The Role of Diet on the Gut Microbiome, Mood and Happiness

Abstract

The gut microbiome may be both helpful and harmful, and not only is it affected by diet, it has also been shown to affect mental health including personality, mood, anxiety and depression. In this clinical study we assessed dietary nutrient composition, mood, happiness, and the gut microbiome in order to understand the role of diet in the gut microbiome and how that affects mood and happiness. For this pilot study, we enrolled 20 adults to follow this protocol: recording a 2-day food log, sampling their gut microbiome, and completing five validated surveys of mental health, mood, happiness and well-being, followed by a minimum 1 week diet change and repeating the food log, microbiome sampling and the 5 surveys. The change from a predominantly Western diet to vegetarian, Mediterranean and ketogenic diets led to changes in calorie and fiber intake. After the diet change, we observed significant changes in measures of anxiety, well-being and happiness, and without changes in gut microbiome diversity. We found strong correlations between greater consumption of fat and protein to lower anxiety and depression, while consuming higher percentages of carbohydrates was associated with increased stress, anxiety, and depression. We also found strong negative correlations between total calories and total fiber intake with gut microbiome diversity without correlations to measures of mental health, mood or happiness. We have shown that changing diet affects mood and happiness, that greater fat and carbohydrate intake is directly associated with anxiety and depression and inversely correlated with gut microbiome diversity. This study is an important step towards understanding how our diet affects the gut microbiome and in turn our mood, happiness and mental health.

The promising form of supporting the treatment of depression

“…Based on the data analysis, it was concluded that following a vegetarian diet was associated with a reduced risk of developing depression. In the same year, a pilot study was conducted on 20 people assessing the relationship between mood, diversity of intestinal microbiomes and type of diet [31]. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-42),…”

“…The collected literature review shows that a vegetarian diet seems to be a promising measure, helpful in reducing the risk of depressive disorders and the severity of anxiety, and has a positive impact on mood and holistically understood mental health [4,[25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. In turn, there are studies that have shown a correlation between the consumption of highly processed unhealthy food and the severity of depressive symptoms and anxiety, but no significant effect on mood was observed in the case of a plant-based diet [32,33].…”

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Changes in Consumer Purchasing Behavior in the Food Market with a Focus on Meat and Meat Products—A Comprehensive Literature Review

“…Higher emotional motivation in situations of depression, stress, and boredom can result in eating as a form of emotional comfort [ 94 ]. Conversely, consuming carbohydrate-rich foods can alleviate stress by increasing serotonin levels, positively affecting mood [ 100 , 101 ].…”

Homicide or Happiness: Did Folate Fortification and Public Health Campaigns Influence Homicide Rates and the Great American Crime Decline?

“…One exciting area of research that unites discussions of folate and omega-3 fatty acids is the relationship between gut microbes and mental health. Since the development of the first scientific frameworks linking non-pathogenic microbes with mental health and cognition, in the early 2000s [65,66], it has become increasingly clear that the gut microbiome plays an important role in neuropsychiatry [67,68]. There are multiple mechanisms by which gut microbes can influence brain and behavior.…”