Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

unibas.ch

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

121–130 of 216 posts

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#121

Post by stephen_g »

goda90 wrote: post #30
jokoon wrote: post #11

The problem is that you have to take them often to colonize your gut, so it becomes a bit expensive, and it won't work on everyone, depending on their gut (since scientists know too little about the gut).

My hypothesis is that probiotics also need to be paired with the right diet. Bacteria needs to be fed, and needs to compete with the existing gut flora. If conditions aren't right, then they may never get a foothold.

Yeah, it requires types of dietary fibre classed as ‘prebiotic’ [1].

1. https://www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/gastroenterology/prebiot...

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#122

Post by kache_ »

marginalia_nu wrote: post #51
kache_ wrote: post #7

n=40, seems a bit small. But this fits into a lot of anecdotal accounts I've heard. Gut flora is very complex and not well understood.

What is an adequate sample size depends entirely on the effect size.

Yep. I wouldn't eat a mushroom that killed someone, sample size being 1

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#123

Post by PragmaticPulp »

jessermeyer wrote: post #75
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

More likely that it’s the case that more bacteria in your stomach isn’t necessarily a better thing. These negative effects have been noted in the literature, too, so I’m not alone: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6006167/

I did not imply probiotics were a panacea. Difficult to imagine such a biological war playing out in every host beneficially. Although the study you mention is concerned with an unusual fermentation process, which may be caused by a different biological mechanism.

The link was about probiotics causing or contributing to intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It’s a real risk.

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#124

Post by phkahler »

ada1981 wrote: post #99
Auracle wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if prebiotics are a better choice, with fecal transplants done for when you have a real issue. For what it’s worth, and doctors obviously don’t suggest this, you can easily do a fecal transplant at home. By “easily” I mean that the process is simple, not that it isn’t super gross.

Having dirty sex with happy people is how our species has done this since the Dawn of man.

I didn't even want to joke about that on HN, but it did cross my mind. Find a happy healthy person and (somehow) ask them for some fecal matter and do a transplant. Or just start licking butts... ugh

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#125

Post by pazimzadeh »

SaintGhurka wrote: post #21

Sample size of 1 here, but just hear me out. Probiotics are a cheap and low-risk. If you have any general inflammation type issues that don't seem to have a cause, it might be worthwhile to just try probiotics. My Dr. told me to try them for a digestive issue - and they sort of helped that. But a handful of other things unexpectedly improved. Acid reflux went from really bad to barely noticeable, and my skin really c…

Probiotics will compete with whatever is in your gut. If you have a messed up microbiota, then that would be a good thing. If you have a healthy microbiota, then taking probiotics could backfire. Taking probiotics can slow down the recovery of your original microbiota, after taking antibiotics:

https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(18)31108-5

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#126

Post by selimthegrim »

phkahler wrote: post #124
ada1981 wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having dirty sex with happy people is how our species has done this since the Dawn of man.

I didn't even want to joke about that on HN, but it did cross my mind. Find a happy healthy person and (somehow) ask them for some fecal matter and do a transplant. Or just start licking butts... ugh

I think they found out when studying maternal vaginal swabbing for seeding microbiota Caesarean newborns that the bacteria were actually either airborne from the maternal fecal route or somehow getting into the baby from there

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#127

Post by dan_quixote »

SaintGhurka wrote: post #82
dan_quixote wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind sharing the brand/product?

Not at all, although I'm beginning to feel like a bit of a shill for the company. I use "Culturelle Digestive Daily Probiotic". My Dr. suggested either that or "Align". His comment on that was that they are delivery systems that are designed to let the bacteria survive the trip through the extreme environment of the stomach.

Thanks. This is the problem with unregulated supplements - internet strangers sharing recommendations is just about the best heuristic we've got!

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#128

Post by saxonww »

SaintGhurka wrote: post #117
Darkphibre wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's the brand/dosage you use? There's so many different brands out there.

Culturelle Digestive Daily Probiotic. It's dosage says 40 mg and "10 Billion CFUs". It also has Inulin in it, whatever that is. I take one every other day.

Inulin is classified as a dietary fiber. It's an indigestible polysaccharide that ends up being eaten by microbes in your gut.

A lot of packaged foods that are high in fiber that you wouldn't expect to be, have inulin. I remember buying some plain 'greek' yogurt for a while that was advertising fiber per serving, and it had added inulin. Anything containing chicory or jerusalem artichoke is probably high in inulin.

If you're not used to eating it - and this is true of a lot of dietary fibers and prebiotics - be prepared for gas. Like potentially uncomfortably large amounts of it. That side effect is supposed to lessen as your gut adjusts to the change, though.

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#129

Post by midislack »

kudzoo wrote: post #100

A healthy gut microbiome has a diversity of bacteria. You want to have a healthy gut microbiome because it has an incredible number of interactions with your nervous system, which can impact mood, energy, and brain function. Below is a quick rundown of the essential tools for feeding one's gut microbiome. - Prebiotics: Carbohydrates and fiber that our body can't digest but act as food for the bacteria in our gut. - A…

This is a GPT post, right?

Re: Probiotics can support the effect of antidepressants

#130

Post by midislack »

ada1981 wrote: post #99
Auracle wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if prebiotics are a better choice, with fecal transplants done for when you have a real issue. For what it’s worth, and doctors obviously don’t suggest this, you can easily do a fecal transplant at home. By “easily” I mean that the process is simple, not that it isn’t super gross.

Having dirty sex with happy people is how our species has done this since the Dawn of man.

Sadly 40% of US adults already have an incurable STD so this isn’t really good advice.
Post reply on HN