Nutritional psychiatry, stress and the microbiota-gut-brain axis: focus on dietary fiber

Dietary fiber has an assortment of health benefits and the gut microbiota has been shown to be an integral regulator of brain function and behavior. The interface between these features may have implications from a therapeutic as well as a neurobiological perspective in terms of mental health function, especially in circumstances where stress is considered a significant risk factor for anxiety and depressive symptoms. A prodigious amount of research has helped to shape the narrative of a possible relationship between stress and the microbiota-gut-brain axis. However, the nature of the relationship between dietary fiber, stress and the microbiota-gut-brain axis needs to be explored, especially with efforts focused on eliciting and understanding probable mechanisms. We demonstrated that dietary fiber has the ability to influence gut-brain modules (GBMs) including SCFA synthesis via the gut microbiota, by devising a systematic review protocol followed by its execution and deployment across studies examining the impact of different dietary fiber and compositional alterations with publicly available datasets. These datasets were re-analyzed via consistent GBM bioinformatic pipelines with the results illustrating a high probability that dietary fiber favors an increased abundance of SCFA-producing taxa and GBMs for SCFA synthesis. We also showed via a cross-sectional analysis, that dietary fiber was associated with reduced state anxiety in healthy individuals. The combination of these results have furthered our understanding in the nutritional psychiatry field, indicating that dietary fiber may recruit SCFA production in reducing anxiety. Such findings could allow for further research focusing on SCFAs impacting anxiety. Additionally, this platform may also allow for other GBMs impacted by dietary fiber to be evaluated in the role of reducing anxiety symptoms, as well as other symptoms relating to stress and depression. Taken together, our findings have confirmed that the microbiota-gut-brain axis and dietary fiber are implicated in the way we feel and our mental health.

Grantor dc:publisher

University College Cork

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Lachmansingh, David Antoine

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Clarke, Gerard
• Lavelle, Aonghus
• Cryan, John

• Dietary fiber
• Microbiota-gut-brain axis
• Gut-brain modules
• Stress
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Short-chain fatty acids
• Tryptophan metabolism

Statement dc:rights

• © 2024, David Antoine Lachmansingh.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/16448

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cora.ucc.ie:10468/16448