“Psychological” diet and mental health: Claim that fermented foods and fiber reduce stress

When it comes to dealing with stress, we are often told that the best option is to exercise, spend time with our favorite activities, or Try meditation or mindfulness.

But the type of food we eat can also be an effective way to deal with stress.according to research conducted by APC Microbiome Ireland. The latest study shows that eating more fermented foods and more fiber per day for just four weeks has an effect Significant effect in reducing perceived stress levels.

The news does not surprise us. Over the past decade, a growing body of research has shown that diet can have a significant impact on our mental health. In fact, A healthy diet can reduce the risk of many common mental illnesses.

The mechanisms underlying the effect of diet on mental health are not yet fully understood. It can be linked to the relationship between our brain and the microbiome (the trillions of bacteria that live in our gut) through something called The axis of the alimentary canal.

This bidirectional communication pathway allows the brain and intestines to communicate continuously, enabling basic bodily functions such as digestion and appetite. It also means that the emotional and cognitive centers of the brain are closely connected to our gut.

Although previous research has shown that stress and behavior also Connected to our microbiomeUntil now, it has not been clear whether changing our diet (and thus the microbiome) might have a different effect on stress levels.

To test this, in our study we recruited 45 healthy people with relatively low-fiber diets, ranging in age from 18 to 59. More than half of them are women. Participants were divided into two groups and assigned a random diet to follow for the four weeks of the study.

Nearly half were put on a diet designed by dietitian Kirsten Bearding, which will increase the amount of prebiotic foods and fermented foods. This diet is known as “psychological” because it includes foods that have been linked to improved mental health.

This group received an individual education session with a dietitian at the beginning and middle of the study. They were directed to include 6 to 8 daily servings of fruits and vegetables rich in prebiotic fibers (eg onions, leeks, cabbage, apples, bananas, oatmeal)5 to 8 servings of grains per day and 3 to 4 servings of legumes per week.

They were also asked to include 2-3 servings of fermented foods per day (such as sauerkraut, kefir, and kombucha). Participants on the Diet Control only received general dietary advice, based on the Healthy Eating Pyramid.

Interestingly, those who followed a psychological diet reported feeling less stressed compared to those who followed a control diet. Similarly, there was a direct correlation between the accuracy with which participants followed the diet and their perceived stress levels: Those who ate more concurrent foods felt less stressed.

Sleep quality improved in both groups, although the improvement was greater in those who followed the psychological diet. Other studies have also shown this Gut microbes are involved in sleep processes, which may explain this relationship.

The psychotic diet caused only minor changes in the composition and function of the gut microbiota. However, we have seen significant changes in the level of some of the key chemicals produced by our gut microbes. Some of these chemicals have been linked to mental health, which may explain why dieters feel less stressed.

Despite the encouraging results, our study is not without limitations. First, the sample size is small because the pandemic has limited recruitment. Second, the short duration of the study may have limited the changes we observed, and it is not clear how long these changes will last. Therefore, long-term studies will be required.

Third, although participants recorded their daily diet, this form of measurement can be subject to error and bias, especially when estimating food intake. And while we did our best to ensure that participants did not know which group they were assigned to, They may have guessed based on the nutrition advice they received. This may have affected the answers they provided at the end of the study.

Finally, our work involved only healthy people, so we don’t know the effect of this diet on someone who is not healthy.

However, our study provides strong evidence that changing diet andIt is an effective way to reduce stress in the long run. In addition to adding evidence in this area of ​​research about the relationship between diet, our microbiome, and our mental health.

It will be interesting to see if these findings can also be reproduced in people with associated disorders Stress, such as anxiety and depression. So the next time you’re feeling particularly stressed, you might want to think carefully about what you plan to eat for lunch or dinner and include more fiber and fermented foods.

* By John Cryan

This note is reproduced from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

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