"You are what you eat" - the aphorism attributed to the "gastrosopher" Brillat-Savarin has recently been further substantiated. Researchers have long suspected a connection between our diet and our mental health. The GDI already describes it in its current "European Food Trends Report" (available free of charge at gdi.ch). According to this report, the trillions of bacteria in our intestinal tract seem to influence our mood and mental state. Uma Naidoo, a Harvard-trained nutritional psychiatrist and author of the bestseller "This Is Your Brain on Food" also confirms this. Naidoo will speak at the GDI's International Food Innovation Conference in June.
New study results have now revealed that various types of bacteria are significantly increased or decreased in people with depression symptoms, as the "Washington Post" recently reported. The analysis identified 16 types of bacteria that are "important indicators" of depressive symptoms. Study author André Uitterlinden, who researches genetics at the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam, is convinced that a gut-friendly diet makes you happier. In other words, how you feel is closely related to what you eat.
More about the International Food Innovation Conference and the GDI report "The Big Entanglement: Food Between Microchips and Microbiomes" on the GDI website.