How the Microbes Living in Your Gut Might Be Making You Anxious or Depressed

[groovedaddy]

Microbes are in the news these days. Specifically, the microbes that live in and on the human body, making up our “microbiome.” Michael Pollan made a splash with a column titled “ Some of My Best Friends are Germs” about a year ago, and now Martin Blaser, director of the Human Microbiome Project at NYU, has published a book called Missing Microbes: How the Overuse of Antibiotics Is Fueling Our Modern Plagues.

In a short period of time, bacteria, fungi and other microbes have gone from enemy to friend in the public consciousness.

But in addition to the many studies finding out about the numbers and diversity of the microbes with whom we share our bodies and their roles in our nutrition and immune function, some researchers have made some surprising findings: the bugs in your gut might actually impact your emotions.

The bidirectional connection between our brains and our guts is not news. When we are hungry, full, queasy, or suffering from gas or constipation, our guts let our brains know. And our emotions can easily impact how we feel in our guts, like when one has “butterflies in the stomach.” The link between emotions and the gut is so strong that we talk about “gut instinct” or gut feelings.

http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/how-microbes-living-your-gut-might-be-making-you-anxious-or-depressed?akid=11744.260941.Z6ULAw&rd=1&src=newsletter985011&t=3

[tridim]

1. My gut bacteria and I are good friends...

Mostly because of this:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-resistant-starch

It stuns me that most doctors don't know ANYTHING about resistant starch. They don't even know it exists, let alone know the unbelievable benefits. Ignorance is malpractice IMO.

[JustAnotherGen]

2. klebsiella

The enemy of Ankylosing Spondylitis. Thanks for post your links above - I subscribe to him too.

I don't take enbrel or nsaids - because I try to eat starch free. It's stopped the deterioration in my spine.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

3. I found this out

After taking a few rounds of Augmentin in it's highest doses after an E. coli infection three years ago. It takes a long time to get it back if you ever do. The idea of fecal transplant comes to mind but slowly getting back to normal on it own. The nastier you are, the faster it gets back to normal. Germaphobes not so fast.

[JayhawkSD]

4. And, of course, there's you appendix

Long thought to be a useless remnant of a no longer needed atrophied organ, it is now beginning to be viewed as a storage bin for the useful intestinal flora which can be killed off and which we cannot live without. Since the appendix is outside the "traffic flow" the flora inside it remain intact and can replinish the gut flora. So it may not be a remnant at all, but may be serving its original purpose.

[SevenSixtyTwo]

5. Good point!

I sure miss my gallbladder that the surgeon said I did need. Of course mine was beyond repair but they do serve a purpose.

[HuckleB]

6. Links to peer reviewed studies supporting your post?

Thanks.

[JayhawkSD]

8. No idea.

Something I read six months to a year ago. Reputable source, but not a widespread, indepth study. More on the line of preliminary research and suggested results. Notice I said "beginning to be" and "may be."

[HuckleB]

9. So it's not exactly worth bringing up, then, is it?

[JayhawkSD]

10. Only if you like interesting things.

If we limit ourselves to looking at and investigating only those things that have already been documented as proven fact, we never learn anything new. You apparently do not ever want to learn anything new or tread on unexplored territory, so you should be more careful where you read stuff. I would suggest you limit yourself to things like Scientific American, then you will have less risk of reading stuff that is "not worth bringing up." I warn you, however, that even Scientific American sometimes publishes unproven theories.

[groovedaddy]

20. I'd do that if I had posted this in the science section, but I didn't.

The "bible" of psychiatric diagnosis, the current DSM-V, does lay out it's definition of both depression and anxiety (as well as their sub=categories). What, pray tell, does "big pharma" have to do with it? How much "big pharma" phunding (sic) went into the DSM-V? Maybe you have some links? Many people with one of the depression / anxiety diagnosis, who HAVE BEEN PRESCRIBED big pharma drugs, might have some interest in how much "science" was actually involved in the process. There are scientists who have called them out over this. What does this have to do with the flora in your (and my) gut? Where are the links? Good question. Who do you work for? An even better question.

[HuckleB]

21. That is the silliest excuse I've ever seen.

Wow!

This is bad speculation at best. It's not been repeated, and there was no point in posting it this far down the road. Sheesh.

[groovedaddy]

24. Do tell, how do you distinguish between good and bad speculation? Otherwise

it's just your opinion, which you seem to have in abundance.

[BuddhaGirl]

11. Interesting info - thanks

for "bringing it up."

[HuckleB]

7. Pollan is a quack, to be kind. And where are the studies repeating Blaser's "work?"

This is an old bit, and it seems to have hit a dead end.

[groovedaddy]

12. Maybe the biggest quacks were all those physicians who prescribed anti-biotics

where they weren't really called for (i.e. many viral infections) while giving little to no attention to what happens in human (and animal) bodies when the gut flora are jacked with. Yeah, the science is finally catching up but too many physicians relied upon the "science" put forth by big pharma, jeopradizing many patients' health in the process.

[HuckleB]

13. You have no response, so you pretend that docs prescribed antibiotics for viral infections.

Yes, antibiotics were overprescribed, but that's got nothing to do with viral infections.

Secondly, whenever you revert the "Big Pharma," you know there's a problem with your preconceived notions. This OP is a load of hooey. The preliminary research has gone nowhere, and that's because the science hit a dead end. Big Pharma and antibiotics have nothing to do with it.

[BuddhaGirl]

14. +1

[HuckleB]

15. LOL! Do you ever give thumbs to reality?

Giving thumbs up to logical fallacies and nonsense is about all you seem to be able to do.

[BuddhaGirl]

16. LOL your concern is touching

and your opinion is noted.

Thanks and have an awesome night!

[HuckleB]

17. And the derp is noted.

[BuddhaGirl]

18. your usual childish belittling, is noted

Insecurity can be overcome, but it does take some work.

[HuckleB]

19. Yes, I am the one who's childish.

I'm always running around giving posts containing misinformation +1s, especially when certain have replied and corrected that information. Oh, wait. No, I'm not the one who does that.

[BuddhaGirl]

22. I'm touched that

you care about how I replied to another poster and *not* you LOL

+1 for your concern. -1000 for your childish belittling...it seems to be a pattern. Don't like my replies? Just ignore them

[groovedaddy]

25. Major depressive disorder: probiotics may be an adjuvant therapy - study

Summary
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is an extremely complex and heterogeneous condition. Emerging research suggests that nutritional influences on MDD are currently underestimated. MDD patients have been shown to have elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, increased oxidative stress, altered gastrointestinal (GI) function, and lowered micronutrient and ?-3 fatty acid status. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is likely contributing to the limited nutrient absorption in MDD. Stress, a significant factor in MDD, is known to alter GI microflora, lowering levels of lactobacilli and bifidobacterium. Research suggests that bacteria in the GI tract can communicate with the central nervous system, even in the absence of an immune response. Probiotics have the potential to lower systemic inflammatory cytokines, decrease oxidative stress, improve nutritional status, and correct SIBO. The effect of probiotics on systemic inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress may ultimately lead to increased brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). It is our contention that probiotics may be an adjuvant to standard care in MDD.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987704004967