Chocolate crepe or ham omelet?

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When we think of bacteria, we think of organisms that make us sick and make us take antibiotics, but we have discovered that they also have a very positive influence on our health," explains Vidal Ribeiro, the director of this research on gut microbiota. "When we raised mice in the laboratory without bacteria by giving them many antibiotics, we saw that they were more anxious, depressive, and more prone to getting sick than others, which seems to indicate that gut bacteria are very important for good physical and brain function," he points out.

In fact, these bacteria are so important for the brain that they can even decide what we are going to eat! "Studying fruit flies, we have seen that there are two key bacteria in making decisions about nutrition. When the animal has them in its gut, it shows no need to ingest proteins. And when it doesn't have them, it decides to take proteins," says Vidal. But how do gut microbes then communicate with the brain? "We know that bacteria produce substances that go to the brain and influence it. But we still don't know what those substances are. That is what the help of Obra Social "la Caixa" will allow us to study. When we discover it, we will be able to use bacteria to optimize our nutrition, and thus prevent and treat diseases such as obesity and depression."

As if this were not enough, the doctor also states that, given that the microbiota has an influence on nutritional matters, it also has an influence on non-nutritional decisions. "For example, we make very different decisions depending on whether or not we are hungry. When hungry, we are anxious, we have less patience. And the brain is only one; we don't have one for eating and another for playing, all decisions come from the same one. So these factors end up influencing many of the decisions we make daily."

Although there is still much to investigate, especially in humans, more and more experts agree that it would be possible to improve our health and well-being by ingesting the correct bacteria. That is why there are already therapies based on modifying the patient's microbiota. "I am convinced that a very important part of future therapies will be personalized therapies that take microbiota and nutrition very much into account," says the researcher, who also believes that these therapies will become "very powerful when combined with chemotherapy in the treatment against cancer."

For now, to keep the macrobiota healthy and therefore our health, Vidal Ribeiro recommends "having a balanced and diverse nutrition, rich in fiber (because the microbiota uses fibers), not excessively high in fats and sugars, and with little meat and processed food. Or as a friend of mine says, we shouldn't eat food that our grandparents wouldn't be able to recognize," he jokes. But the expert recognizes that in addition to the what, we must take care of the how we eat: "Being hygienic, but not excessively so (we don't live in a sterile world!), eating in moderation and doing it surrounded by people we like will also help our brain."

Now, he only has to advance with the research team he is so proud of, until he gets newspapers to write the headline of his dreams: "Scientists have discovered the formula for optimal nutrition for the human brain".

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