The new Revised and Expanded edition of Gut and Psychology Syndrome is an invaluable source for new readers and a must-read for those who have already benefited from Dr McBride’s first edition.

This 2010 GAPS edition includes new chapters on Epilepsy, Eating Disorders, Failure to Thrive, Pre-Conception & Pregnancy and New Baby as well as updates on implementing the diet, coming off the diet, details on good and bad fats and lots of new recipes.

Gut and Psychology Syndrome provides the information you need to manage and treat digestive conditions including colic, colitis, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Crohn’s Disease. It is also a vital resource for individuals and families dealing with psychological and neurological disorders such as anxiety, dyslexia, depression, dyspraxia, ADHD, Autism and Schizophrenia.

Dr McBride, a neurologist and nutritionist, began treating patients in her Cambridge clinic after her positive experience in helping her son recover from Autism. She soon discovered that a range of neurological and psychological conditions overlapped with digestive conditions. Patients with ADHD, depression, behavioural and/or learning problems usually had allergies, asthma and/or eczema. And the one condition they all had in common was a dysfunctional gastro intestinal tract or “gut”. Dr McBride cleverly termed this condition Gut and Psychology Syndrome or GAPS, a reference to the fact that these patients fell through the gap in mainstream medical knowledge and did not receive proper treatment.

Gut and Psychology Syndrome does an excellent job of simplifying a rather complex story in evolution that has lead to a global “epidemic” in digestive disorder over several generations. When a child is in utero, their gut is sterile, but as they pass through the birth canal, they become inoculated with the mother’s micro flora. The micro flora are comprised of a range of both good and bad bacteria, virus and yeast. The good micro flora are vital to the digestion and absorption of food, synthesis of various nutrients, protection against infections and detoxification of heavy metals and chemicals.

Unfortunately, a convergence of conditions has created the perfect storm which has lead to the deterioration of human gut flora; including medications such as antibiotics, the birth control pill and steroids; cesareans and lack of breast-feeding; a modern diet high in refined carbohydrates and low in nutrients and fermented foods; an environment full of toxins; and a highly stressed lifestyle. All of these conditions harm beneficial micoroflora and when they die off, the bad strains of bacteria (e.g. strep) and yeast (e.g. candida) take over, killing off the cells that line the gut wall. This leads to gastro intestinal permeability or “leaky gut”, the condition that drives so much disease including;

• Allergies as partially digested foods enter the blood stream through the holes in the gut lining and become allergens
• Poor concentration and brain fog as undigested proteins found in foods like milk and wheat travel up to the brain
• Gut dysbiosis (imbalance in gut flora) as undigested carbohydrates feed the bad micro organisms like clostridia which in turn produce a host of toxins that enter the body and the brain