The Links Between Gut and Mental Health

The Links Between Gut and Mental Health

A number of studies have confirmed that gastrointestinal inflammation specifically can play a critical role in the development of depression, suggesting that beneficial bacteria (probiotics) may be an important part of treatment. For example, a Hungarian scientific review¹³ published in 2011 made the following observations:

1. Depression is often found alongside gastrointestinal inflammations and autoimmune diseases as well as with cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases, type 2 diabetes and also cancer, in which chronic low-grade inflammation is a significant contributing factor.   Thus researchers suggested “depression may be a neuropsychiatric manifestation of a chronic inflammatory syndrome.”
2. An increasing number of clinical studies have shown that treating gastrointestinal inflammation with probiotics, vitamin B, vitamin D, may also improve depression symptoms and quality of life by attenuating pro-inflammatory stimuli to your brain.
3. Research suggests the primary cause of inflammation may be dysfunction of the “gut-brain axis.”
Your gut is literally your second brain -- created from the identical tissue as your brain during gestation -- and contains higher levels of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which is associated with mood control.

from:  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/01/22/depression-causes.aspx