Stomach–brain coupling indexes a dimensional signature of mental health

Abstract

Visceral rhythms orchestrate the physiological states underlying human emotion. Chronic aberrations in these brain–body interactions are implicated in a broad spectrum of mental health disorders. However, the relationship between gastric–brain coupling and affective symptoms remains poorly understood. Here we investigated the relationship between this novel interoceptive axis and mental health in 243 participants, using a cross-validated machine learning approach. We find that increased frontoparietal brain coupling to the gastric rhythm indexes a dimensional signature of poorer mental health, spanning anxiety, depression, stress and well-being. Control analyses confirm the specificity of these interactions to the gastric–brain axis. Our study proposes coupling between the stomach and brain as a factor in mental health and offers potential new targets for interventions remediating aberrant brain–body coupling. Using a relatively large and diverse sample of mostly young adults, this study by Banellis, Rebollo and colleagues examines associations between regional stomach–brain coupling and mental health and identifies brain–body dynamics as a potential target for intervention.