How Depression is Linked to the Gut Biome and Our Environment

 The TLDR of our video:

• Gut bacteria Morganella Morgani, when exposed to the chemical DEA (found in cosmetics and food packaging), produces a modified molecule that increases inflammation (IL-6), which is linked to depression.
• This suggests depression may be rooted in immune system dysfunction triggered by environmental factors affecting the gut microbiome.
• Therefore, addressing depression may require a more holistic approach than just probiotics, considering environmental exposures and other lifestyle factors.

Original article here.

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Transcript:

I'm here to talk a little bit today about the gut microbiome and specifically about depression. While many of you feel in the physical therapy profession that depression isn't all that important and maybe isn't in our wheelhouse, I'd argue that it affects a lot of our clients that have particularly chronic pain and some autoimmune disorders.

This specific research article was published in the journal American Chemical Society in January of this year and it's titled Unusual Phospholipid from Morganella Morgani Linked to Depression. So the specific phospholipid they're talking about is something called a cardiolipin, which a cardiolipin is a compound that's often found in the phospholipid membrane and it helps to activate certain proteins. It's important for blood clotting and it's also important for mitochondria activation. In this specific case, the bacteria that they're talking about is the Morganella Morgani.

This is in the gut microbiome for most humans and interestingly enough when that specific bacteria gets exposed to a compound called DEA, that's diethylamine, basically it swaps out a molecule from that compound that that bacteria produces and what happens is then we see a significant increase in interleukin-6. Interleukin-6, as you know, is a cytokine and it's a very pro-inflammatory compound. There's been a lot of studies that link interleukin-6 with major depressive disorders. We also know that specific bacteria is that specific bacteria in the gut microbiome. Morganella Morgani is also linked with diabetes and irritable bowel disease.

Effectively, what these authors are finding is that depression really should be seen not as a mental health condition but an immunological disease. This is an example how one of our patients' gut microbiome might be exposed to this DEA, which is found usually in cosmetics. It's found in the liners of food packaging. So this patient eats these specific foods. This gut microbiome bacterium produces some sort of molecule and then it's manipulated. So we're looking at a gut microbiome and an inter-environmental impact that then impacts our immune system, which then triggers a mental health change. It shows the complexity of mental health. It shows the complexity of how nutrition is a component of it, but so is our environment. To change a lot of these things, it's typically not just going to have one area that we have to address.

That's why it's important that while we offer fantastic nutritional resources and educational pieces on nutrition, we have to see it as just one small piece of the environment or one small piece of that patient's lifestyle. We have to consider the environment. We have to consider their stressors, their exercise, a lot of other factors there. So at the end, what I'm hoping that physical therapists see is that it's a complex system. Mental health is vastly important for our patients that have chronic pain and autoimmune disorders.

Moreover, it's not as simple as just take this probiotic and you're going to be better. So anyhow, we hope you like this content. If you do, subscribe, like, and sign up for our courses today. We've got some awesome continuing education courses for nutrition for physical therapists that are evidence-based and available to all. Check out our CEU courses for physical therapy here. Have a great day.