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.

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Episode Transcript

Introducer (00:02):
Welcome to the Dr Journal Club podcast, the show
that goes under the hood ofevidence-based integrative
medicine.
We review recent researcharticles, interview
evidence-based medicine thoughtleaders and discuss the
challenges and opportunities ofintegrating evidence-based and
integrative medicine.
Continue your learning afterthe show at www.

(00:23):
drjournalclub.
com.

Dr. Goldenberg (00:31):
Please bear in mind that this is for
educational and entertainmentpurposes only.
Talk to your doctor beforemaking any medical decisions,
changes, etc.
Everything we're talking aboutthat's to teach you guys stuff
and have fun.
We are not your doctors.
Also, we would love to answeryour specific questions on
drjournalclub.
com.
You can post questions andcomments for specific videos,

(00:55):
but go ahead and email usdirectly at josh at
drjournalclub.
com.
That's josh at drjournalclub.
com.
Send us your listener questionsand we will discuss it on our
pod.
Hello and welcome to anothersuper speedy summary.
This is your host, dr JoshuaGoldenberg, and today we're
going to be talking about thisreally cool topic of probiotics

(01:17):
and mental health, and this is areally, really cool systematic
review and meta-analysis thatwas reviewed by our own Dr
Hughes.
So go ahead and watch the fullbasic level video for this one.
But in brief, mental illness,as you probably know, is pretty
common.
About one-third of adults willexperience some form of mental
illness in their lifetime, sopretty, pretty common Patients

(01:40):
with mental illness have twicethe mortality rate of the
general population.
That blew my mind a little bitwhen I first heard it, and so
the question is, you know, willgiving probiotics help people
with mental illness?
Now, the rationale for this isquite interesting.
So we would assume thatprobiotics, prebiotics,
symbiotics would help withdysbiosis in the large intestine

(02:01):
.
That seems reasonable.
What we're learning is thatthat helps with overall
inflammatory loads.
So having a dysbiotic gut canlead to inflammation.
So the theory is, if you giveprobiotics, that'll decrease
inflammation.
We also have evidence thatinflammation can actually damage
neural tissues themselves andthat may have impacts on mental

(02:22):
illness and manifest in that way.
So this is the proposedmechanism, and what's really
cool about this study is theymeta-analyzed data not just from
the patient-borne outcome ofmental illness and the symptoms
they're in, but also all alongthis pathway, right?
So what was the evidence thatinflammatory load was decreasing
?
What was the evidence thatantioxidant load was decreasing,

(02:45):
etc.
So, like I said, systematicreview and meta-analysis.
They found 12 randomizedcontrolled trials.
They had a very broad screen.
They were looking for anymental health illness, but they
were really only able to findfor depression.
There just wasn't enoughresearch out there yet.
This is a very new field.
And what did they find?
So what they found was, whenmeta-analyzed together,

(03:06):
probiotics and symbiotics areassociated with a significant
reduction in depression asmeasured with the HAMD.
They did not see a significantreduction with the Bex
depression inventory, reductionsin inflammation as they saw
with CRP, a relatively largeimpact on CRP and a smaller
impact on TNF-alpha, andreduction in oxidative stress in

(03:29):
some but not all markers.
So very, very interesting study.
Go ahead and watch the basiclevel video where Dr Hughes
really walks you through in verynice detail, including some

(03:56):
important background, theresults of this meta-analysis
background, the results of thismeta-analysis Apple podcast or
any other distributor.
It would be greatly appreciated.
It would mean a lot to us andhelp get the word out to other
people that would really enjoyour content.
Thank you, hey y'all.
This is Josh.
You know we talked about somereally interesting stuff today.
I think one of the things we'regoing to do that's relevant
there is a course we have on DrJournal Club called the EBM Boot

(04:19):
Camp.
That's really meant forclinicians to sort of help them
understand how to criticallyevaluate the literature, et
cetera, et cetera Some of thethings that we've been talking
about today.
Go ahead and check out the shownotes link.
We're going to link to itdirectly.
I think it might be of interest.
Don't forget to follow us onsocial and interact with us on
social media at DrJournalClub.
Drjournalclub on Twitter, we'reon Facebook, we're on LinkedIn,

(04:42):
etc.
Etc.
So please reach out to us.
We always love to talk to ourfans and our listeners.
If you have any specificquestions you'd like to ask us
about research, evidence, beinga clinician, etc.
Don't hesitate to ask.
And then, of course, if youhave any topics that you'd like
us to cover on the pod, pleaselet us know as well.

Introducer (05:02):
Thank you for listening to the Doctor Journal
Club podcast, the show that goesunder the hood of
evidence-based integrativemedicine.
We review recent researcharticles, interview
evidence-based medicine thoughtleaders and discuss the
challenges and opportunities ofintegrating evidence-based and
integrative medicine.
Be sure to visit www.
drjournalclub.
com to learn more.