At first glance, "the intestine sucks". This is what the German Giulia Enders finds, author of the bestseller The discreet charm of the intestine, All about an organ unloved * . Because it is "only good to empty", "hangs needlessly in the belly", is programmed to "produce small nauseating piles" and drop "a fart from time to time" ... the intestine makes us shame.

"A taboo", laughs Simone, 32, scriptwriter. Just as she refuses to use public toilets, addressing the subject is a challenge: "Just talking about it liquefies me. "Even resistance towards Josephine, 29, an actress, who finally admits that when she sleeps with her companion, she prefers to run the first coffee to go to toilet in peace," I am not at all freed compared to that. I prefer to risk intestinal obstruction than to expose the dark side of my intimacy. "As for Paula, 30, a lawyer," nothing more nightmarish, "she admits, laughing, that show his" digestive phobia ":" It's too disgusting stuff. "

But now Giulia Enders' essay, which frankly and humorously teaches us "the art of pissing off in a few lessons," is a big selling week. While demonstrating the importance of our intestines on our mind, the author manages to break the omerta inherited "from our hygienist and Freudian societies," notes Michel Neunlist, research director at Inserm. What is playing in our guts now comes to the fore.

The belly has the power to give birth to enthusiasm or depression

Michael D. Gershon, Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Columbia University.

"When we know that abdominal pain is the first cause of emergency room visits, that's not surprising," concludes gastroenterologist Benoit Coffin. Irritable bowel syndromes, severe constipation, acute diarrhea: the French have a stomach ache, and hungry for explanations. Like Annie, 60, a journalist, who rushed to his bookseller as soon as the book by Giulia Enders appeared. "The intestine is the stranger in the house, a madman always ready to bend me in two. It suffices for a slight anxiety, a vague anxiety. My belly becomes hard, painful, I can hardly breathe, hardly walk. " To calm the game, a solution: " To throw on the stomach, in an emergency. "Reading Giulia Enders allowed Annie to confirm his intuition," It is only a stress case. "

The belly tells us what we are. If the anguished have "knotted stomach", if the cowards lack "guts", if the scoundrels advance "fear in the stomach" and if the lovers do not make "bile" ... it is that our abdomen contains more than obscure digestive functions. "What organism would build such a network of nerves to manage a banal pipe? "Jokes Giulia Enders. For her and for many scientists, our abdomen channels our emotional experience, plays with our moods and interferes with our personality. "The moody moods, the joy, the doubt, the well-being or the worry are not just the product of our skull," says Giulia Enders.

The belly, a second brain

An assumption made as early as 1998 by Michael D. Gershon, professor at Columbia University, New York **:

With its endogenous psychoactive substances, the belly has the power to give birth to discouragement or enthusiasm, impotence or pleasure, depression or fulfillment.

In short, our belly is a second brain. Located in the center of the body, it is on its own "a real anatomical substrate", explains Professor Neunlist. Because the walls of the intestines, lined with millions of neurons and loaded with neurotransmitters, make 95% of serotonin ("happiness hormone") and home to two-thirds of the immune system. Consequences: stress, fatigue, anxieties and other evils of modern life take root. Aside from this direct link between mental and intestinal health, researchers are also beginning to prove that our abdomen plays a role in some chronic or degenerative diseases. "The belly allows to understand a very large number of different pathologies," says Pierre Desreumaux, professor of gastroenterology at the University Lille 2.

Because the "lower brain" has the same nerve receptors as the "top", Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease or depression attack both of them at the same time. Drugs intended to act on one have effects on the other. Thus, at the beginning of an antidepressant treatment, nearly 25% of patients suffer from nausea, diarrhea or slowing of transit. A relationship spotted by Chinese doctors, highlighting the benefits of abdominal acupuncture. So many elements that suggest that the key to healing could be in our womb and that, in the future, all these pathologies could be diagnosed by rectal biopsy. While waiting for new revelations, taking care of one's intestines becomes an emergency. It's even a trend.

Junk food twists belly

First step: question his diet. After decades of junk food spiked with industrial dishes, it's about not remaining a victim of a society that twists our stomachs. A society "too stressful and oppressive," sighs Elodie, 26, commercial; "Too industrialized and distorted", Juliette, 29, a teacher; "A cancer box," loose Julie, 29, digital project manager. All have chosen to cut the gluten, this "glue that sticks to your stomach," cries Elodie. However, if the followers of "no-glu" multiply, "only 1% of the population would present a true intolerance to gluten," says Brigitte Jolivet, president of the French Association of Gluten Intolerance.

For nutritionist Jean-Philippe Zermati, these practices lead to an increase in eating disorders. He denounces these "excesses that pervert the food" and is annoyed to observe:

a dietetic cacophony. No one knows how to feed themselves. In this anxiety-provoking climate, all satiation systems are out of order.

And if, faced with the disruption of our digestive tract, it was enough to clean it to purify its moods? This is advocated by advocates of colon hydrotherapy, a modern version of the enema. The goal is simple: take off from the intestinal wall old residues that hinder its operation. But "as long as you do not improve your relationship to the world, your gut will not subside," insists Françoise Gross, nurse and hydrotherapist for twenty-five years . In other words, to get better you must take care of your diet, learn to chew, dare to let go and open to others. Good luck.

* Ed. Actes Sud.
** Author of The second brain, ed. Harper Perennial.