New research has emerged from California’s McMaster University which links gut bacteria populations to symptoms of stress, depression and anxiety. It supports something we have seen time and again at the Finchley Clinic: that a healthy gut contributes not only to better digestion but to an overall higher quality of life.

Now, as studies go, this one is still small-scale, but it does show for the first time that gut bacteria play an active role in causing depressive behaviour and anxiety. The researchers exposed one population of infant mice to normal bacteria; the other group was grown in a sterile environment. They then induced stress in the mice by temporarily separating them from their mothers, and watched to see the results. The mice exposed to ordinary bacteria levels, with normal populations of gut flora, soon began to show signs of depression with increased levels of corticosterone – a stress hormone. But the group who grew up free from harmful bacteria, though they also had elevated levels of corticosterone, showed no signs of altered behavior: they behaved just like the mice in the control group, who were neither stressed nor kept sterile.

Interestingly, when the germ-free mice were exposed to normal levels of bacteria, allowing them to develop a more complex gut microbiome, they began to show signs of depression just as the other stressed mice had done. This was a further indication that it was the mice’s gut bacteria causing them to either succumb to negative stimuli or “stay positive”.

This phenomenon has been studied several times in the past, with a focus on the benefits of probiotics. We don’t know exactly what it is about the gut that links it to the mind, but it’s well known that the two are closely related: stress-induced gut problems are very common. It does make sense that improving the gut environment would have a knock-on effect on psychological health.

Of course, we as human beings can’t replicate the sterile conditions used in the study – but what we can do is look after our bowels and keep them clean. Every day we expose them to bacteria and toxins from the water we swallow and the food we ingest; diets high in sugar can encourage harmful growths of candida; and waste can build up over the years and prevent our intestines from functioning at their peak.

This is why we encourage the use of a good probiotic as well as oxygen cleansing to maintain healthy bowels. Cleansing is intended to loosen any waste buildup and expel it from your system. The oxygen also creates an environment that promotes the growth of the healthy aerobic bacteria that help you digest your food, while making it hard for anaerobic yeast to grow. We’ve already heard from plenty of happy customers who say they’ve seen improvements in their mental state with the use of products like Oxy-Powder, Threelac and Oxygen Elements Max; and of course we have the testimony of our owner Mark Lester to go on.

We hope to see more from the team at McMaster University. It seems they’re on the right track!