Gut feelings: How the microbiome may affect mental illness

[wolram]

I suffer with bipolar , how would this help me?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207093019.htm

All of us who have experienced a 'nervous stomach' under periods of stress suspect that there is a link between our gut and our mood. Now researchers have received strong scientific support for exactly this link.

 

[phinds]

All of us who have experienced a 'nervous stomach' under periods of stress suspect that there is a link between our gut and our mood. Now researchers have received strong scientific support for exactly this link.

I have read (sorry, no citations so you have to take this as anecdotal but I believe it is firmly established) that there is a demonstrable link between tooth decay microbes and depression, so it doesn't seem odd to me that an imbalance in your stomach chemistry would cause mood issues.

 

[256bits]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mental-health-may-depend-on-creatures-in-the-gut/

The human gut microbiome evolved to help us in myriad ways: Gut microbes make vitamins, break dietary fiber into digestible short-chain fatty acids and govern normal functions in the immune system. Probiotic treatments such as yogurt supplemented with beneficial strains of bacteria are already being used to help treat some gastrointestinal disorders, such as antibiotic-induced diarrhea. But there are little data about probiotic effects on the human brain.

Probiotic sites give "evidence" for more of a link, but the scientific research on this only recently being accepted as a pursuit.

Wiki has a write-up for probiotics, with the warning for consumers,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probiotic

The European Food Safety Authority has rejected all petitions by commercial manufacturers for health claims on probiotic products in Europe due to insufficient research and thus inconclusive proof of effectiveness.[2][39] Occurring over many years, the scientific reviews established that a cause-and-effect relationship had not been sufficiently proven in the products submitted.[39]

In the United States where food product labeling requires language approval by the FDA, probiotic manufacturers have received warning letters of impending legal actions for using exaggerated claims of health benefits not supported by clinical evidence of efficacy

With trillions of micro-flora on or within our bodies, it is a worthwhile investigation.

 

[jim mcnamara]

Moved to General Discussion.

 

[DennisN]

I suffer with bipolar , how would this help me?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161207093019.htm

All of us who have experienced a 'nervous stomach' under periods of stress suspect that there is a link between our gut and our mood. Now researchers have received strong scientific support for exactly this link.

Very interesting! I have heard similar things from a number of different knowledgeable people, i.e. that there is some sort of interaction/links between the gut and the brain.

I have read (sorry, no citations so you have to take this as anecdotal but I believe it is firmly established) that there is a demonstrable link between tooth decay microbes and depression, so it doesn't seem odd to me that an imbalance in your stomach chemistry would cause mood issues.

Also interesting! Furthermore, I am aware that there has been research that shows links between depression and inflammation. Some papers about this:

• Depression and Inflammation: Disentangling a Clear Yet Complex and Multifaceted Link (Neuropsychiatry (2017)
• The role of inflammation in depression: from evolutionary imperative to modern treatment target (PMC, 2017)
• So depression is an inflammatory disease, but where does the inflammation come from? (PMC 2013)

Edit: I just saw that I replied to a couple of posts from 2016.

 

[Borek]

How much you fart depends on the microbiome, so at least the link to sociability shouldn't be hard to prove.