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Gut microbial metabolites in depression: understanding the biochemical mechanisms

Microbial Cell

Gastrointestinal and central function are intrinsically connected by the gut microbiota, an ecosystem that has co-evolved with the host to expand its biotransformational capabilities and interact with host physiological processes by means of its metabolic products.

Abnormalities in this microbiota-gut-brain axis have emerged as a key component in the pathophysiology of depression, leading to more research attempting to understand the neuroactive potential of the products of gut microbial metabolism.

This review explores the potential for the gut microbiota to contribute to depression and focuses on the role that microbially-derived molecules – neurotransmitters, short-chain fatty acids, indoles, bile acids, choline metabolites, lactate and vitamins – play in the context of emotional behaviour.

The future of gut-brain axis research lies is moving away from association, towards the mechanisms underlying the relationship between the gut bacteria and depressive behaviour.

We propose that direct and indirect mechanisms exist through which gut microbial metabolites affect depressive behaviour: these include (i) direct stimulation of central receptors, (ii) peripheral stimulation of neural, endocrine, and immune mediators, and (iii) epigenetic regulation of histone acetylation and DNA methylation.

Elucidating these mechanisms is essential to expand our understanding of the aetiology of depression, and to develop new strategies to harness the beneficial psychotropic effects of these molecules.

Overall, the review highlights the potential for dietary interventions to represent such novel therapeutic strategies for major depressive disorder.

 

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What ‘Peri/menopausal Syndrome’ Does to Women’s Brains

More misinformation in this article from the Atlantic – starting with the title – “What Menopause Does to Women’s Brains”.

It’s not the menopause that’s causing the problems with women’s brains – the menopause is a natural and normal rite of passage, like puberty. The title should be – What Peri-menopausal Syndrome Does to Women’s Brains.

Peri/menopausal Syndrome – as I now call it – is the constellation of symptoms in peri/menopause that includes a decline in brain function.

The articles gets the data right:

Two-thirds of all Alzheimer’s patients are women. Why?

For women, there is a marked decline in brain energy and an increase in Alzheimer’s plaques as they go from premenopausal to fully menopausal.

Estrogen is a neuroprotective hormone. When it declines, the brain is left more vulnerable. So if a woman is somehow predisposed to Alzheimer’s, that’s when the risk manifests itself in her brain.

The loss of estrogen means that glucose metabolism in the brain, its primary fuel, is reduced by about 20 to 25 per cent. That’s why women experience that they’re off their game. They still can play the game, just not as well.

If naturally low glucose metabolism in the brain of a peri/menopausal woman is causing cognitive problems, then the answer is simple: peri/menopausal women MUST switch their energy source from glucose to FAT. This will provide the brain with the energy that it needs and not only will brain function improve, but all the other symptoms completely disappear.

The author goes on to say:

“At one point during my interview with Mosconi, she happened to mention that women who undergo hysterectomies have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s. A chill shot up my spine. In my early 40s, I had a hysterectomy to remove a uterus beleaguered by adenomyosis. I’m certain no one ever warned me of the risk pre-op, even though the information was already out there. I couldn’t have forgone the surgery; my adenomyosis had left me fatally anemic. But I at least could have been informed. I was so upset to learn this, I had to shut off the digital recorder to catch my breath.”

Women need to know that there is a nutritional and lifestyle approach that can completely eliminate this very real worry. The low carb/high fat approach I have developed works to resolve symptoms in 100% of women in my clinic and in the PeriMenoFix course.

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How Exercise Lowers the Risk of Alzheimer’s by Changing Your Brain

Time

White matter hyperintesities are areas of the brain where damage has occurred to the neurons. These areas are associated with peri/menopausal hot flushes because the brain is starved of energy and is cannibalising itself for energy.

White matter hyperintesities are also associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s but recent research shows that exercise can help to reduce the risks of decreasing brain function:

“…as people age, the presence of Alzheimer’s-related brain changes increases—including the buildup of amyloid, slower breakdown of glucose by brain cells, shrinking of the volume of the hippocampus (central to memory), and declines in cognitive function measured in standard recall and recognition tests.

But they found that in people who reported exercising at moderate intensity at least 150 minutes a week, as public health experts recommend, brain scans showed that these changes were significantly reduced and in some cases non-existent compared to people who were not active. “The association between age and Alzheimer’s brain changes was blunted,” says Okonkwo, “Even if [Alzheimer’s] got worse, it didn’t get worse at the same speed or rate among those who are physically active as in those who are inactive.”

 

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Menopausal women wrongly prescribed antidepressants which make their symptoms worse

The Independent

‘They are not mentally ill, antidepressants are not appropriate. Once they have the label, it doesn’t help them,’ says expert.

Hot flushes and night sweats are the most well-known symptoms in peri/menopause, but the most common ones are anxiety, depression and brain fog. So many women who are looking for help get prescribed anti-depressants, despite the fact that:

“Menopause guidelines are very clear that antidepressants should not be given first-line for low mood associated with the menopause because there is no evidence that they will help.”

Editor’s note:

The reason why anti-depressants don’t help is that these medications target neurotransmitters like serotonin. But the loss of brain function that is associated with peri/menopause is not a neurotransmitter problem, it’s an energy problem.

During peri/menopause the brain becomes less and less able to use carbohydrates for energy and switches to mainly using fat for energy. This means that unless a low carb/high-fat diet is being followed, the brain will become starved of energy, leading to anxiety, depression and brain fog.

Switching to a low carb/high-fat diet can resolve brain issues in just a few weeks.

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Happy ever after: 25 ways to live well into old age

Guardian

Determined to enjoy longer and healthier lives, two women researched the science to find the key. Here, they share what they discovered.

When Susan Saunders was 36, her mother was diagnosed with severe dementia. “I had a toddler, a newborn, a full-time job as a TV producer – and I became a carer as well.” As a teenager, she had watched her mum care for her own mother, who had the same condition. “I became determined to do everything I could to increase my chances of ageing well.”

Annabel Streets’ story is similar. When she was a student, her grandfather died from cancer months after he retired; later, she watched her mother care for her grandmother, who lived with dementia and crippling rheumatoid arthritis for nearly 30 years. “When I developed a chronic autoimmune disease, I knew things had to change. But by then I had four young children and there was precious little time for my own health.”

Together, Saunders and Streets started researching the latest science on how to have a healthier, happier old age and how to apply it to their own lives, and blogged about their findings for five years. Their Age Well Project has now been published as a book, compiling almost 100 shortcuts to health in mid-and later life – and Streets and Saunders, who are both in their 50s, say they have never been in better health.

What did they learn?

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5 Ways to Fuel Your Brain

Tony Robbins

We tend to think that a loss of mental acuity is just part of getting older — but age is not the only contributing factor to cognitive decline. Our lifestyle also plays a key role. Failing to follow a nutritious diet, a lack of sleep and exercise, ongoing stress, smoking, drinking alcohol excessively and environmental pollutants can all damage our brain cells.

Fortunately, mental deterioration is not irreversible. In fact, the brain is incredibly dynamic and has the potential and the ability to change at any point throughout our entire life – and you have the power to enhance your brain function, protect your brain from damage and counteract the effects of aging! That is, if you’re willing to fuel the brain and tweak your everyday decisions.

Here are 5 small changes you can make in your life that can mean big differences in your cognitive abilities.

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Moderate-severe hot flashes significantly increase depression risk

LiebertPub

A new study of more than 2,000 perimenopausal and menopausal women showed that moderate-severe vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes or night sweats) were an independent and significant risk factor for moderate-severe depression. Researchers explored the controversial link between hot flashes and depressive symptoms by focusing on more severe forms of both conditions and concluding that there is likely a common underlying cause, as reported in an article published in Journal of Women’s Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women’s Health website until May 18, 2017.

Data presented in the article entitled “Moderate-Severe Vasomotor Symptoms Are Associated with Moderate-Severe Depressive Symptoms,” demonstrate that among a group of women ages 40-65, those with moderate-severe hot flashes were significantly more likely to have moderate-severe depression than women with no or mild vasomotor symptoms. Roisin Worsley, MBBS, Robin Bell, PhD, Pragya Gartoulla, Penelope Robinson, and Susan Davis, MBBS, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, found hot flashes, depressive symptoms, and use of antidepressant medication to be common in the age range of women included in the study. The researchers also examined whether or not moderate-severe depression was associated with a greater likelihood of psychotropic medication use, smoking, or binge drinking at least once a week.

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A change of diet and some short term supplements have completely resolved issues I thought would never go away.
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Sandra Ishkanes
Functional Medicine Practitioner
BSc MA DipION

sandra@gynecologic.dream.press
Brighton, UK

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Connecting women, science and spirit, the Gynelogic Sunday Supplement delivers a bi-monthly dose of  news, views and reviews, as seen through my lady lens.