The Jasper Local February 15, 2018

a lt e r n at i v e +

LOCAL + independent

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thejasperlocal.com

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thursday, february 15, 2018 // ISSUE 115

JASPER’S SETH JOHANNSSON, 11, CHUCKS A METHOD AIR INTO THE CLOUDS AT MARMOT BASIN ON FEBRUARY 11 // BOB COVEY

Dead caribou calf found on Marmot Road Jasper National Park officials are investigating the death of a caribou on the Marmot Basin road.

On the afternoon of February 2 a dead male caribou calf was located on the roadway near Portal Creek. A wolf was observed on the carcass, but officials were unable to confirm a cause of death.

is an important reminder that the Tonquin herd of woodland caribou inhabit the area.

“Stay on designated trails and avoid areas that have obvious signs of caribou—watch for tracks or craters where caribou have dug through the snow foraging for lichen,” he wrote in an email.

Young said members of the public can help with caribou “The carcass has been removed and samples have been monitoring by reporting sightings to Parks Canada. taken as part of the investigation,” said Steve Young, public Stay tuned to The Jasper Local for updates on this relations and communications officer for Parks Canada. investigation.

The Astoria River and Portal Creek trails open for winter bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com recreation on Friday, February 16. Young said this incident

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page A2 // the jasper local // issue 115 // thursday, february 15, 2018

editorial //

Local Vocal Jasper, you look good in white.

With more than a foot of fallen snow in February and cold temps to boot, lately, our little mountain community looks like a proper ski town!

It’s not for everyone, of course: my elderly neighbour was grumbling about the mess, and after I put the car sideways going 30 km/hr down Bonhomme Street I was reminded that there are real hazards associated with all that white stuff.

But there’s nothing quite like the excitement that a fresh snowfall brings. For me, it calls to mind old-timey postcards, vintage snow globes and Norman Rockwell paintings. Beyond the nostalgic aesthetic, it also gets me fired up to drop everything and go skiing.

And so, that’s what I did. Not co-incidentally, this publication is falling in your hands a day later than originally scheduled.

Yes, I called in powder. It’s funny, when you search the internet for discussions on the ethics of taking a snow day, the resulting essays and articles are almost exclusively from folks who are looking for ways to justify staying in their pyjamas. They’ll work remotely, they reason.

They’ll come in early next week, they plead.

These are people for whom the sudden presence of a winter storm is unequivocally bad.

Here in the mountains we want to get outside!

Particularly if you like to slide around on it, a foot of snow is like hitting the jackpot.

In fact, an interesting “study” done by the freshiesfond folks at Jackson Hole Ski Resort, tried to put a number on a powder lotto. They calculated that if a ski area were to try to manufacture a fresh blanket of snow on the entire mountain, after the price of operating thousands of snow guns, the value of the water, labour, electricity and other costs required, powder hounds would be looking at upwards of $60 million to make enough snow to cover Jackson’s entire 2,500 acres. Forgetting for a moment the incomparable quality of manmade snow to the real McCoy, with Marmot Basin’s ski area making up not quite a third of Jackson’s, I figure by those numbers a powder day here is worth about $15 million. If there were 500 skiers and riders on the mountain last Thursday (and there weren’t), that’s about $30,000 worth of fresh turns each.

Looking at my financial statements from 2017, I’d say the day was worth it.

Jasper looks good in white, perhaps for no other reason than there’s nothing like a blanket of fresh snow to cover your head from reality!

bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

Parks Canada's eligible residency policy needs revision Dear Editor:

home and community.

It is time for Parks Canada to revise the antiquated ‘Need To Reside’ clause for Jasper National Park.

Employment and self-supportive wage-earning opportunities have greatly evolved. A person who lives here should not be punished because their employment requires a commute or internet connection.

The current possibility of eviction of a local who has called Jasper home for more than three decades is not the first time a resident of Jasper has had to consider a change to their living arrangements or employment location to avoid being bureaucratically forced from their

The definition of family has also evolved from the archaic stereotype of two spouses and child(ren). A resident’s need to reside should not be dependent upon where one’s spouse, should cont. on A3...

The Jasper Local //

Jasper’s independent alternative newspaper 780.852.9474 • thejasperlocal.com • po box 2046, jasper ab, t0e 1e0

Published on the 1st and 15th of each month Editor / Publisher

Bob Covey.................................................................................... bob@thejasperlocal.com Art Director

Nicole Gaboury.................................................................. nicole@thejasperlocal.com Advertising + sales

rachel bailey.............................................................................ads@thejasperlocal.com cartoonist

Deke.................................................................................................deke@thejasperlocal.com

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// Local arts

thursday, february 15, 2018 // issue 115 // the jasper local// page A3

HARRY MANX HEADLINED THE JASPER FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL IN 2015 // BC

Revived Jasper Folk Music Festival to secure Exchange Lands as event site The Jasper Folk Music Festival is singing a new tune these days.

ensure a high-quality pitch for athletic activities.

The festival, which was cancelled last year for a lack of a suitable location, is in talks with the Municipality of Jasper to host the event on the yet-to-be-named Exchange Lands.

“What activities, what’s allowed on the play surfaces will have strict guidelines,” Nadon said.

“So far everything is on course,” said vicechairperson, Peggy McCormick.

The group has tentatively booked the Exchange Lands for September 7, 8 and 9— although McCormick was quick to point out nothing has been made official.

“Nothing’s been signed,” she said. “But we’re in talks with the municipality.”

MOJ’s Christine Nadon confirmed the discussions. At the same time, administration is moving forward with field-use policies which will affect how the Exchange Lands can be utilized.

The festival’s former location at Centennial Park was deemed unsuitable for events which require heavy equipment, stages or tents. Both Centennial Park and the Exchange Lands have been resurfaced to

The Exchange Lands, unlike Centennial Park, have been fitted with underground electrical conduit and other infrastructure to accommodate events and festivals which require stages, lighting, sound and large tent stakes. Nadon said there will be room around the perimeter of the Exchange Lands to set up the type of equipment necessary at a music festival.

“It’s more suitable for events,” she said.

The Exchange Lands, adjacent to the Activity Centre, constitute the new green space where the former high school was located.

The Jasper Folk Music Festival kicks off its fundraising campaign with a show on Monday, February 19. Singer-songwriter Whitney Rose brings her country crooning to the Jasper Legion at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15 or $10 in advance at Coco’s Cafe or the Jasper Legion. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

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they choose to have one, works.

How to circumnavigate the undesired ‘vacation homes’ and ‘lights out communities’ of residences owned by people who don’t actually live here, the basis of the ‘Need to Reside’ clause?

Base a person’s need to reside on where the person actually resides. That being where the person habitually dwells - and sleeps that’s residing.

- Su Young-Leslie, Jasper

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page B1 // the jasper local // issue 115 // thursday, february 15, 2018

Local athletics//

HAVE SKILLS, WILL SHRED // 11-YEAR-OLD SETH JOHANNSSON (MIDDLE) IS HEADING TO THE ALBERTA WINTER GAMES FOR SLOPESTYLE AND BOARDER CROSS. HIS COACH, 22-YEAR-OLD BREANNA SUDEYKO (RIGHT) HAS BEEN HELPING HIM IN THE TERRAIN PARK WHILE 13-YEAR-OLD KEWIN SUMMERFELD HAS BEEN PRACTICING HIS OWN SKILLS AS PART OF MARMOT BASIN’S BIG MOUNTAIN CLUB. // BOB COVEY

Going big, dreaming bigger

Local snowboarder competing in Alberta Winter Games Regina may have Marc McMorris; Stoneham, Quebec can lay claim to Laurie Blouin; but Jasper has Seth Johannsson.

The 11-year-old snowboarder is making his Alberta Winter Games debut this weekend in Fort McMurray. When he does, he will be one of only only two snowboarders representing the province’s Zone 5 (Yellowhead/Black Gold).

Johannsson will compete in two snowboarding categories: slopestyle and snowboard cross.

Slopestyle sees athletes ride a variety of terrain park features including rails and jumps, scoring points for amplitude, originality and difficulty of tricks performed. Snowboard cross is a no-holdsbarred race to the finish line which pits four to six competitors against each other on a course which includes cambered turns, berms, rollers, drops and jumps.

Ripping around Marmot Basin with his coach on February 11, Johannsson was practicing his board slides in the terrain parks and boosting off of every bump and berm he and his coach could find.

“She makes everything easy to do,” Seth said about his coach, Breanna Sudeyko. “And she’s funny.”

Sudeyko, who came to the Rockies from Ontario three winters ago, is an energetic 22-year-old whose coaching philosophy can be boiled down to “less is more.”

“I don’t want to overcomplicate things,” she said. “I really try to understand how they like to learn best.”

Sudeyko and Johannsson were shredding with another of Sudeyko’s Jasper students, 13-year-old Kewin Summerfeld. While Seth was on just his third training session with Sudeyko—a sort of skills “top up” before he headed off to Fort Mac to compete—Summerfeld has been part of Marmot Basin’s Big Mountain Club since the beginning of the season. The non-competitive club is designed to build participants’ ski and snowboard skills in a variety of terrain—from the side hits to the steeps, and from the terrain parks to the trees.

Before they set up for a rail feature or a jump, Sudeyko reminded Johannsson and Summerfeld to check their surroundings and put into action what they’d talked about on the chairlift: speed control, board position and balance. Demonstrating a picture-perfect front lip slide on a box in Marmot’s upper terrain park, her disciples followed suit with board slides of their own.

Sudeyko’s philosophy of “less is more” seems to be paying off for the young riders. Asked what their goals were for the season, Summerfeld said he was working on linking his turns while Johannsson said he simply wanted to have fun at the Alberta Winter Games.

“Hopefully I get in the top six,” he said.

“But I’m just excited because I get to represent Jasper.”

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bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

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thursday, february 15, 2018 // issue 115 // the jasper local// page B2

Local beer//

Jasper Beer and Barley Summit taps into craft beer craze If Alberta’s beer industry was a batch of microbrew, in 2005, when the Jasper Brew Pub opened its doors, the batch’s barley would have had scarcely made it to the mill.

Today, not only has the mash been converted, the yeast been added to the wort and the beer been filtered, carbonated and cellared, but a thirsty and educated consumer expects the perfect pint.

“The scene has definitely exploded,” says Brett Ireland, one of three Jasper-born founders of Bear Hill Brewing, the Jasper Brew Pub’s parent company.

Ireland, as the CEO of the organization—which along with the Jasper Brew Pub includes the Banff Ave, Wood Buffalo and Calgary’s Last Best breweries within its portfolio—was in his old stomping grounds February 2-4 for the first ever Jasper Beer and Barley Summit.

The fesitval brought more than two dozen breweries and beer makers to the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge for three days of tasting, talking and toasting to craft suds. Needless to say, there were a lot of beards.

The event was put on by Alberta Beer Festivals, the self-proclaimed “hub” between breweries, agencies, restaurants, liquor stores and beer enthusiasts in Western Canada. ABF President Bill Robinson and the rest of the festival team were enjoying a gourmet poutine after taking in a game of shinny during the event’s opening night. The chill atmosphere, he said, was testament to the seamless facilitation at the hotel and the fact that the Jasper Beer Summit is a fraction of the size of the Calgary and Edmonton festivals which ABF helps host.

wasn’t that long ago that Alberta barley was taken for granted by local beer drinkers. That knowledge gap was what sparked the idea for a beer festival in Jasper in the first place, he said.

“We grow and malt so much premium barley that goes into craft beer all over the world, but most people aren’t aware of the role that Alberta plays,” Ireland said. “We thought there was an opportunity there to tell that story, to get consumers excited about that core raw input.”

“We live in barley country, people are proud of that.“

Enter the Alberta Beer Festival group and the Fairmont JPL. The first ever Beer and Barley Summit featured not only a festival of boss breweries and fantastic food, but daytime presentations from some of the most wellregarded brew masters in North America. You

ale that today is regarded as the beer that helped launch a craft beer revolution.

“For so many people, it’s the first craft beer they ever had,” Dresler explained while enjoying an Overlander Pale Ale from the recently-launched Folding Mountain Brewing.

Despite Dresler’s status as a craft beer rock star, he was just as interested in asking questions of Alberta brewers as sharing his own story of success. As he sampled Bench Creek’s Red Rye IPA, the 1965 Old Town Porter from Dog Island (out of Slave Lake) and the Wee Engine That Could Scotch Ale from Siding 14 (from Ponoka), Dresler was energized by the passion that these young brewers were pouring into their beers.

“I have a conversation with these guys and I get jazzed,” he said.

When he is pressed for advice, however, Dresler keeps it simple: “Never cut corners,” he said. “Don’t lose sight of why you got into it, and enjoy it, because it goes by fast.”

BREW CREW //NEIL HALL AND REG CURRIE SAMPLING THE GOODS AT THE BEER SUMMIT

know when Jasper Fire Chief and IPA fanboy Greg Van Tighem is asking for a selfie with a 60-year-old beer ambassador from Northern California that the beer in question must be special.

“His beer powered me and my bike through Arizona and Nevada,” Van Tighem said.

FULL CIRCLE // SIDING 14 BREWING FROM PONOKA GROWS THEIR OWN BARLEY // BC

YEAST PLEASE! // WILD ROSE BREWERY IS ONE OF A FEW VETERAN BREWERIES IN ALBERTA. // BOB COVEY

Steve Dresler’s Sierra Nevada Pale Ale has inspired many a cyclist—and many a brewer. In 1980, Sierra Nevada debuted the hop-forward

Ireland, who, 13 years ago, together with his partners, opened up the Jasper Brew Pub with hardly a clue how to brew beer, let alone run a business, can relate. Bear Hill Brewing now has more than 200 employees and produces more than 8,000 hectolitres of beer. Yet even as the market becomes more competitive and customers become more demanding, Ireland figures a rising tide floats all ships—or, in beer parlance, perhaps: a rising yeast floats all growlers.

“More and more people are getting exposed to craft beer,” Ireland said. “We see that as positive.” bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

“This is small scale, it’s relaxed, you really get to interact with the brewers,” Robinson said.

Bench Creek’s Cassandra Durocher could attest to that. Durocher was pouring brew master Warren Misik’s award-winning White Raven IPA to strong ale aficionados and shattering the stereotype that because Bench Creek is located in the blue collar community of Edson, that their customers would have to be light lager lovers.

“We thought bringing double IPAs and strong beers into a lager market would be challenging, but we were completely astonished by the support we’ve received,” Durocher said. “More than 30 per cent of our sales comes from our local region.”

Part of that is local pride, she said—and not just for the finished product.

“We live in barley country, people are proud of that,” Durocher said.

That wasn’t always the case. Ireland said it

SMOOTH HOPERATION // THE FIRST ANNUAL JASPER BEER AND BARLEY SUMMIT BROUGHT BEER LOVERS TO THE FAIRMONT JASPER PARK LODGE TO TASTE, TALK AND TOAST TO CRAFT SUDS. // BOB COVEY

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page b3+B4 // the jasper local // issue 115 // thursday, february 15, 2018

FEATURE // STORY AND PHOTOS BY BOB COVEY

IN JASPER, WE’RE LUCKY TO HAVE SEVERAL ANNUAL EVENTS WHICH BLEND SPORT AND COMMUNITY IN A FUN YET COMPETITIVE FASHION—THINK TOTEM’S STORIED SPRING RUN OFF ON MOTHER’S DAY, THE FREEWHEEL BIATHLON IN OCTOBER AND THE ASTORIA HOTEL’S ROOT ROMP. For the last few years, however, another event has been making a strong case for the title of Best Event of the Year: The Association Canadienne Française de l’Alberta’s Winter Pentathlon Hivernal. Since that doesn’t exactly roll off la langue, let’s keep it simple and call the snowy festival what the locals call it: the ACFA Winter Pentathlon.

Besides the biking, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, skating and running events, there are five things that make The Winter Pentathlon awesome—well, there’s probably more than that, but in the spirit of BuzzFeed, Chive and Vice, we’ve made a top five list for the millennial in you to easily digest.

require a great deal of disciplined training— just the right equipment and an open mind.

Never snowshoed before? Strap on those misery slippers and go for a jaunt. Don’t know how to properly shift your weight while cross-country skiing? Neither do 75 per cent of the people who do it on local trails! Haven’t skated since you were a kid? Doesn’t matter! You’re wearing a Chewbacca costume! Which brings us to our second point…

1. IT’S NOT THAT HARD OK, so participating in the Winter Pentathlon isn’t exactly a walk in the park; these are real events that take real coordination, stamina and strategy, but it’s not the Olympics; it’s not like you’re being asked to ski a steep mogul run or do a triple lutz in nothing but skates and a thong. In fact, (with apologies to Jean-Yves Doucet, 2018’s only solo competitor), none of the events

2. THE COSTUMES The best way to know that you’re at a fun-first event is to look at your fellow competitors’ athletic wear. This is not an event where you see a lot of speed suits (unless you count Ange Blake and Robyn Bangle’s

“The best way to know that you’re at a fun-first event is to look at your fellow competitors’ athletic wear. ” figure-hugging superhero numbers—yowza!). In general, the preponderance of yellow wrap-around shades is low

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FIVE REASONS THE JASPER WINTER PENTATHLON IS JASPER’S GREATEST EVENT EVER (Julie-Anne Weaver’s safety goggles didn’t have quite the right tint). Instead, you have impressively creative and hilarious costumes— the elaborate nature of which occasionally compromises participants’ competitiveness.

But don’t tell that to the polyethylene suitgarbed Mike and Camus D’Antonio, who as a team of two beat the entire field! Likewise, the Minons, Caro Roy and Marie-Andre Acand, weren’t impeded by their ensembles, either.

The Winter Pentathlon has seen all sorts of incredible outfit themes, from bashful bandits

to dashing doctors, from Suessian sprites to radical Rastas, from voyageurs to villains.

This year, the team of five Mad Scientists took home the hardware for best costume, after Geoff Fraser and company turned five lab aprons and five pairs of biohazard gloves into five gift certificates for five lunches at local eateries…which is a great segue to the next bullet:

3. THE PRIZES There is no other way to put it: the prizes that each participant receives at the Winter Pentathlon are amazing—that is to say, the donations that various local businesses provide to Pentathlon organizers are amazing—that is to say, the businesses themselves are amazing! The $30 entry fee seems like chicken change when you’re walking home with an armful of loot and since organizers do a great job of encouraging all ages and abilities with prizes for Best Team Spirit, along with rewards for finishing first in the various categories, there is a terrific diversity of participants. Which leads us to…

4. THE MIXED BAG OF PARTICIPANTS This is perhaps the best thing about the Winter Pentathlon. Not only is the event open to all ages and abilities, but a wide variety of demographics actually answer the call to participate. The image from the first iteration of the Winter Pentathlon, wherein an all-Filipino team was crowned with the Best Spirit Award, still melts my heart four years later. Some of them had never seen snow before that winter! Indeed, the all-kids team from Ecole Desrochers had the same effect on 2018 spectators. When young Léa Fortin flew around the final corner on the running course and deliberately wiped out in spectacular and athletic fashion— the rest of her team trailing behind in uproarious laughter—the crowd went nuts. Here was everything you wanted to cheer for: a group of young people playing outside together in a semi-competitive but fun environment and encouraging each other as teammates. Indeed, as parents took snaps of the Ecole Desrochers team in front of a sparkling Pyramid Mountain, one couldn’t help but think their tired, satisfied smiles were the perfect picture of what makes the Winter Pentathlon so cool.

Which brings us to our last point…

5. IT’S COLD OK so on the surface this part of the Winter Pentathlon doesn’t look so attractive and believe me, when it was minus 20 degrees at 9 a.m. and Facebook wasn’t giving me any signs that the Pentathlon was cancelled due to a dump of snow and frigid temps, I was pretty whiny. However, I knew that Parks Canada staff had been up grooming the course since before dawn and if they were willing to get frostbite on their faces for the good of the event, then who was I to bail on my teammates just so I could sit on my comfy couch in my warm housecoat and binge-watch Netflix with coffee, Baileys and cinnamon buns close at hand? Actually now that I think about it I’m shocked I made it. But I’m glad I did! Indeed, from talking to other participants, most folks’ day went thusly: get up, grumpily anticipate the worst; force yourself to follow through; then realize in the warm sun and the sparkling snow that it’s actually the best.

Winter Pentathlon, don’t ever change. bob covey // bob@thejasperlocal.com

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page B5 // the jasper local // issue 115 // thursday, february 15, 2018

Local safety //

A lesson from the School of Hard Knocks: Wear your helmet when backcountry skiing shot by a friend shows me grinning widely, clearly excited to start laying turns into the generous layer of storm snow covering the gladed slope. Thankfully, it also shows me wearing a helmet.

But as I peered through blinking About two-thirds of the way down eyes at Sherbrook lake in the my run, I came across a thick stand distance, my groggy brain came to of trees with a narrow gap through a somewhat disturbing realization: I the middle. Foolishly, I decided to had just been snowboarding; I must shoot the gap. Evidently, I didn’t have taken a bad fall. make it.

Just a few minutes earlier, my I’ve been snowboarding in the backfriends and I had completed a series country for more than 20 years and of snowpack tests and concluded I can count the number of times I’ve that the well-supported slopes beworn a helmet on one hand. One low Paget Peak in Yoko National might ask, then, what possessed me Park were safe to ski. A brief video to wear a helmet on that particular day? The more interesting question, though, is why hadn’t I worn one on all the other days?

As backcountry skiers (snowboarding is a type of skiing, get over it), we invest a lot of time and money into preparing for and avoiding avalanche involvements. We take it for granted that anyone interested in earning their turns in the backgot lucky // The author’s dented lid In another context, a snow-covered slope overlooking a mountain lake might have been a very pleasant place to wake up.

charging station // Olive Snowboards’ Geoff Kramer rides with a helmet in the backcountry. // B Covey

country will pony up for avalanche courses and carry an expensive beacon, along with a collapsible shovel and probe. But a significant, albeit shrinking, contingent of the backcountry skiing community continue to forego helmets, even if they would never think of doing so at a resort.

There may be good reason for this discrepancy: a study looking at backcountry skiing deaths from 1978-2007 found that the vast majority (more than 90 per cent) resulted in some way or another from an avalanche, with by far the most common cause of death being asphyxiation. The key to staying safe in the backcountry is avoiding becoming involved in an avalanche. When that approach fails, companions who know how to use their beacons, probes and shovels are your best hope for survival.

However, according to the same study of 1978-2007 data, the primary cause of death in more than 25 per cent of avalanche fatalities in Canada is trauma, mostly caused by hitting trees while caught up in the rushing snow. A little more than 10 per cent of avalanche deaths over that period resulted directly from head trauma.

There is an argument to be made that helmets would do little to prevent that. Modern snow-sport helmets are designed to protect against impacts at speeds of between 18-23 km/hr, while avalanches (and their victims) travel at speeds up between 90–130km/hr. Nevertheless,

struggling to stay afloat and avoid total burial (or at least create an air pocket in front of your face) can be the difference between life and death. You can’t do this if you’re unconscious.

Of course, avalanches are not the only hazard in the backcountry. As local ACMG Mountain Guide Matt Reynolds points out, helmets can help prevent a range of minor injuries that, in remote locations, can nevertheless present major challenges. Even if the helmets worn by skiers aren’t designed to prevent concussions in the event of major impacts, Reynolds has no doubt that they improve safety in the backcountry.

In my own case, I got knocked out but didn’t sustain any serious injuries. I firmly believe I have my helmet to thank for that. I shudder to think what might have happened to me and what my friends might have had to deal with if I hadn’t been wearing it.

Helmets these days are light. Most touring backpacks come with hammock-style slings for carrying them during overheated ascents. An enjoyable day shared with friends on even low-angle, easy terrain can be thrown right off the rails by accidents that weren’t even on your radar until the moment they happened.

There are no excuses for not taking the simple precaution of wearing a helmet while skiing in the backcountry.

Lesson learned.

Doug olthof // doug@thejasperlocal.com

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thursday, february 15, 2018 // issue 115 // the jasper local// page B6

local health //

Gut Instincts: Linking the gut and the brain Have you ever had a gut-feeling about something and had to convince yourself that you were making the right decision?

Well maybe it’s time to stop second-guessing yourself and start taking extra good care of that gut of yours. DYK that your gastrointestinal (GI) tract and brain are in constant communication with each other? We have known about this relationship for a long time, however, as we continue to learn more about it, an emerging concept is gaining traction – that of psychobiotics – a method of targeting our gut microbiome to positively impact mental health outcomes1,2 .

THE GUT-BRAIN AXIS The bi-directional link between gut physiology and brain function is known as the gut-brain axis and these two powerhouse organs have a variety of methods that they use to communicate, such as hormone signaling, modulating immune function, gut microbial metabolites, vagal nerve transmission, and the serotonin system.

By now, you probably know how critical the microbiome (collection of microbes, mainly bacteria, that populate your lower intestine) is to immune function, gut health, and other aspects of physiology, but what you may not know is that the microbiome is also a key regulator of the gut-brain axis, and can influence stress-related conditions such as anxiety and depression1,2 .

MICROBIOME AND MENTAL HEALTH Alterations in the gut microbiome can have profound effects on mood, behavior, and our body’s response to stress. Gut microbes produce metabolites, such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), that nourish healthy colonic cells and maintain the integrity of the gut barrier to prevent harmful bacteria from crossing through cell walls and triggering an inflammatory signaling cascade. This phenomenon of disrupting the gut barrier is often referred to as “leaky gut” and it has been linked to depression.

Feedback from the microbiome also influences our anxiety-like behaviors and how the body responds to stress, by dampening the activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. Finally, 95 per cent of serotonin (a moodmodulating neurotransmitter) is made in the GI tract from tryptophan metabolism, and certain species of gut microbes stimulate this process.

Although the research is still in its infancy, it is

undeniable that alterations in microbiota influence brain function and mental health1,2,3 .

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP? Diet is one of the factors that modifies the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Healthy gut microbes receive nourishment and produce SCFA by fermenting nondigestible carbohydrates, a.k.a. FIBRE! In other words, the more fibre you eat, the more fuel you are providing to your gut microbiota. Dietary sources of fibre include fruits and vegetables, whole grains, pulses (beans, lentils, chickpeas, and dry peas), soybeans, and nuts/seeds.

A good challenge is aiming to eat at least one fibre-rich food at every eating event – give it a whirl.

To take things a wee bit further, there are certain types of fibre that are preferentially fermented by beneficial gut bacteria, and have been shown to confer a health benefit to the host (you!). These specific types of fibre are deemed prebiotics. Some examples of prebiotic foods are garlic, onion, asparagus, bananas, tomatoes, chicory root, rye, barley, fermented dairy products (yogourt, kefir, buttermilk), and breastmilk. Prebiotics, like inulin, are also frequently added to food products like granola bars and cereals.

And it wouldn’t be an article from me if I didn’t mention fermented foods, which can alter mood and brain activity. The bacteria in fermented foods can help metabolize the prebiotics in your diet, creating more SCFA; and other by-products of fermentation, like lactic acid, can act as antioxidants for intestinal cells. So, keep eating your microbes in foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, and kombucha.

On the flip side, there is evidence that a high-fat, high-sugar diet promotes “leaky-gut,” likely due to a lack of dietary fibre, but also in-relation to inflammation2,3,4 .

Further reading and special thanks for inspiring this article: 1. Foster, J., McVey Neufeld, K. (2013). Gut-brain axis: how the microbiome influences anxiety and depression. Trends in Neurosciences, 36(5), 305-312.

2. Foster, J., Rinaman, L., Cryan, J. (2017). Stress and the gut-brain axis: Regulation by the microbiome.

Neurobiology of Stress, 7, 124-136.

3. Morrison, D., Preston, T. (2016). Formation of short chain fatty acids by the gut microbiota and their impact on human metabolism. Gut Microbes, 7(3), 189-200.

4. Marco, M., Heeney, D., Binda, S., Cifelli, C., Cotter, P., Foligne, B., … & Hutkins, R. (2017). Health benefits of fermented foods: microbiota and beyond. Current opinion in biotechnology, 44, 94-102.

Kirsten Oilund is a registered dietitian and the owner of Jasper Nutrition Counselling. She is an avid runner, boot-camper and adventurer. She has been known to plan an elaborate campfire spread. Email her at kirsten@jasper-nutrition.com

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