Interesting pair of articles. Last year I read Giulia Enders' book 'Gut' which references the neurons in our stomachs and the way they work by controlling most of our digestion without the specific awareness of our brains. Also this year I have read Michael Moseley's book "Clever Guts" where he echoed much of what Giulia said and also that the volume of neurons in our stomachs is equivalent to a cat's brain.
One of Michael's points concerned Cider vinegar - tests done when taking a couple of tablespoons diluted in water (must be the raw live Cider containing 'the mother') before eating, makes blood sugar spikes be only half the size they would otherwise be.
I used to take diluted cider vinegar in my teens (now 55) and have started again. Apart from liking the taste (clean, slightly sharp and refreshing), it seems to have assisted in moving my pallet from no special feelings for sugar (unless I eat something sweet e.g, Tangfastics cherry flavour, when I have to eat whole packet) to a complete lack of desire to eat anything with sugar. I am glad, as it means I am less likely to have that first one, which would lead to much or many more.
Also being fat, it is great to know that if I eat Rice or pasta, after the cider vinegar, I am only going to have a smaller blood sugar spike and the rest will pass through hopefully to act as a resistant starch in my bowel - where all the lovely bacteria will be very happy!
