I predict in the future psychiatrists will be more interested in our gut health than the brain directly… most mental illness seems to co-occur with unusual patterns of gut dysbiosis and loss of gut barrier function. In some cases the direction of cause and effect isn’t clear, since rat studies have shown brain damage can result in gut dysfunction. This might even result in a positive feedback loop where mental dysfunction and gut dysfunction promote each other simultaneously. If so, such conditions would resist treatment, but may be permanently cured once treatment is successful and the feedback loop is stopped.
Exactly how to fix these issues is not clear, and is going to be more complicated than just taking probiotics or even transferring in desired bacteria directly (fecal transplants). In particular pre-biotics (substrate foods that promote growth of preferred bacteria), and removing molecules that often interfere with gut function (lactose, gluten, etc.) are likely useful as well.
I predict in the future psychiatrists will be more interested in our gut health than the brain directly… most mental illness seems to co-occur with unusual patterns of gut dysbiosis and loss of gut barrier function. In some cases the direction of cause and effect isn’t clear, since rat studies have shown brain damage can result in gut dysfunction. This might even result in a positive feedback loop where mental dysfunction and gut dysfunction promote each other simultaneously. If so, such conditions would resist treatment, but may be permanently cured once treatment is successful and the feedback loop is stopped.
Exactly how to fix these issues is not clear, and is going to be more complicated than just taking probiotics or even transferring in desired bacteria directly (fecal transplants). In particular pre-biotics (substrate foods that promote growth of preferred bacteria), and removing molecules that often interfere with gut function (lactose, gluten, etc.) are likely useful as well.