Page 19 - What Doctors Don't Tell You - AU-NZ (February-March 2020)

RYETHE

Red wine “HEALTHIEST
GLUTEN”

reduces If you can tolerate gluten,

anxiety rye is one of the healthiest
sources of it to eat, especially
for helping maintain ‘good’
gut bacteria.
and baking rye bread, is rich in
Rye sourdough, used for

lactic acid bacteria that help
depression the gut microbiome—the

‘universe’ of bacteria
in the intestines—and
control insulin metabolism,
reducing the risk for
diabetes.
It also triggers a positive
chain reaction that lowers
the amount of oxygen
the heart muscles need,
which may reduce the
There’s a reason people like to unwind with a glass of
risk of stroke, according
red wine after a stressful day—and it could be because
to researchers from the
of one of the drink’s key compounds, resveratrol.
University of Eastern Finland.
Resveratrol blocks stress signals in the brain, and it
Although the health
could also help other neurological disorders such as
benefits of rye have been
depression and anxiety.
known for a long time,
It’s in the skin and seeds of grapes, which are the
scientists haven’t researched
basis of wine, as well as other berries, so people who
the biological processes that
instead choose to eat the fruit may get the same
happen when we eat it.
calming benefits.
The Finnish researchers
Resveratrol works by blocking an enzyme that is
have started to put that right
associated with stress signaling in the brain—and it
with tests on laboratory
could be an effective alternative to drugs for treating
mice. From their results,
depression and anxiety as well, say researchers at the
they found that rye has
University of Buffalo.
bioactive compounds, or
Only around one-third of people suffering from
phytochemicals, that work
depression are helped by antidepressants, and that
as antioxidants, and their
could be because the drugs are targeting the wrong
health benefits are amplified
biological process.
by gut bacteria.
Most antidepressants focus on serotonin, whereas
103
obiome,
Microbiome 2019;7:103
7:
Micr
2019;
the more likely culprit is corticosterone, which regulates
the body’s response to stress. Too much stress can
trigger high amounts of the hormone circulating in the
brain, and this could eventually cause depression or
other disorders, says lead researcher Xiaoxing Yin.
Resveratrol targets corticosterone, and so it could
be more effective to combat depression and anxiety.
To test the theory, Yin and his team fed resveratrol
to laboratory mice whose corticosterone levels had
been raised; the compound blocked the biological
processes, suggesting that this could also ease feelings
of depression or anxiety in people.
Neuropharmacology, 2019; 153: 20–31

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