Introducing our Gut Health Canvas
In this series, we dive into the links between the gut and various aspects of our mental and physical health.
Mental Health: Depression

Can the gut make you feel depressed?
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Depression is correlated with gut microbiome dysbiosis — an imbalance in the flora. As with other mental disorders, inflammation with subsequent cytokine release is the key mechanism at work.
- Patients with inflammatory diseases like IBD are also prone to depression, which creates a vicious cycle. Inflammation triggers more cytokine release, which worsens depression symptoms and prevents patients from taking action to improve their nutrition.
- 👨 Limbana et al. (2020) found that depressed vs. healthy individuals present a very different gut microbiome profile.
👨 Research done in humans
🐭 Research done in mice
Sources:
Limbana et al. 2020