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Researchers Find That Eating a Certain Protein Is Related to Developing Depression
Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Barcelona
6-8 minutes
A new study confirms the link between an amino acid present in diet and depression.
A new study shows, in humans, mice, and flies, that elevated plasma levels and a diet rich in the amino acid proline cause a more severe state of depression.
Amino acids are monomers that are the building blocks of protein. When a person consumes food containing protein, the protein is broken down into amino acids by the digestive system. To carry out bodily functions, the body then combines the amino acids in different ways. There are 20 different amino acids, of which 9 are considered essential amino acids because they cannot be made by the body and must come from food.
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To find out if the presence of proline was a cause or a consequence of depressive mood, participants’ microbiota was transplanted into mice. The rodents that became more depressed had received the microbiota of participants with high proline, or more depressed subjects. Different genes associated with the transport of proline were also found in the brains of these mice. “The possibility of transferring the depression phenotype from humans to mice through microbiota transplantation and the demonstration that such transplantation generates alterations in proline transport reveals that this proline may be associated causally with depression”, explains Dr. Maldonado, of UPF.
Another confirmatory experiment was carried out using fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster), in which a more depressive mood can be induced. The researchers isolated two types of bacteria from the microbiota associated with proline consumption and added them to the flies’ sterilized feed. Flies that ingested food with Lactobacillus, which in mice was associated with less depression, showed they were more willing to overcome difficulties they faced afterward. In contrast, those that ingested Enterobacter, which is associated with depression in humans, were much more depressed.
Finally, the same experiment was performed on genetically modified flies to eliminate the channels that carry proline to the brain. In this case, the proline was unable to reach the brain, and the flies proved to be highly resilient to depression.
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