Depression
Did you know that depression is the cause of disability and quite frankly people are dying because of this debilitating condition? There are over 350 million people affected worldwide.
Traditional depression treatments all target the brain with drugs and psychotherapy. Unfortunately, these therapies don’t work for everyone. Is there anything else we can do?
According to modern psychology and biology, major depression is not just a mental disorder but also includes physiological changes such as unbalanced brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, impaired growth of new brain cells, and decline and abnormal wiring of brain cells.
Depression may be induced by genetics but environmental factors play a very important role. The latest research indicates that gut bacteria play a crucial part in the development of depression.
How can it be possible for gut bugs to affects us so much?
Studies show that depressed patients have different gut microbes from healthy persons. It generally means that it’s less diverse and less rich. For example, depressed people have fewer Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus strains, the good bacteria you can find in yoghurt.
Antibiotics kill gut bacteria and increase the incidence of depression. They kill pathogens but also destroy beneficial bacteria, increasing the risk of mental health problems.
Stress, especially chronic stress, disturbs gut bacteria and increases the susceptibility to depression too. Poor diets (Western diet, the refined-food diet, processed food diet) destroy normal gut microbiota and increase the incidence of depression.
The vagus nerve
We all have a vagus nerve. Actually 2 of them. It’s a highway between your gut and your brain and it translates information via electrical signals.
Gut microorganisms can also activate the vagus nerve and it affects your brain, behaviour and your mood too.
The vagus nerve can tell the difference between good and bad bacteria in your gut and can make you feel anxious or calm depending on the type of bacteria.
The type of bacteria (microbiome) you have in your gut is affected by the food you eat, drugs, infections, taking probiotics, etc.
The vagus nerve can also talk to your immune system by releasing acetylcholine. Acetylcholine interacts with the immune cells and can calm down inflammation.
The vagus nerve is also responsible for the movement of your intestines called peristalsis, gag reflex, and feeling of satiation. If you surgically cut it, you might develop vitamin B12 deficiency as it stimulates the stomach’s parietal cells to secrete stomach acid and the intrinsic factor needed to absorb vitamin B12 from food.
What to do?
By changing your diet you can improve your mood, lessen depression and other mental health conditions. If you have any nutritional deficiencies, appropriate supplements can help. If your gut bacteria are imbalanced, there are ways to help with that too.
By the way, did you know that broad beans are a natural source of a chemical called L-dopa that is used to treat Parkinson’s disease because it makes the neurotransmitter dopamine?