Oct 1, 2026 · 7 min · 3 segments
The TOP Nutritional Deficiency Behind Constipation ~ Dr. Eric Berg
Eric BergHost
You also have a very, uh, long nerve called the vagus nerve that goes between your brain and your gut, and it's bi-directional, which means it goes up and down.
Now, the vagus nerve is connected to the lower part of the brain called the brain stem.
And in that brain stem, you have the core of something called the autonomic nervous system, the system that runs on automatic, okay? Now, many times people think there's just two parts to that.
You have the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic, but you have actually a third part.
And so that is called the second brain, and it innervates th- the entire gut, and it's all nerve tissue.
And the reason I'm telling you that is this: the brain stem, or shall I say, the autonomic nervous system, is very vulnerable to thiamine deficiencies.
When you don't have enough thiamine, all sorts of things go wacko with the autonomic nervous system, and this especially relates to anything nerve, okay? Like the nerve innervation to the smooth muscle in your gut, which controls something called peristalsis.
I mean, if you think about what constipation really is, it's a lack of peristalsis.
But there's a part of beriberi called gastrointestinal beriberi, which involves the blocking of peristalsis.
And so this occurs because there is a B1 deficiency that is in the brain stem that controls all these nerves from above.
The brain stem, and especially the autonomic nervous system, depend on getting enough B1.
And so when they don't have enough, the vagus nerve cannot use acetylcholine to allow this to occur.
And so acetylcholine is like a hormone within your nervous system, okay? It depends on vitamin B1.
You also have a very, uh, long nerve called the vagus nerve that goes between your brain and your gut, and it's bi-directional, which means it goes up and down.
Now, the vagus nerve is connected to the lower part of the brain called the brain stem.
And in that brain stem, you have the core of something called the autonomic nervous system, the system that runs on automatic, okay? Now, many times people think there's just two parts to that.
You have the sympathetic nervous system and the parasympathetic, but you have actually a third part.
And so that is called the second brain, and it innervates th- the entire gut, and it's all nerve tissue.
And the reason I'm telling you that is this: the brain stem, or shall I say, the autonomic nervous system, is very vulnerable to thiamine deficiencies.
When you don't have enough thiamine, all sorts of things go wacko with the autonomic nervous system, and this especially relates to anything nerve, okay? Like the nerve innervation to the smooth muscle in your gut, which controls something called peristalsis.
I mean, if you think about what constipation really is, it's a lack of peristalsis.
But there's a part of beriberi called gastrointestinal beriberi, which involves the blocking of peristalsis.
And so this occurs because there is a B1 deficiency that is in the brain stem that controls all these nerves from above.
The brain stem, and especially the autonomic nervous system, depend on getting enough B1.
And so when they don't have enough, the vagus nerve cannot use acetylcholine to allow this to occur.
And so acetylcholine is like a hormone within your nervous system, okay? It depends on vitamin B1.
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