Why the Best Medicine for Your Depression May Be a Healthy Gut
Depression can loom over every aspect of a person’s life, causing severe disability in many cases and sometimes even leading to suicide. Time reports that the world will likely be spending $17 billion on antidepressants by 2020. But what if the best medicine for depression doesn’t come in a pill? What if gut health and diet plays an even bigger role than we've thought?
Let's be clear right off the bat though: it's probably not a good idea to suggest to someone with depression that they should "just change their diet" and all will be well. It's neither helpful nor entirely true. But gut health just might play a role, among many other factors, and since it's in our control to some degree, it bears looking at more closely when everything else feels very much out of control.
Depression could be exacerbated, in part, by what microbes are living in our guts. Studies have shown gut flora promoted by healthy eating may reduce depression risk by as much as 35%. And this is huge. It could be because some of the stomach’s “good” bacteria produce and regulate serotonin and other chemicals that affect mood, but there is a strong connection that's worth thinking about.
Diets high in sugar and processed foods promote an unhealthy balance in the gut that may worsen or in some case even lead to depression. Researchers are looking into the use of “psychobiotics,” or probiotics that improve mood by balancing the gut, as a possible new treatment avenue. Let's look at the latest information for more on the connection between depression and the health of the gut.
The Gut-Brain Connection
The connection between the digestive system and human health has become a hot topic. Researchers believe gut health may be involved in the development or exacerbation of numerous conditions ranging from metabolic disorders like type 2 diabetes and obesity to psychiatric disorders like depression. This may be due to the various compounds our healthy microflora help to produce and regulate. One of these is serotonin, or the “happy chemical,” which is associated with positive mood, healthy appetite, and regular sleep.
It’s possible that an imbalance in the gut could lead to reduced numbers of healthy bacteria, resulting in lowered production of serotonin and other chemicals vital to good mental health. Many researchers believe the gut and brain are in constant, direct communication via gut hormones and endocrine peptides sent through the nervous system. The vagus nerve, which runs from the stomach to the brain, could play a key role in this chemical exchange.
Gut-Brain Test Results
Researchers set out to confirm the gut-brain connection by transplanting fecal matter from depressed mice into the guts of healthy ones. Sure enough, the mice given the unhealthy transplants developed visible signs of depression.
There also appears to be a genetic component. One study showed genes may help determine the distribution of microflora that are allowed to flourish in any given gut. This doesn’t predispose a person to depression directly, but to conditions that make depression more likely—making care for the gut even more important as we look to use this knowledge to support mental health as well as physical health.
Improving Mental Health Through the Gut
Researchers are looking into ways to fight depression by altering gut flora. Uniquely, “psychobiotics,” which are basically probiotics believed to have mood-boosting properties, may lead the next wave of depression treatments. The development of medications that mimic or interact with specific peptides created in the gut could also prove beneficial in setting up a better environment to promote mental health.
Taking Control of the Gut
Diets high in refined sugars and processed foods can have adverse effects on microflora. In fact, eating a standard Western diet can increase the chances of suffering from depression by up to 35%. So it's a common recommendation to eat a diet higher in fruits, vegetables and fermented foods for improved mental health.
The more we learn about the gut, the more we understand its importance in connection with the rest of the body. Depression may not be caused by gut microflora, and it may not be preventable, but new advances are revealing connections that may soon make it more treatable. In the meantime, hug that person with depression and be there to support them without judging their diet. If they're ready to make a change, it could help to suggest, at their request, a shift toward a healthier diet of vegetables and fruits to get the most benefit possible from this knowledge.
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