I’m asking this question because it has become relatively well known now among practitioners who study the whole body or use holistic approaches to treating their clients that what we eat can have a tremendous effect on how we function, how we feel, and even how we think and experience emotions.

The following article covers this nicely so I’m going to paste it and then follow up with a few comments of my own: 

Gut bacteria can influence your mood, thoughts, behavior and brain

08/02/2023 // Olivia Cook // 2.6K Views

Tags: behavior, brain function, brain health, depression, digestion, goodhealth, goodscience, gut bacteria, gut health, gut microbiome, gut-brain axis, health science, immune system, mental health, mental state, Mind, mind body science, mood, research

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Numerous studies have shown that gut bacteria are related to various states of mental health.

Reputable scientists like Dr. Michael Gershon, dubbed the father of neurogastroenterology, believe that humans have a second brain in the gut.

With the brain and the gut working in a bi-direction, they could affect each other’s functions and significantly impact anxiety, cognition, depression and stress, as shown in the study published in the journal Nutrition Reviews.

This explains why antibiotics that disturb the gut microbial ecosystem can cause neuropsychiatric effects, interact with psychotropic medications and/or influence our mood, according to a study published in the Harvard Review of Psychiatry.

This also explains why mood disorders are so prevalent in patients with irritable bowel syndrome, as indicated in the study published in Gastroenterology.

Association between neurotransmitters and the gut microbiome

Chemicals implicated in depression and happiness, such as serotonin, are also found in the gut.

Research in Scientific Reports has shown that more than 90 percent of serotonin is synthesized by the gut. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that controls your mood and is responsible for happiness, optimism and satisfaction.

Most modern-day antidepressant drugs, known as serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), act by increasing the amount of serotonin available to brain cells.

Scientists have found that gut bacteria produce many other neurotransmitters, such as acetylcholine, dopamine, gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and norepinephrine, which are critical for anxiety, concentration, mood, motivation and reward.

The gut microbiome can cause changes in how brains react

A UCLA study published in Gastroenterology investigated whether the consumption of a fermented milk product with probiotics twice daily for four weeks by healthy women (with no gastrointestinal or psychiatric symptoms) altered brain intrinsic connectivity or response to emotional attention tasks.

Researchers reported that there were significant differences in how the brains reacted during the emotional task. The group of women who consumed fermented milk for four weeks had calmer brains during the emotional task. The no-intervention (no yogurt) group showed the opposite trend – more brain hyperactivity during the emotional task.

Exposure and consumption of good bacteria are necessary for a balanced brain

There are significantly more pro-inflammatory cytokines in depressed people compared to non-depressed ones. This effect on the inflammatory system may stem from interactions with a dysfunctional gut microbiome in depressed individuals.

Stress makes you more likely to develop mood disorders and makes the gut more permeable to bacteria. Reciprocally, depression causes dysbiosis – an imbalance of good to bad gut bacteria. In sum, depression may be caused by dysfunctional gut-brain-immune system interactions.

Good gut bacteria or the absence of some bad ones can make people more resilient to depressive states after stressors or trauma. (Related: Promote gut health with these 4 powerful spices.)

It is not surprising that chronic exposure to stress is associated with a higher incidence of anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). But not everyone who faces stress develops a mood disorder and not everyone who experiences a trauma develops PTSD, according to Dr. Marwa Azab, an adjunct professor of psychology and human development at California State University, Long Beach.

In a large population study (part of the Flemish Gut Flora project) published in Nature Microbiology, not only did the researchers find a link between the gut microbiome and mental health but they were also able to catalog the exact names of bacteria associated with depression and good and bad quality of life.

Butyrate-producing Faecalibacterium and Coprococcus bacteria were consistently associated with higher quality of life indicators. Dialister and Coprococcus species were also depleted in depression – even after correcting for the confounding effects of antidepressants.

What has become evident is that patients with psychiatric disorders have different populations of gut microbes compared to microbes in healthy individuals. Also, stress and stress hormones like cortisol can have a negative impact on the microbiome. All of these factors interact in complex ways with the immune system, said Azab.

Take care of your gut bacteria for good quality of life, better mental health and a sharper brain.

Visit Digestion.news for more articles about gut bacteria.

Watch this video to learn how gut health is directly connected to your immune health.

This video is from the Thrivetime Show channel on Brighteon.com.

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So what do you think?  

I can tell you I’ve seen quite a few depressed clients whose diets were horrible – sugary cereal for breakfast (or sometimes for dinner!);  lots of “comfort foods” that are high in bad carbohydrates and sugar; failure to drink water to maintain good hydration;  lack of any balance in the nutrients they are consuming.  And it’s often a “chicken or the egg?” question. Did the depression result in the poor nutrition or did the poor nutrition result in or make worse the depression?  

From personal experience, I say it can be both but tends to lean in the direction of poor nutrition creating the atmosphere for the mental health disturbances to occur.  Eating sugar (like a pop tart), causes my energy to drop, my brain to feel sluggish, and my stomach to hurt.  If that one “snack” is getting in the way of neurotransmitter creation, then I’m also contributing to creating deficiencies in the chemicals that would normally make my brain behave more regulated.  

So, first we want to stop (as slowly as possible to avoid too much systemic upset), doing the “bad” things (like pop tarts or sugary sodas). Then we want to begin adding in the “good” things (such as probiotics or products that help us detox our bodies from what we’ve been taking in for possibly a long time. ) Balance elimination of the bad, adding in the good, and eating a reasonably balance combination of foods, and we can start regaining the health that we have lost. And improve our mental health along the way. Nice combination, right?

I’m not a nutritionist so I cannot offer my clients professional counsel on their nutritional program but I can point them to professionals whose careers center on good nutrition.  One such person I highly recommend is Dr. David Perlmutter who is one of a few board certified neurologists who is also a certified nutritionist.  And be careful about just trusting anyone, especially organizations because as I learned the hard way, as a Type 2 Diabetic, getting advice from the American Diabetes Association was about as helpful as having a poptart.  Their information is for the most part just plain wrong and it hurt me rather than helped me.  But when I started following Dr. Perlmutter’s advice which started with reading his book “Grain Brain”, I started achieving health that I had not had anytime before in my life. 

Another area I have recently been researching and working with to attempt to heal persistent migraines and Type 2 Diabetes is medical intermittent fasting. I use “medical” to distinguish from religious fasting. Fasting for religious purposes has been taking place for thousands of years and definitely has many benefits. But in this case, we are focusing exclusively on the health results. My go to here is Dr. Jason Fung who heads a clinic The Institute for Functional Medicine and covers his ideas and various plans at his website: The Fasting Method.

Dr Fung’s book, “The Complete Guide to Fasting” is also an excellent resource that I use daily to keep learning about the benefits of fasting and how to implement various strategies

Finally, I would like to highly recommend that you visit and peruse The Health Ranger Store for some of the highest quality, lab tested, organic foods and supplements on the market today.

Health Ranger Store

Well, that’s enough to fill anyone’s brain (and gut!) for now but I hope it gets you thinking, researching, asking questions, and maybe even eating different foods that actually help grow your brain rather than stunt it. 

Until next time, I’ll keep musing about mental health and keep you updated!

And be on the lookout, any providers of health care reading this, for CEU course offerings from PESI that I will be posting here and on various social media platforms.

Blessings!