Study Finds Lack of These Two Gut Bacteria May Lead to Depression
As studies of our microbiota become more focused, scientists have realized that our guts are inextricably linked to the brain and its functions. We now know our gut definitively factors into decision making, though we’ve probably known this informally for hundreds of years, hence the phrase “go with your gut instinct.” And now a new study believes it has pinpointed two specific species of bacteria that, when missing from our microbiome, may lead to depression.
According to the study recently published in the journal Nature Microbiology, out of a group of 2,000 participants, researchers found that those reporting symptoms of depression were lacking two particular strains of bacteria in their gut – Coprococcus and Dialister.
Coprococcus in particular was found to be a pathway for dopamine, the neurotransmitter believed to play a role in our brain’s reward system – one that’s known to dysregulate in people experiencing depression.
Though their results are only early indicators that will require significantly more research to be applicable for any future treatment, these two bacterial strains could lead to a future in which doctors might prescribe probiotics to treat mental disorders, or what some are referring to as “psychobiotics.”
The ability for our gut bacteria to send neurotransmitters between the brain and our gut’s brain, the enteric nervous system, is not found in bacteria outside of our guts and is believed to have evolved as we did.
This enteric nervous system, often called our second brain, contains somewhere in the range of 200 to 500 million neuronal pathways of its own – about the same as a dog’s brain – and communicates with the cerebellum through a two-way highway called the vagus nerve.
Our gut microbiome has something in the range of 500 to 1000 different species of bacteria, with scientists continuously discovering new ones. And in this most recent study, of the more than 500 strains tested, 90 percent of those strains were capable of producing neurotransmitters.
These bugs in our gut form somewhere in the range of three to five pounds of biomass and have essentially evolved to control our behavior. Along with the fungi, viruses, archaea, and other microbial cells, our guts are believed to contain somewhere in the range of 37 trillion bacterial cells. And unless we proactively maintain them, losing diversity in our microbiota can have severely negative side-effects. Now we’re closer to knowing that depression may be one of them.
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Water-Only Fasting Protocols Found to Enhance Cancer Treatments
Intermittent fasting has become popular for health and weight loss. But could fasting also be a highly effective tool for fighting and reversing cancer?
Across the world, nearly every culture has a tradition of fasting, but in our modern lives we’ve created a world of surplus and with it a constant and easily satiated hunger. With this excess food, our society has become plagued by diseases of excess.
Dr. Alan Goldhamer is the founder of True North Health Foundation, a therapeutic clinic for water-only fasting that helps patients suffering from a range of illnesses including hypertension, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, and cancer.
“We’ve gone from being criminal quacks to cutting-edge researchers because this idea of fasting has definitely gained some popular support,” Goldhamer said. “Our approach is very different, we believe that there is a cause of real health and the cause of health is healthful living. So, we focus on diet, sleep, (and) exercise, and we use fasting to undo the consequences of dietary excess, essentially. That’s why the conditions that respond the best to fasting are the conditions caused by dietary excess – so, obesity, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, Type II diabetes, autoimmune diseases, and certain forms of cancer, including Lymphoma.Â
Studies have shown that fasting acts to help the body’s natural ability to destroy dead or diseased cells — a process called autophagy. Now, doctors have begun to study how fasting protocols in conjunction with drugs, such as chemotherapy, can improve the efficacy of cancer treatment.
“It turns out autophagy is the process the body uses to get rid of cellular debris — aging cells and cancer cells — and it turns out that fasting is one of those things that may profoundly enhance autophagy in, not just humans, but also in other animals. In fact in rats, if you do periodic fasting with rats you can double their lifespan (everything else being equal). So, this is something that’s very interesting and promising. I don’t know that we have what I would consider definitive research on the issue, but it certainly raises one of the mechanisms by which fasting may also be effective,” Goldhamer said.
