Depression is a state of low mood and aversion to activity that can affect a person's thoughts, behavior, feelings and sense of well-being. Its symptoms include persistent distress, malaise, agitation, fatigue, low libido, poor memory, irritability, insomnia, sense of hopelessness, to name just a few. As discussed in the introduction, mood and anxiety disorders are reaching epidemic levels. About one in four US adults suffers from mental disorders, and at least ten percent of US adult population has a mood disorder for which powerful drugs are prescribed. If these drugs are so extensively prescribed, then why are so many people feeling so low? Because these drugs don't work at addressing the cause, they simply treat symptoms. In fact, they …show more content…
High blood sugar is one of the biggest risk factors. A large landmark study published in 2010 showed that the increase in depression correlates strongly with the increase in diabetes and obesity. There is also evidence that major depression is accompanied by increases in pro-inflammation cytokines and lipoplysaccharide (LPS), which is a hallmark of inflammatory and intestinal permeability. All these indicate that depression is caused by gut permeability, whereby LPS inside the gut moves through the leaky gut wall into the blood stream, causing inflammation in the body and brain.
Many studies are now showing that our diet may be responsible for increased gut permeability and loss of gut flora diversity:
People who stick to a Mediterranean diet (rich in healthy fats and proteins) have significantly lower rates of
…show more content…
Studies show that it’s gut bacteria that stimulate production of certain chemicals, which are important for inducing sleep, in concert with cortisol levels. Cortisol levels are supposed to be naturally lowest at night, beginning to rise in the early morning hours. Disruption of the gut bacteria can have significant negative effects on sleep.
ANXIETY
Anxiety disorders affect about 40 million US adults. It’s common to suffer from both anxiety and depression at the same time. The main difference between the two disorder is that anxiety is characterized by fear, apprehension and exaggerated worries about the future; while depression doesn’t entail such fears - just hopelessness.
Like depression, anxiety disorder is caused by an imbalanced gut flora as people with anxiety disorder have higher levels of inflammation and increased permeability in the gut, lower levels of BDNF, higher levels of cortisol, and an over-reactive stress response.
In a study published in 2011, researchers showed that mice fed probiotics ahd significantly lower levels of stress hormone, and exhibited less behavior linked with stress, anxiety, and depression than mice fed plain food. In a recent study using humans, researchers found that people eating prebiotics (food for probiotics) resulted in positive psychological