ANXIETY might be helped by altering gut bacteria. A team at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine reviewed 21 studies involving 1,503 people, and found that diet, by affecting the balance of these bacteria, can improve mood.
These benefits are thought to be related to gut bacteria directly stimulating nerve cells to send signals to the brain via the vagus nerve (which runs from the abdomen to the brain) — and the fact that 90 per cent of the body’s serotonin (dubbed the ‘happy hormone’) is created in the gut.
