Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality of life and depression

Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by scarecrowbob on Thursday March 07, 2019 @01:21AM (#19325947)

What follows is purely anecdotal and just my experience, but protracted fasting had obvious changes on my general mental health.

My experiences were a month of 3 day water fasts followed by a meal (whole foods like plants and steak), and since then (this was 2 years ago) I do a 3 day fast every 1-2 months or so.

I also was able to stop craving sugars (sodas/ candy, etc) after that first long fast.

I have nothing conclusive, but I suspect that the changes in my mental health and dietary cravings have to do with killing off chunks of my microbiome in the first long fast. Could just be either placebo or other life changes (I turned 40, my wife had left me a month before, and I gave up drinking for 6 months during and after the fast).

So your milage may vary, but if your question is sincere, it might be easier to modify a biome by trimming it back rather than adding to it.

I'd be super stoked to have contradictory / corroborating evidence, though.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by johnfn on Thursday March 07, 2019 @02:41AM (#19326249)

Your life left you a month before and you think that it wasn’t that but the fasting that affected your mental health?

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by scarecrowbob on Thursday March 07, 2019 @06:14AM (#19327161)

Well, who knows?

The changes to my general modes of dealing with stuff were pretty dramatic. I don't think that my wife leaving made it easier to not eat sweets, but who knows?

I was still pretty upset, I just wasn't suicidally depressed, which was a fair improvement. And as I have continued with the fasting through the months, I have felt better around those times when I'm fasting.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by theshrike79 on Thursday March 07, 2019 @02:13AM (#19326137)

Another voice for fasting from here too.

I do 16:8 intermittent fasting and my energy levels are a lot better. Basically I just eat my last meal around 19:00 and skip breakfast. Lunch around 11:00.

I may have a sugar free energy drink in the morning to pick me up (my poor stomach doesn't approve coffee any more, too much of it in my younger days... =) )

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by cageface on Thursday March 07, 2019 @07:01AM (#19327345)

I’ve been doing this too and I was skeptical but it does seem to be making a significant difference. My blood sugar levels are a lot more stable and I don’t get hungry and shaky anymore. I can easily skip another meal now too if needed and it’s no problem.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by justanotherjoe on Thursday March 07, 2019 @05:28AM (#19326958)

wait, are you saying that you're general mental health changed for the better, or for the worse? I think you forgot to mention that.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by scarecrowbob on Thursday March 07, 2019 @06:08AM (#19327147)

LOL. Yeah, for the better.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by justanotherjoe on Thursday March 07, 2019 @06:16AM (#19327173)

I had to ask because the tone of the article is beneficial microbiota that corresponds with happiness. To kill microbiotas by fasting seems to go against the article...

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by dTal on Thursday March 07, 2019 @02:31PM (#19331341)

I imagine, if there's any relationship to fasting at all, it's that the fast doesn't so much kill all bacteria but changes the population profile in a beneficial way. For example, perhaps bacteria that subsist on refined sugars can't tolerate starvation so easily.

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Re:Neuroactive potential of human gut microbiota in quality ... by ptah on Thursday March 07, 2019 @08:50AM (#19327947)

giving up alcohol is doing wonders for me too

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