Surely by now you have heard about the Brain-Gut connection. More details keep coming out. In an article just published, authors correctly identify fried foods as inflammatory to the brain. Unfortunately, they do not address the effect of such foods on the microbiome. When it is unbalanced by processed foods and fried foods, it sends inflammatory signals to the brain, in addition to producing POSTBIOTICS that are detrimental to brain structure and function. This also causes an addiction to such foods: the microbiome “gets used to” the garbage it is fed. If those foods stop coming, the microbiome sends signals to the brain basically demanding that those foods be provided. Addictions of thought patterns and foods contribute to depression and mood disorders.
References
Frequent consumption of fried foods associated with higher risks of anxiety, depression
According to CNN (4/24, Nicioli), investigators in China have “found that frequent consumption of fried foods, especially fried potatoes, was linked with a 12% higher risk of anxiety and 7% higher risk of depression than in people who didn’t eat fried foods,” with the “link…more pronounced among young men and younger consumers.” After evaluating “140,728 people over 11.3 years” and “excluding participants diagnosed with depression within the first two years,” the study team found “a total of 8,294 cases of anxiety and 12,735 cases of depression…in those that consumed fried food,” with consumption of “fried potatoes” having “a 2% increase in risk of depression over fried white meat.” The findings were published online April 24 in the journal PNAS.
Disrupted Gut Microbiome a Key Driver of Major Depression
NewsMedscape Medical News, April 25th 2023
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is linked to disruptions in energy and lipid metabolism, possibly caused by the interplay of the gut microbiome and blood metabolome, new research suggests.
Investigators found that MDD had specific metabolic “signatures” consisting of 124 metabolites that spanned energy and lipid pathways, with some involving the tricarboxylic acid cycle in particular. These changes in metabolites were consistent with differences in composition of several gut microbiota.
The researchers found that fatty acids and intermediate and very large lipoproteins changed in association with the depressive disease process. However, high-density lipoproteins and metabolites in the tricarboxylic acid cycle did not.
“As we wait to establish causal influences through clinical trials, clinicians should advise patients suffering from mood disorders to modify their diet by increasing the intake of fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, as these provide the required fuel/fiber to the gut microbiota for their enrichment, and more short-chain fatty acids are produced for the optimal functioning of the body,” study investigator Najaf Amin, PhD, DSc, senior researcher, Nuffield Department of Population Health, Oxford University, United Kingdom, told Medscape Medical News.
“At the same time, patients should be advised to minimize the intake of sugars and processed foods, which are known to have an inverse impact on the gut microbiome and are associated with higher inflammation,” she said. The study was published online April 19 in JAMA Psychiatry.
Although most antidepressants target the monoamine pathway, “evidence is increasing for a more complex interplay of multiple pathways involving a wide range of metabolic alterations spanning energy and lipid metabolism,” the authors write.
Previous research using the Nightingale proton nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomics platform showed a “shift” toward decreased levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) and increased levels of very low-density lipoproteins (VLDLs) and triglycerides among patients with depression.
The gut microbiome, which is primarily modulated by diet, “has been shown to be a major determinant of circulating lipids, specifically triglycerides and HDLs, and to regulate mitochondrial function,” the investigators note. Patients with MDD are known to have disruptions in the gut microbiome.
Associations between fecal short-chain fatty acids, plasma inflammatory cytokines, and dietary markers with depression and anxiety
AJCM VOLUME 117, ISSUE 4, P717-730, APRIL 2023
Gut microbial metabolites and systemic inflammation may be biomarkers of importance within the Microbiome Gut-Brain Axis, linking dietary markers, such as animal protein intake, to depression and anxiety for individuals with comorbid obesity.
Study links magnesium-rich diet to better brain health
Medscape (3/31, Yasgur, Subscription Publication) reported, “A magnesium-rich diet has been linked to better brain health, an outcome that may help lower dementia risk,” investigators concluded in a study that examined “over 6000 cognitively healthy individuals, aged 40-73.” The study revealed that “those who consumed more than 550 mg of magnesium daily had a brain age approximately one year younger by age 55 years, compared with a person who consumed a normal magnesium intake (~360 mg/day).” The findings were published online in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Gut microbiome dysbiosis associated with ADHD
Healio Minute, April 10, 2023. J. of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.
There were differences in the gut microbiome dysbiosis of children with and without ADHD.
Findings suggest the fungal mycobiome and intestinal permeability may be linked to ADHD proneness.
For phyla specifically, children with ADHD had greater levels of Ascomycota and lower levels of Basidiomycota compared with children without ADHD. There were no differences between groups for species diversity within a fungal community. Further, Candida was more abundant in children with ADHD compared with those who did not have ADHD, and C. albicans and C. tropicalis were more abundant in children with ADHD compared with children without ADHD. C. albicans increased permeability of intestinal cells.
Modified Mediterranean ketogenic diet improves brain health
Healio Minute, April 10, 2023
A modified Mediterranean ketogenic diet was associated with changes in a biological pathway linked to Alzheimer’s disease among older adults with mild cognitive impairment, according to study results published in Alzheimer’s and Dementia. The ketogenic diet has emerged as a potential candidate for Alzheimer’s disease treatment because of its known protective effects for seizures and metabolic dysregulation, Amanda Hazel Dilmore, a PhD student in Rob Knight’s lab at the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues wrote.
“The ketogenic diet is a candidate therapeutic for Alzheimer’s disease because of its ability to improve mitochondrial function and cerebral bioenergetics, enhance autophagy, and reduce oxidative stress,” they wrote. “It also reduces neuronal hyperexcitability and leads to improved amyloid and tau regulation, substantiating its potential use for cognitive impairment.” Dilmore and colleagues added that gut microbiota are critical for ketogenic diet-mediated protection against seizures and modulation of bile acids — a major factor in cholesterol metabolism. Interest in those relationships, they wrote, was the catalyst for their analysis of gut microbiota and metabolites related to cognitive status after a ketogenic diet intervention compared with a low-fat-diet intervention.
“We hope that better understanding this complex relationship between diet, cognitive status and gut health will lead to new interventions to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease,” Suzanne Craft, PhD, professor of gerontology and geriatric medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, said in a press release. The researchers randomly assigned 20 prediabetic adults with either normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to a high-fat modified Mediterranean ketogenic diet (MMKD) or a low-fat American Heart Association diet for 6 weeks. After a 6-week washout period, the participants then began the alternate diet. To analyze changes in gut microbiome and metabolome, the researchers collected stool samples at five timepoints throughout the interventions. Dilmore, Craft and colleagues found that, through modulation of GABA levels and gut-transit time, the MMKD may help older adults with MCI.
“Broadly, our investigation demonstrated that controlled changes in diet led to widespread changes in the microbiome and metabolome over time,” they wrote.
More specifically, the researchers found that those with MCI on the MMKD had lower levels of GABA — an inhibitory neurotransmitter — and GABA-producing microbes. They also had higher levels of GABA-regulating microbes. Notably, low levels of GABA have been linked to conditions like Alzheimer’s disease. “Our study is the first to show that diet modulates GABA differently in MCI,” Craft said in the release. The researchers also noted that those with MCI who also had curcumin in their diet had an altered bile acid pool and lower levels of bile salt hydrolase-containing microbes, which they wrote suggests reduced gut motility. “Gut microbiota are known to modulate the bile acid pool; given that bile acids are the primary agent of cholesterol depletion in the brain, gut microbiota-induced changes to the bile acid pool may mitigate the dysregulation of cholesterol metabolism,” they wrote.
