Bugs and Brains: The Gut and Mental Health Study

The Bugs and Brains Study aims to better understand the link between mental health and various factors, including diet, early life experience, stress and wellbeing. Whilst we are also interested in learning about the role of the microbiome (i.e., bacteria that live in and on our bodies) in these processes, recruitment for the collection of biological data relevant to bacterial and physiological profiles has now ended. Please click on the Background tab for detailed background information about the study.

Participation in the Bugs and Brains Study now involves the completion of online questionnaires to better understand the relationships between gut health and mental health in the community. Click on the 'Am I Eligible' tab to find out more.

Recent research has revealed that bacteria that live within and on the body play both a central and critical role in normal physiological function. While many bacteria appear benign, and others can cause disease, many provide benefit to us, helping us digest food and producing chemicals important to our health. It appears likely that humans and other animals, having evolved with a significant bacterial exposure on all surfaces (including our digestive and reproductive tracts), have come to rely on bacteria for a range of biological functions.

Studies specifically examining bacteria are limited, and particularly in humans. However, evidence supports a complex interaction between bacteria, the environment (including the digestive tract and the food it contains), the gut wall, and physiological processes (including immune and endocrine regulation). An altered, or ‘dysbiotic’, bacterial community in the gut has been linked with a range of disorders, and include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.

In this project, we ask participants to provide information about their diet, and physical and mental health, and (for those eligible) provide a small faecal sample (for bacterial and metabolic assays), urine sample (for metabolic assays), saliva samples (for bacterial, metabolic, endocrine and immune assays), and a small hair sample (for endocrine assays).

This is the first project worldwide to compare the human bacterial and physiological profiles of healthy adults, adults with depression &/or anxiety disorders, adults with IBS, and adults with comorbid depression &/or anxiety and IBS. For more information on the study protocol, click here - https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/3/e043221.

Whilst the collection of biological data has now reached conclusion, we are continuing to seek participants for the questionnaire-only element of the study, investigating associations between diet, and physical and mental health. Click on the 'Am I Eligible' tab to find out more.

The questionnaire-only component of the Bugs and Brains Study involves the completion of two online questionnaires. The first questionnaire asks about a variety of factors related to demographic, lifestyle, early life, and gut, mental and physical health. The second questionnaire is a detailed food frequency questionnaire which asks about your usual dietary preferences.

For further details about what participation in the Bugs and Brains study involves, please read through the Plain Language Statement (PDF 163.7 KB).

If you would like to take part, please provide us with your contact details and we will send you some information about the study.

If you are not eligible for the study (or prefer not to take part), but would like to receive updates and newsletters about the study, please provide us with your contact details.