Welcome to Ask a Nutritionist. This is our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I'm Kara

Carper. I'm a licensed nutritionist and a certified nutrition specialist. Today we're diving into a fascinating

topic. It's getting a lot of attention in both nutrition and mental health research. And that is

the connection between depression and gut bacteria. You may have heard people say things like,

trust your gut or listen to your gut feeling. You may have heard people say things like, trust your gut or listen to your gut

feeling. Well, science is starting to show that your gut may actually influence your mood,

emotions, and mental health more than we once believed. Now, if you've been listening to

dishing up nutrition for a while, you've probably heard us talk about how food affects brain health.

Today, we're diving even deeper into that idea by exploring how bacteria that live in your gut may influence your mood, your emotional health, and risk for depression.

This is a really exciting area of research, and it's

helping us understand why nutrition can play such an important role when it comes to mental health.

So let's start with the basics. Inside your digestive system lives a massive community of

microorganisms, mostly bacteria called the gut microbiome.

Now, trillions of bacteria live inside our gut,

and they play an essential role in overall health.

These bacteria help with not only digesting food,

but also making vitamins, supporting your immune system, and protecting

your gut lining. But here's where things get interesting. Your gut microbes also interact with

your brain. We now refer to this relationship as the gut brain axis, and it's essentially a two-way communication network

between your digestive system and your central nervous system. Your gut sends signals to your brain

through several pathways, one of those being neurotransmitters produced by gut bacteria. Yes, gut

bacteria actually produce neurotransmitters,

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