Can gut bacteria influence mood?

JuliusCaesar · 09-06-2016 10:10am #1

Really interesting work being done on the microbiome. Ted Dinan, UCC, used the word "psychobiotics":

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/28/magazine/can-the-bacteria-in-your-gut-explain-your-mood.html?_r=0

Here's the abstract of the original study:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23759244

cranks · 09-06-2016 1:32pm

I buy it.
There is some interesting work on toxoplasma gondi infection that's been done over the last 30-40 years and immunoglobulin response to such has been implicated in personality and behaviour changes, increased risk of road traffic accidents, through to contributing to onset of schizophrenia. Flegr is the man to check out on that one.

Elsewhere, beneficial effects on auto immune responses by moderating Ig response with probiotics have been suggested

As you're likely aware the gut-autism link hypothesis has been around for a while and, coincidentally, this came on stream this week

http://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-016-0887-5

JuliusCaesar · 10-06-2016 7:20am

I read a book recently - Guy Claxton's Intelligence in the Flesh. Massively interesting. "We do not have a body, we are a body" he says.

Sonachuocb · 10-06-2016 7:49am

I absolutely think so! Our gut is our second brain. And often times you hear of people who suffer from depression may also struggle with gut issues such as IBS etc or those with gut issues find they are anxious or down in mood and can't focus (foggy). There are so many excellent websites but one I have recently been reading in by Kelly Brogan MD - look her up if you're interested!

Speedwell · 10-06-2016 7:58am

The gut produces the majority of serotonin. Serotonin is part of the overall mechanism of glucose metabolism, along with insulin and cortisol. It is theorised to be part of the reason that depression is associated with diabetes, particularly insulin-resistant (type 2) diabetes. The literature (Mercola covers it, but after a review of several actual papers it does not appear to be questionable science) draws a link between mothers who are obese and diabetic when pregnant (i.e. disorders of glucose metabolism) and autism in their children. Autistic people are slightly but significantly more likely to be heavy themselves, people considered to be high-functioning autistic more so than people with Asperger's. I'm autistic and have PCOS, and I notice that when I restrict carbs in my diet to the minimum possible (which I did when I was first shown to be insulin resistant at the time of my PCOS diagnosis), my mood tanks and will not lift until I eat something sweet (fruit will do; I'm not stupid). Gut bacteria preferentially use sugar to produce serotonin. Interestingly, when prescribed SSRIs in the US for an episode of depression following an emotionally traumatic incident, I exhibited a weird overresponse to the medication and was taken off it. SSRIs and other psychiatric medicine that targets serotonin, additionally, often cause significant weight gain. Here's another interesting paper exploring some of the links: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3705322/

ford2600 · 10-06-2016 10:27am

http://sigmanutrition.com/episode105/

Few other podcasts 117, 111 might be of interest.

You'll hear plenty references to "gut brain axis" in first podcast. It's a fascinating area of research but really early days with more questions than answers.

Can gut bacteria influence mood?

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