Bella Bovenzi 1

Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

Gut and Mental Health

Have you ever noticed a time when you had been eating a lot of sugar and processed

foods and your mood was completely off? This is not uncommon or abnormal, mood often has a

direct correlation with the food you are eating. Looking at the bigger picture, diet always plays a

very crucial role in mental health. Continuously eating poorly and not providing the body with

proper nutrients has a very negative impact on one’s mental health. More recently, more and

more cases of depression and anxiety are being diagnosed in our country and it is an issue that is

increasing rapidly. There are many factors that play into the causes of these mental illnesses such

as genetics, trauma and lifestyle. While we have no control over our genetics and the traumas we

face, we do have control over our lifestyle. This can include diet, exercise and how we take care

and nourish our bodies. There are so many people who brush off the importance of maintaining a

clean and balanced diet and the benefits that can come along with it. Simply staying consistent

with a healthy diet can improve and/or prevent depression and anxiety. There is both a gut-brain

connection and a brain-gut connection within our bodies. Along with the increase in depression

and anxiety cases, the number of people being diagnosed with IBS is increasing rapidly as well.

The gut and brain directly impact each other and they way each functions. If one of the two is all

out of whack, there is a very good chance the other is experiencing negative effects as well. If

more people were educated on the correlation between the two, I believe that many people would

make the decision to improve their lifestyles. I strongly believe that gut health and mental health

are directly related and improving one form of health will improve the other. I hope to educate
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Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

and hopefully convince you to make improvements to your diet if you struggle with mental

illness.

While researching the correlation between gut health and mental health, the gut-brain and

brain-gut correlations kept making an appearance in many articles. Since this kept showing up, I

knew it clearly had to be important so I took a very deep look into it and found data that is quite

incredible. To begin, there is both a gut-brain connection and a brain-gut connection that both

have cause and effect relationships. By this, I mean the gut has an impact on the brain and the

brain has an impact on the gut. The brain-gut link is the communication between the central

nervous system and the intestinal functions. For example, when there is present stress in the

brain, it directly alters gut motility, secretion and immune functions. When the body is stressed,

the brain releases hormones and chemicals into the digestive tract. This therefore results in an

imbalance of gut flora, causing common digestive issues such as IBS. IBS has become a growing

issue for our country recently and I would argue that it is due to the high stress levels shared by

Americans. In the article, Pathways in gut-brain communication, the author, Philip Keightley

describes how “Psychological distress and gastrointestinal symptoms are often found

sequentially in the same patients” and typically “psychological distress is most often diagnosed

first”. This helps to further prove the impact stress has on the body, more specifically the gut.

With knowing this information, imagine the distress placed on the gut of a person who constantly

is stressed out. In addition, the gut-brain axis works in a similar way. High levels of TNF-a have

been found in people suffering with IBS, and even higher levels have been found in people

suffering with both IBS and anxiety. TNF-a is an inflammatory protein linked with depression
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Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

and anxiety in both animals and humans. TNF-a is used as a part of cell signaling; its releasing is

a part of the inflammatory process. Gastrointestinal disorders have been linked to causing stress

and anxiety and visa versa. In this article, there was a study done on healthy mice to show the

link between stress and gut health. As a part of the conclusion, Keightley reported that “Animal

models show that the microbiological milieu of the gut can alter brain development and

subsequent anxious behavior and stress response”. The biome of the gut plays a crucial role in

how the brain and central nervous system are working and functioning. Philip Keightley and the

scientists performing the mice study help me prove my point of the large connection between the

gut and the brain. The gut directly affects the brain and the brain directly affects the brain.

During my research process, I saw a variety of studies and experiments being done to

further the understanding of correlation between gut health and mental health so I decided to

create my own brief study. I made this observational study in hopes of getting a clear idea of this

correlation from the people I know. My sample size consisted of fifteen people, of both genders

and mainly the same age, except for one response. I asked a series of six different questions that

were intended to require little to no thinking at all. I began with age, ninety percent fell in

between the 18-24 category and ten percent fell under the 40-64 category. I then asked how often

(on average) they ate healthy throughout the week. Twenty percent answered with one or less

day a week, forty percent fell under the three-four day category and the last forty percent chose

the five to seven day a week category. Next, I asked if they struggled with any mental health

issues. Fifty percent voted yes, thirty percent voted no and twenty percent were not sure. Then, I

asked if they thought there was a correlation between physical health and mental health and
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Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

everyone voted yes. I asked the participants if they had ever noticed a difference in their moods

when they switched up their diets, ninety percent voted yes and ten percent voted that they were

not sure. Lastly, I asked if they had ever considered improving their diets in hopes of improving

their mental health, ninety percent voted yes and ten percent said they have never thought about

it. While this may be an overwhelming amount of data, I am going to break it down person by

person. So we have evaluated the total results, but I am more interested in sharing the results

given by each person so we can observe the connections. I am going to choose a couple of

different people's results to dissect. To start off, I have randomly selected an individual from the

18-24 age category. They voted that they eat healthy less than one day a week and that they

struggle with mental illness. They also said that they believe there is a correlation between

mental health and physical health and have noticed a mood change after switching up from their

normal diet. Lastyly, this person also said that they have considered improving their diet to

improve their mental health. While I do not know who this person is, I believe it is safe to

conclude that their poor eating habits have contributed to their mental health in some way since

they voted that they have considered improving their diet in hopes of aiding their mental health.

For the sake of a more unbiased observation, I decided to choose my last individual's results to

dissect based on age. I chose the one person who fell between the 40-64 category. This person

voted that they eat healthy five to seven days a week and do not struggle with any mental health

related issues. This person also believes there is a correlation between physical and mental health

and have noticed changes in their mood after switching up their normal diet. This person has also

considered improving their diet in hopes of improving their mental health. Although it is only
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Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

one person, it’s safe to conclude for them that their clean and balanced diet has kept their mental

health in good health. Although my sample size was not big, it gave me just enough information

to further back up the claims I already made and researched in the articles.

Now that we know there is clearly a connection between the gut and brain, learning about

cures and prevention tactics is crucial. According to, Gut Microbiotas’s Effect on Mental Illness,

Megan Clapp describes how maintaining a healthy gut biome is crucial in order to stay away

from developing anxiety and depression. This can be done by eating balanced, nutrient filled

diets with lots of water. Staying away from excessive sugar and processed food is guaranteed to

keep your gut in good shape. Healthy gut function directly correlates to normal central nervous

system function. This article also incorporates the topic of probiotics as a possible cure for this

gut biome imbalance. The goal of probiotics is to add more good bacteria into the gut and

regulate the gut biome, therefore regulating the gut. If the gut is more regulated with the

probiotics, a positive effect on anxiety and depression typically results. This can either be

lessening symptoms of these mental illnesses or diminishing them completely in some cases.

Despite these findings though, this alone is not enough to state that probiotics alone cure gut

disorders and mental health disorders. While there are many people who believe in the

correlation between good gut health and good mental health, there are also people who don’t

believe they really affect each other. While people are entitled to their own beliefs, the evidence

and data show there is a true cause and effect relationship between the gut and brain.

To briefly summarize, learning about the correlation between the gut and the brain have

helped to develop hypotheses for the spike in GI related issues and mental health issues. Each
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Professor Lindsay Ferrara

English and Composition

11 December 2022

one affects the other, when one is out of normal, the other likely is as well. Understanding the

importance and positive effects of eating a clean and balanced diet can help you to stay clear

from anxiety and depression or help the symptoms if you already struggle with these issues.

Personally, I have struggled with anxiety for as long as I can remember. It is genetic in my

family, my mom and grandma both struggle with anxiety as well so I was bound to get it. I used

to let my anxiety control my life and it led to me developing many GI issues. I began taking

probiotics and becoming very consistent with clean eating habits and I have noticed incredible

changes. My mood is much better, I have much more energy and I am significantly less stressed

and happier than I ever was before. I am so glad to have realized this “cure” so early on in my

life because I have accepted that I will probably have some level of anxiety my entire life but

now I have a great handle on how to manage it and not let it run my life.