A team of scientists from the Oppenheimer Center for Neurobiology and Stress at UCLA and the University of Oxford discovered the effect of depression on the gut. The journal Nature Communications indicates that, despite being considered a mental illness, depression also impacts other organs in the body.
In two studies, researchers identified 13 groups of gut bacteria associated with the risk of depression in adults, including Eggerthella, Subdoligranulum, Coprococcus, Sellimonas, Lachnoclostridium, Hungatella, Ruminococcaceae, ubacterium, ventriosum, and Ruminococcus gauvreauii, found in 1,054 volunteers who underwent depression screenings and stool analyses to determine the types of bacteria in their guts.
Researchers found that the number of gut microbes in individuals with depression was generally low, but some bacterial groups, such as Sellimonas and Eggerthella, were present in larger quantities. This way, scientists established a link between depression and gut changes. However, researchers point out that it is too early to discuss a direct relationship between depression and changes in the gut microbiome.
It is also challenging to determine the causal relationship, as depression can sometimes cause nutritional issues, and diet is a key factor in the composition of gut bacteria. Nevertheless, if experiments prove that an imbalance of gut bacteria truly leads to the onset of depression, it could become a foundation for new methods in treating mental disorders.
