Bugs and Brains: The Gut and Mental Health Study
Please note that the Study has finalised recruitment for the component involving the collection of biological specimens.
Recruitment for the Bugs and Brains online questionnaire-only study is ongoing. Please contact us here if you would like further information about participating or have any questions.
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.
-
Contact us
Contact the Bugs and Brains Study by clicking here.
Contact us -
Health concerns
If you have concerns about your physical or mental health, please contact your GP, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. General health information can be found at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au. General mental health information can be found at www.beyondblue.org.au. In case of emergency, please call 000 immediately.
View -
Funding information
Funding for this study was received through the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.
View
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 asked 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.
-
Contact us
Contact the Bugs and Brains Study by clicking here.
Contact us -
Health concerns
If you have concerns about your physical or mental health, please contact your GP, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. General health information can be found at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au. General mental health information can be found at www.beyondblue.org.au. In case of emergency, please call 000 immediately.
View -
Funding information
Funding for this study was received through the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.
View
Please note that the Bugs and Brains Study has finalized recruitment for the full study involving the interview assessment and collection of biological specimens.
Recruitment for the online questionnaire-only component of the study is still ongoing.
Please contact us here if you would like further information about participating or have any questions
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 98.4 KB).
-
Contact us
Contact the Bugs and Brains Study by clicking here.
Contact us -
Health concerns
If you have concerns about your physical or mental health, please contact your GP, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. General health information can be found at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au. General mental health information can be found at www.beyondblue.org.au. In case of emergency, please call 000 immediately.
View -
Funding information
Funding for this study was received through the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.
View
All adults 18 years of age or older are eligible to participate in the questionnaire-only component of the study.
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.
-
Contact us
Contact the Bugs and Brains Study by clicking here.
Contact us -
Health concerns
If you have concerns about your physical or mental health, please contact your GP, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14. General health information can be found at www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au. General mental health information can be found at www.beyondblue.org.au. In case of emergency, please call 000 immediately.
View -
Funding information
Funding for this study was received through the Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences.
View
-
Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences
- Dr. Julian Simmons
- Dr Orli Schwartz
- Prof Nick Haslam
- Dr Carra Simpson
- Ms Djamila Eliby
- Melbourne Dental School
- Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Melbourne Neuropsychiatry Centre
- UCLA