Drinking soft drinks linked to being diagnosed with depression, but this might be mediated by changing your microbiome

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German and Irish researchers have found a significant link between drinking soft drinks and a subsequent diagnosis of major depressive disorder, as well as having more severe depression, but this association was significantly mediated by how much of a specific bacterium called Eggerthela existed in a person's gut. The team looked into the soft drink habits and microbiomes of close to 1000 people, just over 400 of whom had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder. They believe that drinking softies may contribute to developing the condition through gut bug changes, especially those involving Eggerthela in female patients. While this kind of study cannot prove the direct connection between soft drinks and depression, the researchers suggest prevention strategies that aim to reduce consumption of the drinks and target the microbiome in treatment.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Psychiatry

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: University Hospital Frankfurt–Goethe University, Germany

Funder: This work was funded in part by the consortia grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG) SFB/TRR 393 (project grant number 521379614). This work is part of the German multicenter consortium Neurobiology of Affective Disorders: A Translational Perspective on Brain Structure and Function, funded by DFG (Forschungsgruppe/research unit FOR2107), as well as the LOEWE Center DYNAMIC, funded by the Hessisches Ministerium für Wissenschaft und Forschung, Kunst und Kultur. Dr Edwin Thanarajah was funded by the Leistungszentrum Innovative Therapeutics (TheraNova), funded by the Fraunhofer Society and the Hessian Ministry of Science and Art, the Bundesministerium für Bildungund Forschung (BMBF, Federal Ministry of Education) (01EO2102 INITIALISE Advanced Clinician Scientist Program), and the REISS Foundation. Dr Aichholzer was funded by the DFG (493624332 INDEEP Clinician Scientist Program). Dr Nitsch was funded by the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 1451 Motor Control, project C8. Microbiota sequencing received infrastructure support by the DFG Cluster of Excellence “Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation” (PMI, EXC2167) and the DFG Research Unit 5042 miTarget. Dr. Repple was supported by the LOEWE program of the Hessian Ministry of Science and Arts (grant number: LOEWE1/16/519/03/09.001(0009)/98).

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