If you suffer from digestive issues, you aren’t alone. A national survey commissioned by Oshi Health and conducted by The Harris Poll revealed that half of Americans either have a diagnosed gastrointestinal (GI) condition or suspect they do – but it may not be a matter of poor choices come dinner time. New research reveals that early childhood experiences have the power to rewire your health and can be the cause of stomach issues.
The Effects of Childhood Stress
Do you remember singing The Skeleton Dance?
The foot bone’s connected to the leg bone.
The leg bone’s connected to the knee bone.
The knee bone’s connected to the thigh bone.
While that little childhood song is about bones, it’s also true about organs. Everything is connected in some way and has an impact on the rest. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action in nature, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we apply this to the food we eat and the reaction to the gut, then eating those spicy and deep-fried foods will likely cause some stomach issues. But new research published in the Gastroenterology journal has found a link between the brain and the gut, suggesting that early childhood stress can lead to an unhealthy stomach in adulthood.
“Our research shows that these stressors can have a real impact on a child’s development and may influence gut issues long-term,” Kara Margolis, a professor at NYU, said in a press release. “When the brain is impacted, the gut is likely also impacted — the two systems communicate 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she added.
Stress can cause belly aches and upset stomachs, but it can also lead to long-term health issues. The research involved two studies: animals and children. In the first, newborn mice were separated from their mothers for several hours a day to simulate early stress. When the mice were at the age equivalent of young adulthood, they showed increased anxiety-like behavior, such as gut pain.
Another study followed more than 40,000 children in Denmark from the time they were born until they were 15 years old. Half of the children had mothers who experienced depression during or after pregnancy. These children had a higher risk of developing digestive conditions.
“Digestive outcomes for children seem to be even more profound when a mother’s depression is left untreated, suggesting that mothers experiencing depression should be treated during pregnancy. This may include nonmedical measures like therapy, but some pregnant women may also require medications to treat their depression,” said Margolis. “This finding also reinforces our commitment to developing antidepressants that do not reach the placenta — a focus of many of our studies right now.”
In the US, a study analyzed data from nearly 12,000 children with childhood experiences such as neglect, abuse, and parental health challenges. “They found that any form of early stress was linked to an increase in gastrointestinal problems,” ScienceDaily explained.
Your Stomach Has a Brain
Your stomach has a brain, and it’s called the enteric nervous system (ENS). Made up of two thin layers of more than 100 million nerve cells lining the gastrointestinal tract, it is a link between digestion, mood, and overall health. Johns Hopkins describes it like this:
“Its main role is controlling digestion, from swallowing to the release of enzymes that break down food to the control of blood flow that helps with nutrient absorption to elimination. The enteric nervous system doesn’t seem capable of thought as we know it, but it communicates back and forth with our big brain—with profound results.”
For years, doctors and scientists have thought that anxiety and depression contribute to stomach disorders. When you’re stressed or anxious, your belly might become upset. Now, though, researchers “are finding evidence that irritation in the gastrointestinal system may send signals to the central nervous system (CNS) that trigger mood changes,” Hopkins explained.
Apparently, our two brains talk to each other, but treatment for health issues is treated differently. “In a way, gastroenterologists (doctors who specialize in digestive conditions) are like counselors looking for ways to soothe the second brain,” the medical site wrote. “Gastroenterologists may prescribe certain antidepressants for IBS, for example – not because they think the problem is all in a patient’s head, but because these medications calm symptoms in some cases by acting on nerve cells in the gut.” What’s more, some research suggests that the digestive system may even affect cognitive function.
“When patients come in with gut problems, we shouldn’t just be asking them if they are stressed right now; what happened in your childhood is also a really important question and something we need to consider,” said Margolis. “This developmental history could ultimately inform how we understand how some disorders of gut-brain interaction develop and treat them based on specific mechanisms.”
What happens in childhood doesn’t just stay there. Experiences can quietly shape how the body functions for decades later. The stress and emotional environment we grow up in can leave a lasting impression on the gut, setting the stage for digestive problems later in life. The stomach doesn’t just process meals; it helps regulate our moods, stress response, and overall health. Meaning, those unexplained stomach issues in adulthood may not be as simple as what you ate at lunch, but rather a reflection of how your body learned to respond to the world from the very beginning.
