Gut brain connection mental health: how digestion shapes mood and anxiety

Gut brain connection mental health studies reveal how your brain and gut constantly communicate via signals that can affect your moods, stress and concentration. Factors such as gut microbes, the immune system’s response to your gut, the vagus nerve, and choice of food are involved in this communication and any of them can be corrected with appropriate help.

For instance, if you are a resident of Sacramento and your anxiety or melancholy comes at the expense of a bloated stomach, stomach ache, or bad digestion, it is highly informative about the above said connection. In fact, there are many individuals that take a long time to treat both issues completely unaware that they could be ‍‍‍related.

What is the gut brain connection?

The‍‍‍ two-way communication system called the gut-brain axis is the gut brain connection that mental health scientists describe. Your brain influences how your stomach contracts and secretes acid. Similarly, your gut can also affect mood, stress response and thinking by sending signals to the ‍‍‍brain.

The vagus nerve and the enteric nervous system

Vagus‍‍‍ nerve is the principal link connecting the two organs, it mainly takes data upwards from the gut to the brain through the majority of its fibers. Moreover, the gut possesses on its own an intricate network of hundreds of millions of nerve cells, the enteric nervous system; this explains why it is dubbed the second ‍‍‍brain.

Chemicals made in the gut

About ‍ ‍ ‍ 90 percent of the serotonin in the body is produced in the gut. Primarily, that serotonin just helps in managing digestion; it does not directly travel into the brain. Gut bacteria even help make GABA, which is a neurotransmitter that helps us to relax, plus short-chain fatty acids that regulate inflammation in the brain. They also manage tryptophan, an amino acid the brain relies on when making its own ‍‍‍serotonin

Gut microbiome mood: how bacteria affect how you feel

Vast‍‍‍ numbers of microscopic organisms have home in one’s gastrointestinal tract. People who are depressed are quite often found to have a different combination of microbes in the gut as well, for example, the types that generate butyrate, a short-chain fatty acid known to have anti-inflammatory properties are much smaller in depression. 

Animal research has revealed that when rats were introduced to gut flora that came out of a person that was suffering from depression, they developed depression-like features which implies the gut community could affect mood in a direct way. Although scientists are trying to prove this theory, human research hasn’t yet reached the final conclusions. The gut-brain connection and mental health topic has more questions than concrete answers at the ‍‍‍moment.

Gut inflammation depression: what the research shows

If the gastrointestinal barrier is damaged, harmful components from gut bacteria like lipopolysaccharide can be released into the blood stream to ignite the immune system.

Depression among a few people is marked by a significant increase in biological indicators associated with inflammation such as C reactive protein and interleukin-6. Moreover, those suffering from inflammatory bowel diseases are found to have higher rates of depression and anxiety than people who do not.

Inflammation is not responsible for all depression. It’s part of the reason that some people don’t respond to antidepressant pills alone, and it’s also why a complete assessment includes looking at physical health as well as mental ‍‍‍state.

Digestion and anxiety: a loop that feeds itself

The‍‍‍ digestion function can rapidly change due to anxiety. Stress-related hormones are either slowing down or speeding up your gut so in many cases anxiety can manifest itself as nausea, cramps or diarrhea. This also works the other way round. It is quite a common thing that the generalized anxiety disorder will also include irritable bowel syndrome, and the discomfort in the gut sends alert signs to the brain that cause the body to remain in the stress mode.

Curing one side only rarely results in symptoms’ disappearance. Usually, digestion and anxiety get the most effective treatment when both problems are solved at the same ‍‍‍time.

Probiotics anxiety: what the evidence says

Research‍‍‍ about the effect of probiotics on anxiety seems to present some very small positive effects. A number of trials have tested such specific bacteria as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium and have observed that anxiety and depressive symptoms had slightly decreased. However, other trials could not show that the tested bacteria were more effective than a placebo. Due to the vast variety of used microorganisms, doses, and study periods, it is not possible to recommend a specific bacterial preparation that has clearly shown its efficacy.

For the most part, adults who are in good health do not face risks related to the use of probiotics. Nevertheless, they cannot and certainly should not be substitutes for therapy or medicine. Anyone who is immunocompromised should speak first with a physician before considering taking ‍‍‍probiotics.

Gut health diet: foods that support mood

Potentially‍‍‍ the strongest food-related piece of evidence is the SMILES trial conducted in Australia released in 2017. People with major depression who adopted a Mediterranean-style dietary pattern for 12 weeks experienced greater improvements than the group that only got the social support one. A similar 2021 study at Stanford University found that after 10 weeks of eating more fermented foods microbiome diversity went up and inflammatory markers went down.

Your gut health diet can be started with small steps:

• Consume more fiber from beans, oats, vegetables and fruit.
• Add foods that are fermented such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, or kimchi.
• Rethink your cooking and eating by incorporating olive oil, nuts, and fish more often.
• Reduce your intake of ultra-processed snacks and sugary drinks.
• Get enough water and keep a regular eating schedule.

The fact that farmers markets are accessible everywhere around Sacramento makes it easy to get fresh produce. Hence, the gut brain mental health connection diet feels quite ‍‍‍practical.

When to talk to a psychiatrist

A‍‍‍ major anxiety, low mood, poor concentration or mood change which persists for over two weeks should be evaluated by a healthcare professional, especially if these include physical symptoms. Dietary adjustments can be beneficial but are just complementary in nature. You still need to undergo treatment.

Open Minds Psychiatry of Sacramento provides psychological evaluation, medication management and telehealth consultation for persons within different states. We can tailor therapy to incorporate pharmacogenetic screening or nutritional psychiatry as ‍‍‍needed.

Frequently asked questions