Probiotics and Mental Health

Join Dr. Joshua Goldenberg on the Dr. Journal Club podcast for a quick dive into probiotics and their impact on mental health. Uncover the latest research linking probiotics to symptom reduction and inflammation relief, while exploring potential pathways for enhancing mental well-being and innovative approaches to integrative mental health care. Tune in for rapid insights and compassionate discussions on healing. Remember, always consult a healthcare professional for personalized medical advice.

Learn more and become a member at www.DrJournalClub.com

Check out our complete offerings of NANCEAC-approved Continuing Education Courses. 

Transcript

Introducer 0:02

Welcome to the Dr Journal Club podcast , the show that goes under the hood of evidence-based integrative medicine . We review recent research articles , interview evidence-based medicine thought leaders and discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating evidence-based and integrative medicine . Continue your learning after the show at www . drjournalclub . com .

Dr. Goldenberg 0:31

Please bear in mind that this is for educational and entertainment purposes only . Talk to your doctor before making any medical decisions , changes , etc . Everything we're talking about that's to teach you guys stuff and have fun . We are not your doctors . Also , we would love to answer your specific questions on drjournalclub . com . You can post questions and comments for specific videos , but go ahead and email us directly at josh at drjournalclub . com . That's josh at drjournalclub . com . Send us your listener questions and we will discuss it on our pod .

Dr. Goldenberg 1:08

Hello and welcome to another super speedy summary . This is your host , dr Joshua Goldenberg , and today we're going to be talking about this really cool topic of probiotics and mental health , and this is a really , really cool systematic review and meta-analysis that was reviewed by our own Dr Hughes . So go ahead and watch the full basic level video for this one . But in brief , mental illness , as you probably know , is pretty common . About one-third of adults will experience some form of mental illness in their lifetime , so pretty , pretty common Patients with mental illness have twice the mortality rate of the general population . That blew my mind a little bit when I first heard it , and so the question is , you know , will giving probiotics help people with mental illness ? Now , the rationale for this is quite interesting . So we would assume that probiotics , prebiotics , symbiotics would help with dysbiosis in the large intestine . That seems reasonable . What we're learning is that that helps with overall inflammatory loads . So having a dysbiotic gut can lead to inflammation . So the theory is , if you give probiotics , that'll decrease inflammation . We also have evidence that inflammation can actually damage neural tissues themselves and that may have impacts on mental illness and manifest in that way . So this is the proposed mechanism , and what's really cool about this study is they meta-analyzed data not just from the patient-borne outcome of mental illness and the symptoms they're in , but also all along this pathway , right ? So what was the evidence that inflammatory load was decreasing ? What was the evidence that antioxidant load was decreasing , etc .

Dr. Goldenberg 2:51

So , like I said , systematic review and meta-analysis . They found 12 randomized controlled trials . They had a very broad screen . They were looking for any mental health illness , but they were really only able to find for depression . There just wasn't enough research out there yet . This is a very new field . And what did they find ? So what they found was , when meta-analyzed together , probiotics and symbiotics are associated with a significant reduction in depression as measured with the HAMD . They did not see a significant reduction with the Bex depression inventory , reductions in inflammation as they saw with CRP , a relatively large impact on CRP and a smaller impact on TNF-alpha , and reduction in oxidative stress in some but not all markers . So very , very interesting study .

Dr. Goldenberg 3:33

Go ahead and watch the basic level video where Dr Hughes really walks you through in very nice detail , including some important background , the results of this meta-analysis background , the results of this meta-analysis Apple podcast or any other distributor . It would be greatly appreciated . It would mean a lot to us and help get the word out to other people that would really enjoy our content . Thank you , hey y'all . This is Josh .

Dr. Goldenberg 4:12

You know we talked about some really interesting stuff today . I think one of the things we're going to do that's relevant there is a course we have on Dr Journal Club called the EBM Boot Camp . That's really meant for clinicians to sort of help them understand how to critically evaluate the literature , et cetera , et cetera Some of the things that we've been talking about today . Go ahead and check out the show notes link . We're going to link to it directly . I think it might be of interest . Don't forget to follow us on social and interact with us on social media at DrJournalClub . Drjournalclub on Twitter , we're on Facebook , we're on LinkedIn , etc . Etc . So please reach out to us . We always love to talk to our fans and our listeners . If you have any specific questions you'd like to ask us about research , evidence , being a clinician , etc . Don't hesitate to ask . And then , of course , if you have any topics that you'd like us to cover on the pod , please let us know as well .

Introducer 5:02

Thank you for listening to the Doctor Journal Club podcast , the show that goes under the hood of evidence-based integrative medicine . We review recent research articles , interview evidence-based medicine thought leaders and discuss the challenges and opportunities of integrating evidence-based and integrative medicine . Be sure to visit www . drjournalclub . com to learn more .