Could 1 Overlooked Bacterium Help Change the Course of PTSD?

PTSD symptoms increase as Eubacterium eligens decreases, this bacteria is positively associated with plant-based food and negatively associated with other food.
Could 1 Overlooked Bacterium Help Change the Course of PTSD?
New research indicates that incorporating certain foods into the diet can increase anti-inflammatory bacteria in the gut and improve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. Shutterstock
|Updated:
0:00

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and inflammation are both responses to traumatic events. PTSD typically follows a particularly challenging experience, while inflammation is an immune response that follows injury or infection that inflicts trauma, large or small, on the body.

While people don’t typically think of these two reactions as closely related, research indicates otherwise, and new findings suggest that a little-studied bacterium may help with both.

Emma is an acupuncture physician and has written extensively about health for multiple publications over the past decade. She is now a health reporter for The Epoch Times, covering Eastern medicine, nutrition, trauma, and lifestyle medicine.
Related Topics