Editor’s Note: This article is a reprint. It was originally published June 22, 2017.

When it comes to mental health, most assume the brain is in charge. In reality, your gut may be calling the shots. Interestingly enough, in the 1800s and early 1900s, it was thought that waste in your colon could produce infections that lead to depression. As it turns out, they weren’t too far off the mark.

Scientific advances now suggest your state of mind is influenced, if not largely directed, by the microflora in your gut, and probiotics (beneficial bacteria) are being thought of as “the new antidepressants.” However, while it may be tempting to trade one pill for another, I urge you to consider taking a more comprehensive approach.

Taking a probiotic supplement may be helpful, but if you’re still eating the same junk as before, it’s not likely to make a significant difference. The key, really, is to eat a healthy diet. Limiting or eliminating sugar is absolutely essential, as adding healthy fats will provide your brain with much-needed fuel, while fermented foods will give you the beneficial bacteria you need.

Add to that daily movement and regular exercise, good sleep and sensible sun exposure, and you’re really giving your body the basic building blocks it needs for optimal performance — both physically and mentally. A probiotic supplement cannot achieve this all on its own. That said, studies have demonstrated just how important healthy gut bacteria are when it comes to treating depression.

Probiotics Reduce Symptoms of Depression

More recently, a small, randomized, placebo-controlled study^1,2,3,4 involving 44 adults diagnosed with both irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and mild to moderate depression or anxiety found that the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 provided depression relief. Half of the participants received the probiotic while the other half received a placebo. At six weeks, 64% of the treatment group had reduced depression scores compared to 32% of the control group.

Those receiving the probiotic also reported fewer symptoms of IBS and improved overall quality of life. At the end of 10 weeks, approximately twice as many in the treatment group were still reporting lower levels of depression.

Compelling Links Between Depression and Gut Inflammation

A number of studies have confirmed that gastrointestinal inflammation can play a critical role in the development of depression, and that healthy bacteria may be an important part of the treatment. For example, a Hungarian scientific review⁸ published in 2011 made the following observations:

Previous research has also demonstrated that probiotics have the power to alter your brain function,¹¹ so the featured study is not alone in that regard.

And, while Bercik and his team failed to find a reduction in anxiety, a study done on mice¹² found that Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 — the same strain used in Bercik’s study — normalized anxiety-like behavior in animals that had infectious colitis. Here, the antianxiety effect was attributed to modulation of the vagal pathways within the gut-brain axis.

Other research¹³ has shown the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus has a marked effect on GABA levels — an inhibitory neurotransmitter involved in regulating many physiological and psychological processes — in certain brain regions, lowering the stress-induced hormone corticosterone. As a result, anxiety- and depression-related behavior was lessened. Strong connections between the gut microbiome and schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have also been found.¹⁴

How Sugar Influences Your Risk of Depression

A high-sugar diet can trigger or contribute to depression in a number of ways, including by:

• Distorting your microflora by nourishing microbes that are detrimental to health
• Triggering a cascade of chemical reactions in your body known to promote chronic inflammation
• Elevating your insulin level, which can have a detrimental impact on your mood and mental health by causing higher levels of glutamate to be secreted in your brain. Glutamate has been linked to agitation, depression, anger, anxiety and panic attacks
• Suppressing activity of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a growth hormone that promotes healthy neurons. BDNF levels are critically low in both depression and schizophrenia, which animal models suggest might actually be causative

There’s a great book on this subject written in 1986, “Sugar Blues,” by William Dufty, that delves into the sugar-depression link in great detail. He even advocated eliminating sugar from the diet of the mentally ill, stating it could be an effective treatment in and of itself for some people.

I too believe the dietary answer for treating depression starts with limiting or eliminating refined sugars (especially processed fructose) and grains, as all forms of sugar feed bad bacteria in your gut and promote systemic-wide inflammation. As a standard recommendation, I suggest limiting your daily fructose consumption from all sources to 25 grams per day or less.

Gluten has also been implicated in depression and other, more serious, mental health problems such as schizophrenia. Bear in mind that if you’re sensitive to gluten, it’s not enough to cut down. You need to remove it from your diet entirely. The easiest way to eliminate most sugars (and gluten, if need be) is to avoid processed foods and cook from scratch using whole ingredients.

Cutting out processed foods will also significantly reduce your exposure to genetically engineered ingredients, which have also been implicated in chronic inflammation and the destruction of healthy gut bacteria, as well as pesticides such as glyphosate — another culprit in both microbiome disruption and inflammation. Keep in mind that conventionally grown foods may also be contaminated with pesticide residues so, ideally, aim for as organic a diet as you can.

Dietary Keys to Overcoming Depression

Aside from cutting out sugars and gluten, make sure you’re getting sufficient amounts of healthy fats in your diet. Examples of healthy saturated fats include avocados, butter made from raw, grass fed organic milk, organic pastured egg yolks, coconuts and coconut oil, raw nuts and grass fed meats. You may need as much as 50% to 80% of your daily calories in the form of healthy fats such as these.

Beyond that, animal-based omega-3 fat may be the single most important nutrient to battle depression.^15,16 It’s particularly important when combating more serious problems such as psychosis and schizophrenia.^17,18 Good sources of animal-based omega-3 include fatty fish that are also low in mercury, such as wild-caught Alaskan salmon, sardines and anchovies.

If you don’t eat these types of fish on a regular basis, it would be advisable to take a high-quality omega-3 supplement such as krill oil, which has a number of benefits over fish oil, including better absorption. Lastly, to rebalance your gut flora, be sure to eat plenty of:

Walsh is convinced the use of psychiatric medication will eventually fade away as we learn more about normalizing brain function through nutritional interventions. “These powerful drugs … they do not normalize the brain. They cause an abnormal condition,” he warns. “They might correct depression or anxiety, but you wind up with something that’s not normal.”

Cass also stresses that one of the first steps in treating any mental health problem is to clean up your diet and address your gut health. Otherwise, you’ll have virtually no chance of getting emotionally and mentally well. On her website, CassMD.com, you can find a free report called “Reclaim Your Brain,” which details nutritional substances you can use to address conditions like anxiety and depression.the future but there are many online resources that can guide you until then, one of them being my video below.

Holistic Mental Health Suggestions

Regardless of the nature or severity of your mental health problem, to successfully treat it, you need to take a holistic approach. Rarely will medication be the sole answer. So, in addition to all of the dietary guidelines already offered, here are some other suggestions — presented in no particular order — to keep in mind.

Combat inflammation — Keeping inflammation in check is an important part of any effective treatment plan. If you’re gluten-sensitive, you will need to remove all gluten from your diet. A food sensitivity test can help ascertain this. Switching to a whole food diet as described in my optimal nutrition plan can go a long way toward lowering the inflammation level in your body and brain.Optimize your vitamin D level — Vitamin D deficiency is another important biological factor that can play a significant role in mental health, especially depression. A double-blind randomized trial²⁶ published in 2008 concluded that supplementing with high doses of vitamin D “seems to ameliorate these symptoms indicating a possible causal relationship.” Research²⁷ also claims that low vitamin D levels appear to be associated with suicide attempts.

[…]

Via https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2024/02/10/probiotics-depression.aspx