Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Heart Racing After Meals? Why 3 in 4 Doctors Miss This Dangerous Gut-Heart Connection

20 Feb 2025 · 1 min

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Aaron Hartman, MD explains that the gut strongly influences heart function via the vagus nerve, gut-produced neurotransmitters, and gut immune activity. He links gut inflammation and heavy meals to increases in resting heart rate and palpitations, describes a gut→brain→heart pathway, and asserts that maintaining gut health is important for preventing arrhythmias and cardiovascular risk.

Chapters

The gut heart connection is something that's often overlooked. Not only does your gut affect your brain and your immune system, it also plays in with your heart. So we now understand that the vagus nerve that comes from your gut also surrounds and bathes your heart. Your heart has a basic rate. It will go out no matter what's happening. That's the rate when you're sleeping and resting that it kind of settles out at if your gut's inflamed. If you've eaten heavy food, have you ever felt your heart race or felt your heart pump heavily? That's the impact of the food you ate, the neurotransmitters in your gut going back to your heart. So some people with palpitations, irregular heart rate actually have GI tract issues. We're also learning that the immune system in your gut affects your risk for heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and strokes as well. So the gut brain axis is important also, because that affects the heart brain axis. So now your gut directly affects your heart. Your gut directly affects your neurotransmitters, which control your heart. Your gut goes up to your brain, which then regulates down your heart. So if you want to have a really healthy heart, you got to have a healthy gut.