We have often written about how the gut’s ecosystem can impact health. Research into the microbiome has expanded our understanding so much in the last few years that there have even been calls to treat it as an organ. While we have long understood that the microbiome can impact everything from aging to the brain, we are constantly learning more.
The brain and gut talk to each other constantly, according to research. Studies have linked the gut to a wide range of psychiatric conditions and neurological concerns. Changes in the gut can impact mood and mental health. A new study has found that people who are highly resilient to stress have distinct microbiome patterns.
“The accuracy with which these patterns emerged was really amazing,” said Arpana Church, a neuroscientist at UCLA who led the new study.
The study looked at stool samples and psychological questionnaires from 116 healthy adults. Researchers found that people who were less bothered by stressful situations had gut bacteria that reduced inflammation and improved gut barrier integrity. The gut barrier stops toxins and pathogens from entering the bloodstream, causing inflammation and sending stress signals to the brain.
“The highly resilient individuals in the study were found to be better at regulating their emotions, less likely to catastrophize and keep a level head,” said first author Desiree Delgadillo, a postdoctoral researcher at UCLA.
We are still working to understand the brain-gut connection. Much of the research has been observational, based on cell studies or looking at animal studies. Seeing people’s microbiomes through stool samples and learning their psychological profiles through questionnaires is a helpful new tool. Anxiety had previously been linked to the gut but not so clearly,
“We’ve established a link in the microbiome, gut-brain axis. We’ve got really robust evidence,” said Thomaz Bastiaanssen, a bioinformatician who studies the gut microbiome and mental health at Amsterdam Univ. Medical Center.
The microbiome is the product of many forces in our daily lives. Your diet, sleep, medications, recent health, DNA, exercise and more all shape the organisms inside your gut. Eating a diet rich in fermented foods, drinking plenty of water and avoiding ultra-processed foods can boost your microbiome health. However, more research is needed to understand how to perfect our gut health.
