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Paris – Intestinal bacteria could affect our mental well-being and could be badociated with depression, researchers said Monday after conducting the largest study of its kind to date.
According to the World Health Organization, about 300 million people suffer from depression and there are known links between the physical and mental health of a patient.
Belgian scientists are now convinced that a large number of intestinal bacteria can produce chemicals that have a significant impact on the brain, including several microorganisms linked (positively or negatively) to mental health.
The experiment, known as the Flemish project Gut Flora, badyzed data on depression and stool samples from more than 1,000 people. It also found that two types of bacteria were "systematically destroyed" in people with depression. This was true even though patients were taking antidepressants.
Scientists understand very well the connections between the intestines and the brain and recognize that their findings, published in the journal Nature Microbiology, could be considered controversial.
"The idea that microbial metabolites may interact with our brain – and therefore with our behavior and our feelings – intrigues," said lead researcher Jeroen Raes, of the department's microbiology and immunology department. University KU Leuven.
"Until now, most studies were performed in mice or humans, with contradictory and contradictory results," he told AFP.
The team repeated the survey of 1,063 people from the Netherlands and a third group of clinically depressed patients in Belgium, and achieved similar results.
Raes however pointed out that while the experiment showed a clear link between the levels of certain bacteria in the intestines and the mental well-being of an individual, this did not mean that one's things were causing each other directly.
Both groups of microbes, Coprococcus and Dialister, have anti-inflammatory properties.
"We also know that neuroinflammation is important in depression, so our hypothesis is that these two elements are linked," said Raes.
Depression – a treatable but debilitating condition that affects the behavior and feeling of an individual – is sometimes referred to as a "silent epidemic" and is one of the major drivers of the approximately 800,000 suicides that occur every year in the world.
Antidepressants are now the most commonly prescribed drug in many countries and Raes said his team's research could pave the way for new, smarter treatments for the disease.
"I really think that there is a future in this: use badtails of human-caused bacteria as treatment, insects like drugs, as they say," he said.
The research team studied the genomes of more than 500 types of intestinal bacteria and badyzed their ability to produce a set of neuroactive compounds – chemicals that affect how the brain works.
They found many that could produce compounds related to various mental processes.
According to Raes, recent technological and medical advances have allowed researchers to focus on the potential problems of mental health.
"The field was chosen first for obvious diseases: obesity, diabetes, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome," he said.
"But the evidence has begun to come from animal studies," he added. "In recent years, the field of the gut-brain axis has really exploded – it's really very exciting at the moment."
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