Brains, Bugs and Bread

Group member Francis shares his story and what he's learned about the links between our brains, bugs, and bread!

August Meeting: Brains, Bugs, and Bread

"What if what we eat, the bugs that live inside us, and our bipolar brains are all connected?"

For our August meeting, fellow group member and brainiac, Francis Galashan, gave a fascinating presentation on his journey of discovery and exploring the links between brains, bread, and... bugs.

Bipolar and Genetics

Over time we have learned that bipolar disorder is a strongly genetic condition. In fact its heritability is estimated to be between 65% - 80% and Francis' own family history has shown clear documented cases of bipolar as far back as his great-great grandfather! But while we can see there is a heritability to bipolar disorder, it's not the whole story. Our environment will always play a part, including what we eat.

Bread

Metabolic psychiatry is an emerging field that looks at the role of diet in treating mental illness, with much attention given specifically to the ketogenic diet and it's impact on bipolar. The ketogenic diet uses severe carb restrictions to increase ketone production and reduce insulin production. While many people with bipolar have reported significant improvement in their bipolar symptoms, everyone is different and the diet can have greater medical implications, so it is recommended to be under medical supervision if considering.

After being introduced to the idea a couple years ago, Francis and his partner Pam felt a more suitable approach for them was the low-carb diet. While the average Western diet uses 330g of carbs/day, Francis and Pam reduced their intake to an average of 90g carbs/day, removing all sugar, bread, rice, potatoes, and pasta from their diet. Their change in diet over the following two years led to Francis experiencing healthy weight loss, less depression, more cognitive function, and reducing his use of antipsychotics. And his partner Pam experienced significant improvement in her symptoms of Crohn's disease and osteoarthritis (yay!).

After two years, Francis slowly began to broaden his diet by reintroducing different carbohydrates while wearing a continuous glucose monitor. This allowed him to measure how different foods were affecting his blood sugar levels. He discovered potatoes and other root vegetables maintained healthy, more stable glucose levels, however any grains (bread!) created significant spikes in glucose levels - one time caused by just a single corn tortilla. Sudden extreme glucose levels lead to sudden extreme insulin production, putting a great deal of stress on the body. This leads to inflammation and less efficient neurotransmitter production, such as dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. So not great.

Bugs

The significant impact of the low-carb diet on their health sparked Francis' curiosity about the mechanisms behind it, because in addition to his overall physical and mental health improvements, he noticed other effects, like less tooth film, sweeter breath, and fungal growths that disappeared, which weren't explained by the metabolic approach alone.

His curiosity eventually turned his focus toward immunology and microbiology - the study of microorganisms (bugs!). Out of over 900 different bugs in our oral microbiome, Francis identified three specific sugar-loving bugs that negatively affect our health: Streptococcus mutans bacteria (responsible for rotting teeth), Candida Albicans fungi (leads to fungal infections), and Fusobacterium nucleatum bacteria (associated with colorectal cancer). So not great either.

Additionally, our immune system plays a role in what bugs live in our body, and is largely impacted by what bugs we feed.

So how did a low-carb diet connect to the impact on Francis' improved bipolar symptoms? Was it just the sugar...or was it bugs?

Brains

In his research, Francis discovered two cases in history when attempts to treat mental illness suggested a possible microbial connection. Over 100 years ago, psychiatrist Henry Cotton attempted to treat mental illness by pulling all the teeth out of patients at a psychiatric hospital. While the results were inconsistent, there were several documented cases of complete remission. Around the same time, before the introduction of antibiotics, a highly respected psychiatrist, Thomas Chivers Graves, presented his findings from an experiment, where by washing out the sinus passages of a woman suffering from mental illness, she experienced a complete recovery. Interestingly, our sinus passages are very vulnerable to fungal and bacterial exposure.

This relationship between microorganisms and mental health (brain!) is not limited to our oral microbiome. Tick bites, which can pass along bugs like bacteria, viruses, and parasites, have been shown to be largely connected to bipolar in adolescents. One psychiatrist found that up to 92% of 37 adolescents with bipolar had been exposed to tick-borne diseases. Additionally, mycobacterium tuberculosis is a bacterial infection that has been well documented to increase the risk of psychotic episodes.

A more radical experiment testing the relationship between microbiome and bipolar was an experiment conducted in Australia that involved a woman undergoing a fecal transplant, essentially replacing her gut's microbiome, resulting in complete remission of symptoms. More details about this experiment can be found in the book Gut Health by Professor Gordon Parker.

Another bacteria linked with increase risk of bipolar is Helicobacter Pylori (H.pylori). Originally discovered by doctors Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, they identified the bacteria as the cause of stomach ulcers, rather than stress or spicy food. Despite significant backlash from the medical community, their discovery would eventually lead to them winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine. While H.pylori can cause stomach ulcers, it can also be asymptomatic and go undetected. Because there is an elevated risk of bipolar associated with H.pylori, it might be worth testing for. Tests can be easily purchased online and done at home.

Much of the research in microbiology focuses on the impact of bacteria, while research into the effects of fungi has been largely neglected, despite the fact that far more people die of fungal infections over bacterial infections. Fungi is much smaller in number than bacteria, but their cells are 100x larger in size and share a similar cell structure to our own, and more attention should be given to it's impact on our health. Fungi can feed on the same neuropathways we use to make neurotransmitters. Our immune systems are greatly impacted by fungi, with far more people dying of fungal infections than bacterial infections. Fortunately there is an increasing recognition of the fungal biome connection with mental illness and Francis' own research has been leading him to further study the impact of fungi (because he is a fun-guy:P).

Much of the research in microbiology has focused on the impact of bacteria, while research into the effects of fungi has been largely neglected, despite the fact that far more people die of fungal infections than bacterial infections. Although fungi cells are much smaller in number compared to bacteria, they are 100x larger and share a similar cell structure to our own. Their cell size and similarity strongly affects our immune system and allows them to feed off our shared pathways, yet the impact of fungi still remains underestimated. Fortunately there is growing recognition of the fungal biome connection with mental illness and Francis' own research has been leading him to further study the impact of fungi (because he is a fun-guy:P).

In Summary

So what is the connection between our brains, bread and bugs? As Francis pointed out, "bugs dine at the table before we do", so changes in diet affect them more than they affect us. Studies like the Zoe Project have demonstrated that positive changes in diet can lead to significant improvement in healthy bacteria and subsequently, a reduction in unhealthy bacteria (like sugar-loving Streptococcus mutans). And as Francis' research suggests, a healthy microbiome can have a positive impact on our mental health.

Bon Appetit!

You can download Francis' presentation slides here or listen to his presentation on our YouTube channel here.

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