STUDY
Braun U et al. Circuit mechanisms of psychotic symptoms across disorders. Neuron (2026).
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2026.09.011

Different disorders. Shared circuits. Different contexts.

Save 🔖 • Share ↗️ • Follow for evidence-based mental health neuroscience.

Asphar Mental Health Neuroscience
www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

Education only. New or worsening psychosis or immediate safety concerns require professional assessment.

#Psychosis #Neuroscience #MentalHealth #Schizophrenia #BrainScience Dopamine Hallucinations PredictiveCoding Neuropsychiatry MentalHealthAwareness

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🧬 WORLD FIRST: AI MAPS EVERY POSSIBLE SINGLE-LETTER CHANGE ACROSS THE HUMAN GENOME

Google DeepMind’s AlphaGenome Atlas has precomputed predictions for approximately 9 BILLION possible single-letter DNA changes across the human genome.

Why 9 billion when our genome contains roughly 3 billion DNA positions?

At each position, one DNA letter can potentially be replaced by three alternatives:

~3 billion positions × 3 alternatives ≈ 9 billion possible single-nucleotide variants.

And this is where it gets particularly interesting for neuroscience.

Only around 2% of our genome codes for proteins. Much of the remaining ~98% contains non-coding DNA, including regulatory regions that help determine when, where and how strongly genes are expressed.

AlphaGenome predicts molecular effects involving:

🧬 Gene expression
🔬 Chromatin accessibility
⚙️ Transcription-factor binding
🧩 RNA splicing
🧠 Regulatory processes relevant to brain development and function.

🧠 WHY COULD THIS MATTER FOR MENTAL HEALTH?

Conditions including ADHD, autism, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression are complex and polygenic. Better interpretation of regulatory variants could eventually help researchers investigate:

DNA → gene regulation → cellular function → neural circuits → behaviour

But there is an important distinction:

⚠️ AlphaGenome did not experimentally test 9 billion mutations.

These are AI-generated predictions of molecular effects, which still require biological validation and clinical interpretation.

This isn’t about predicting someone’s destiny. It’s about giving researchers an unprecedented map of where to investigate next.

Genes are not destiny. Biology interacts with development, behaviour and environment.

📚 Primary research:
Avsec Ž et al. Nature (2026), 649:1206–1218.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-10014-0.

Cheng J et al. AlphaGenome Atlas (2026 preprint).

Asphar Mental Health Neuroscience
www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

Education only — not personal medical advice.

#AlphaGenome #Genomics #Genetics #Neuroscience #MentalHealth AI DeepMind BrainHealth MentalHealthNeuroscience

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I’m a naturopathic and homeopathic doctor and a mom of four, and I still don’t have every answer.

That’s exactly why Med School for Moms is a collaborative effort.
Our 100+ protocols, trainings, and resources are shaped by experts across different specialties because no one practitioner should be expected to know everything.

And one of my favorite things in LIFE is sharing what I learn. When I find a resource, expert, or piece of information that could help another mom, I cannot NOT SHARE IT!!

When the question is about teeth, I want you learning from a pediatric dentist. When it’s feeding, I want you hearing from a dietitian. When it’s outside my lane, I want to bring in someone whose lane it is.

More trusted voices. More tools. More confidence to decide what fits your family.

Go show some of my favorite collaborators some love and give them a follow 👇

@drdestagolden
@dr.aricalhoun
@stephgreunke
@nutrition.for.littles
@dranamariatemple
@drjoelgator
@healthykids_happykids
@dr.jess.md
@dr.norazaghi
@doctor_staci
@drtracytran

💛just to mention a few…

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🧠🧬 WHAT IF WE COULD STOP SOME MICROPLASTICS BEFORE THEY CROSS THE GUT BARRIER?

A new Nature Metabolism study adds another piece to the microplastics story. In mice, chronic exposure to micro- and nanoplastics disrupted macrophage function and metabolism — and particle size mattered.

Liver Kupffer cells became a major reservoir for ingested particles. Microplastics impaired cellular clearance and worsened liver lipid accumulation during diet-induced obesity, while smaller nanoplastics altered glucose metabolism and energy expenditure. Small nanoplastics were also detected at low levels in brain microglia.

But there’s another emerging angle: prevention before absorption.

🔬 A separate 2026 Frontiers in Microbiology study investigated Qi601, a heat-inactivated Limosilactobacillus fermentum biofilm-derived postbiotic. During simulated digestion, Qi601 produced ~92% depletion of free 100-nm polystyrene nanoplastic-associated fluorescence and reduced nanoplastic interaction with intestinal Caco-2 cells.

Researchers also conducted a single-person oral proof-of-concept, showing physical association between Qi601 and gum-derived microplastics. However, this did not establish systemic detoxification, safety, clinical efficacy, or removal of plastics already stored in tissues.

The emerging hypothesis is:

MICROPLASTICS → Qi601 sequestration in the gut → ↓ epithelial interaction → potentially ↓ downstream exposure.

Promising? Yes.
Proven clinical treatment? Not yet.

For now, reducing exposure still matters: avoid heating food in plastic, favour glass/stainless steel, reduce unnecessary bottled water and packaging, control household dust, and support gut and metabolic health.

📚 Makdissi et al., Nature Metabolism (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s42255-026-01615-8
Berkes et al., Frontiers in Microbiology (2026). DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1881786.

Emerging science. Novel prevention. Evidence still developing.

Asphar Mental Health Neuroscience
www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

#Microplastics #Nanoplastics #Qi601 #GutHealth #Neuroscience BrainHealth Microglia Inflammation MetabolicHealth MentalHealth EnvironmentalHealth Longevity

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Time for my annual mention of the wonders of xylitol nose sprays! Comment NOSE for links. But also - anyone with a baby and older kids, make a basket!!! The basket does two things:

1. Put them in charge so you can take one thing off your mental load.

2. Covers their nose, throat, and hands - the biggest places to cleanse if preventing germs from entering the house as much as possible.

And before anyone comes for me: YES, I could put carrot sticks in here. And guess what! If your kids would be motivated by carrot sticks, by my guest, but my family is “scrunchy” crunchy and YOLO and they eat packaged snacks sometimes - sue me. It’s just not that serious. 80/20 rule 4 lyfeeeeee! If you have a homemade something, great! For me right now with a newborn and business and 4 other kids whilst homeschooling, I don’t have a homemade bar to put in there and it’s chill 🙃

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🧠 ADHD ISN’T JUST ABOUT ATTENTION — STRESS BIOLOGY MATTERS.

ADHD can involve differences in cortisol, autonomic arousal, dopamine/norepinephrine signalling and prefrontal–limbic circuits. Under stress, this can make attention, working memory, emotional regulation and task initiation harder.

It may also show up as familiar threat-response behaviours:

⚔️ Fight: irritability, arguing, snapping, defensiveness
🏃 Flight: avoidance, distraction, procrastination, leaving the situation
🧊 Freeze: shutdown, blank mind, task paralysis, struggling to start
🤝 Fawn: people-pleasing, over-apologising, masking needs, avoiding conflict

These patterns are not diagnostic, but they can help us recognise overload rather than simply “bad behaviour” or lack of motivation.

Support the whole system with B.P.S.E.:
🧬 Biological — sleep, movement, nutrition, hydration, breathing
🧠 Psychological — CBT/ACT, tiny starts, self-compassion
🤝 Social — support, body doubling, clear communication
🌿 Environmental — reduce sensory load, use visual prompts, build recovery breaks

The goal is not zero stress — it is a nervous system that can regulate, adapt and recover.

🌐 www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

Education only.

#ADHD #AuDHD #FightFlightFreezeFawn #StressResponse #NervousSystem EmotionalRegulation ExecutiveFunction Neuroscience MentalHealthNeuroscience

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My hyperactivity after a conference always rises to extreme levels as I rush to implement all of the health strategies I’ve learned with clients, and of course, my family.

I rushed to my phone to pull out something to post today thinking I might choose some sort of nutritional stat, or protocol of some sort. But instead this little forest-bathing day with Tommy came to mind.

As I attend more functional Pediatric conferences, I can’t help but notice the deeper message beyond the programs, the supplements, the gadgets, etc is really getting back to…. Well this. 🌞🌳💦🏞️

This weekend’s Pediatric Symposium reminded us that the mental vibration we bring as parents and caregivers has proven to be (not surprisingly) tremendously important first-line care and something we all need to get more comfortable embracing.
(Especially those of us in the field who just “know too much” to calm down & let go.🫣

So at home, anytime we can get some co-regulation, where we’re both equally present, often doing something quite simple like hanging out near the river & trees can change our emotional state in a snap which creates so much more space for healing & honestly just makes all the other things work better.

See my stories for so much more from the conference + all the things we do in our sometimes-chaotic house 😊 to create a pretty sweet version of health & balance.
@redefiningmedicine
It all starts with us!
#fxnutriiton
#functionalpediatrics
#nutritionist
#healthykids

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COLD PLUNGES FOR MENTAL HEALTH — HYPE OR HELP? 🧊🧠

Cold exposure is everywhere online, with claims that it can improve mood, reduce stress, sharpen focus and even help depression.

A new Molecular Psychiatry review says the reality is more interesting — and more cautious.

Cold exposure can trigger a powerful cold-shock response:

Cold receptors → brainstem/hypothalamus → sympathetic nervous system + HPA axis → norepinephrine, epinephrine and cortisol

That surge can increase alertness, energy and arousal, and small human studies have reported short-term improvements in mood and changes in brain-network connectivity.

But here’s the important part:

Promising does not mean proven.

Clinical evidence is still limited. There are only a small number of randomized trials in depression, protocols vary widely, sample sizes are often small, and researchers still do not know how long any mental-health benefits last.

Some of the “powerful” feeling may also come from psychology: mastery, expectancy, ritual, challenge and self-efficacy — not cold alone.

So the best current message is:

Cold exposure may be a useful adjunct for some people — but it is not a proven treatment for depression or anxiety.

And extreme cold is not risk-free, particularly for people with cardiovascular, autonomic, respiratory or other medical conditions.

Science first. Hype second.

📚 Browning et al., Molecular Psychiatry, 2026
DOI: 10.1038/s41380-026-03878-9

Save • Share • Follow @Mental_Health_Neuroscience

#ColdPlunge #ColdWaterTherapy #MentalHealthNeuroscience #Neuroscience #MentalHealth Stress Depression Anxiety Norepinephrine BrainHealth ColdExposure

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IG Reel / Carousel Caption

🍔🧠 ULTRA-PROCESSED FOODS DON’T JUST AFFECT THE BODY — THEY MAY ALSO AFFECT THE BRAIN.

A 2025 review in Frontiers in Public Health examined how ultra-processed foods (UPFs) may influence the brain across pregnancy, childhood, adolescence and adulthood.

The emerging picture involves several interacting pathways:

🧠 Reward & dopamine circuits — highly palatable foods can strengthen wanting, cue-driven eating and learned food habits.

⚖️ Hunger & satiety signalling — texture, energy density and rapid eating may make it easier to consume more before fullness catches up.

🦠 Gut–brain communication — low-fibre dietary patterns may influence the microbiome, metabolic signalling and inflammatory pathways.

🔥 Inflammation & oxidative stress — potential pathways connecting poor diet quality with mood and cognitive health.

🎯 Executive control — the developing prefrontal cortex is particularly relevant during childhood and adolescence, when reward sensitivity and self-regulation are still changing.

And this isn’t simply about “willpower.”

In a controlled NIH feeding trial, adults eating an ultra-processed diet consumed roughly 500 extra kcal/day and gained weight compared with when they ate a minimally processed diet, despite the diets being designed to match several presented nutrients.

What can we do?

🥗 Prioritise protein, fibre and minimally processed foods
🐟 Include omega-3-rich foods
💧 Stay hydrated
😴 Protect sleep
🏃 Move regularly
🧘 Pause before acting on cravings
👨‍👩‍👧 Make healthier choices easier at home
👀 Keep highly tempting foods out of immediate sight
🍎 Focus on small, repeatable swaps — not perfection

Importantly, much of the evidence linking UPFs directly to specific brain and mental-health outcomes remains observational or mechanistic, so association should not automatically be interpreted as causation.

Your food environment interacts with your biology. Make the healthier choice the easier choice.

Follow @Mental_Health_Neuroscience for evidence-based mental health + neuroscience.

www.mentalhealthneuroscience.com

#MentalHealth #Neuroscien

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🌍 CLIMATE CHANGE ISN’T ONLY CHANGING OUR PLANET — IT’S AFFECTING OUR BRAINS.

Floods. 🔵 Wildfires. 🔥 Extreme heat. 🌡️ Air pollution. 💨 Displacement. 🏚️

Behind every climate disaster is another story that receives far less attention: what happens to the human brain and mental health afterward.

A 2025 review in Frontiers in Public Health examined evidence connecting climate-related exposures with neurological and mental-health consequences. The pathways are complex — involving heat stress, air pollution, inflammation and oxidative stress, cardiovascular strain, disrupted sleep, psychological trauma, displacement and interruption of healthcare.

🧠 THE BRAIN-BODY PATHWAY

Climate stressors → threat/stress response → sympathetic + HPA-axis activation → physiological strain → sleep and emotional disruption

Pollution and wildfire smoke can add oxidative and inflammatory stress, while disasters themselves can bring grief, uncertainty, loss of community and traumatic exposure.

The consequences can include increased vulnerability to anxiety, depression, PTSD and other neurological or psychiatric problems — although individual risk varies considerably and these relationships do not mean climate exposure inevitably causes a disorder. Earlier systematic and causal-pathway research supports these broader mental-health connections.

But this isn’t only a story about risk.

🌿 B — BIOLOGICAL: hydration • cooling • clean-air strategies • sleep • exercise when conditions are safe
🧠 P — PSYCHOLOGICAL: grounding • breathing • trauma-informed support • limiting overwhelming disaster exposure
🤝 S — SOCIAL: connection • check vulnerable people • community recovery • psychological first aid
🌏 E — ENVIRONMENTAL: heat plans • clean-air spaces • early-warning systems • resilient healthcare and communities

Protecting people from climate extremes is also an investment in brain and mental health.

📚 Martínez Lozada & Leon-Rojas (2025), Frontiers in Public Health, 13:1630975.
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1630975

Follow @Mental_Health_Neuroscience
Asphar Mental Health Neuroscience
www.mentalhealthn

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