Have you ever wandered the yogurt aisle in the grocery store and stumbled upon yogurt or other foods with the label 'probiotic'? These foods claim to support your gut health or your 'gut microbiome' – and some even go so far as to say they can help your mental health!
Although that last claim is mostly just marketing hype, some scientific experiments have connected what’s going on with bacteria in the gut to the brain. Scientists have even started to show that people with depression have different gut microbiomes than people without depression. Now, scientists still have a ton of questions, but...
Ever wonder if your gut can really talk to your brain?
Dr. Ryan Rampersaud is a professor of psychiatry at UCSF. He’s also an MD/PhD, meaning he is both a medical doctor and a scientific researcher. He and his colleagues are trying to better understand the link between the gut microbiome and depression. He broke down how your gut might be able to affect what goes on in your brain—and how much more there still is to learn.
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