Over the past five decades, there has been a global surge in the use of psychiatric medications, coinciding with a nearly tripled prevalence of obesity and associated metabolic diseases. Is there a connection? Medications prescribed for severe mental illnesses like depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia often incur significant metabolic side effects, such as heightened appetite, […]
depression
Gut Feeling: More than a Hunch
The gut microbiome has an intriguing relationship to mental health. Communication along the gut-brain axis is strongly implicated in depression and anxiety in animal models. Attempts to replicate rodent study outcomes in humans are encouraging. In one study, a strain of bifidobacterium which was able to normalize anxiety-like behavior in mice went on to show […]
Probiotic Foods Linked with Less Depression
Depression exacts a high cost. In addition to quality of life issues, it may increase risk for suicide as well as diseases including cancer and heart disease. Treating depression with medications has been less than successful. The proof of that appears in the soaring numbers suffering with this disorder. Alternate therapies are urgently needed. Evidence […]
Probiotics: A No-Brainer for Brain Health
Drugs target serotonin to reduce depression and other mood disorders. Could probiotics do the same, given that the microbiome is one smooth operator in gut-brain signaling?[i] Researchers Caroline J. K. Wallace and Roumen Milev of Queens University in Ontario asked the same in “The effects of probiotics on depressive symptoms in humans: a systematic review” which appeared in Annals of […]