Scientists know our gut influences our brain. So psychobiotic drugs that shift the composition of microbes in the gut may be able to help treat disorders such as anxiety and depression
appeared to have a beneficial effect on their behaviour and neurological motor abilities by increasing levels of vitamin B3. Intriguingly, low levels of vitamin B3 have been found in human ALS patients, and clinical trials involving B3 supplements are being planned.
Questions remain about which microbes might influence which disorders, and whether it is the microbes themselves, or the chemicals they produce, that are affecting the brain. In addition, scientists are still trying to understand what is cause and what is effect. “People with depression may change their eating habits,” says Dr Philip Burnet, a neuroscientist in the department of psychiatry at the University of Oxford. “They may not even eat much at all if they’re severely depressed. So you don’t know what that’s doing to the gut anyway.”
Cryan says that has a flipside: “We might be able to get tailored treatments for people to manage their own mental health,” he says.The potential of the field is tantalising.
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