Health Literate

Health Literate

Field Notes #4: Between Meals, the Vagus Nerve Gets to Work

vagus nerve and digestion: gastric motility, the MMC, and the science behind ginger

Agy | Health Literate's avatar
Agy | Health Literate
Apr 07, 2026
∙ Paid

In this issue:

  • How the vagus nerve coordinates gastric motility and why it’s not as automatic as it seems

  • Why fat, protein, and carbohydrates leave your stomach at different speeds

  • The migrating motor complex: what that between-meal rumble is actually doing

  • Ginger’s cholinergic mechanism and why it maps directly onto vagal pathways

    Altered vagal signaling in response to gastric distension and its associated pathophysiological changes in functional dyspepsia (Li & Page, 2022)


Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Health Literate to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 Agy · Publisher Terms
Substack · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture