Your gut determines who you are
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More evidence that the gut microbiome has far-reaching effects.
An Intriguing Relation Between Anorexia Nervosa and the Gut Microbiome
An increasing number of two-way connections between the gut and brain (“the gut–brain axis”) have been identified during the past 20 years. It has become clear that gut microbes can produce molecules that affect human physiology, and thereby influence vulnerability to various diseases.
A multi-institutional team from Europe and Scandinavia studied 77 women with anorexia nervosa and 70 healthy female controls, analyzing gut microbiota and metabolites in their blood. Differences in the microbiota, including the abundance of particular bacteria, distinguished people with anorexia nervosa from healthy controls. For example, one bacterial family, Christensenellaceae, was more abundant, whereas several Roseburia species were depleted in people with anorexia nervosa. The abundance of certain bacterial groups correlated significantly with eating disorder scores on validated questionnaires, after multivariable adjustment for many confounders. Also, 35 bacterial metabolites present in the blood correlated with anorexia nervosa. Finally, fecal microbiota from people with anorexia nervosa and from healthy controls were transplanted to mice on a calorie-restricted diet: Mice that received feces from people with anorexia nervosa initially lost more weight, and had slower weight gain over time, than did mice that received feces from healthy controls.
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That is interesting. I know that there has been a lot of discussion on gut microbes and how they can effect weight, etc. but did not realize the mental side of it.
