Linkage: Mind Over Stomach (and Everything Else)

I heard a story this morning on NPR about how putting different labels on the same milkshake caused different physiological reactions in test subjects' stomach responses.  Fascinating stuff.  See below for the link.

How much of our body's response to food is in "our minds?"   And, if there is a placebo effect, is this a bad thing?  How can we leverage this unreality to our benefit?   I say if it's "just" the placebo effect, well, great!  Feeling better and improving your health without medication side effects -- absolutely!  

But -- as you know if you're suffering gut issues, the stomach IS a second brain -- will this make the expression, "it's all in your mind" even more frustrating when there is scientific evidence to back this up?

LINKAGE:

Mind over Milkshake: How Your Thoughts Fool Your Stomach (From NPR, 4/14/2014)

Placebo Effect in the Treatment of Duodenal Ulcer (British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 12/1999)

The Placebo Effect Even Works for Sleep (Salon, 2/2014)

Radiolab: Guts (Season 10, Episode 7)

"Second Brain" Found in Stomach, Intestines, Colon (HeatherDane)

Gut Bacteria Might Guide the Workings of Our Minds (NPR, 11/2013)

Nortriptyline No Better Than Placebo for Gastroparesis Symptoms (American College of Surgeons News, 5/2013)

Homeopathy is Bunk, Study Says (The Guardian, 4/2014)

Placebo Effects Are Not the "Power of Positive Thinking" (Science Based Medicine, 1/2014)