Die Darmbakterien von Babys können die zukünftige emotionale Gesundheit beeinflussen: Das frühe Darmmikrobiom eines Kindes kann sein Risiko beeinflussen, in der mittleren Kindheit Depressionen oder Angstzustände zu entwickeln. Der Effekt scheint mit der Art und Weise zusammenzuhängen, wie Bakterien mit der Kommunikation über emotionsbezogene Gehirnnetzwerke verbunden sind.

I’ve linked to the press release in the post above. In this comment, for those interested, here’s the link to the peer reviewed journal article:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64988-6

From the linked article:

**Babies’ gut bacteria may influence future emotional health**

Study links specific gut microbes to brain networks tied to anxiety and depression

**A child’s early gut microbiome may influence their risk of developing depression, anxiety or other internalizing symptoms in middle childhood, according to a new UCLA Health study. The effect appears to be related to the way bacteria are linked to communication across emotion-related brain networks.**

Published in the journal Nature Communications, the observational study found that young children whose gut microbiome had higher representation of bacteria in the Clostridiales order and Lachnospiraceae family were at higher risk of experiencing internalizing symptoms — an umbrella term that includes symptoms of depression and anxiety — in middle childhood. The connection appeared to work indirectly: the early microbiome composition was associated with differences in connectivity across different emotion-related brain networks that was linked to anxiety and depression later in childhood.

The findings suggest that early gut bacteria could play a role in programming brain circuits tied to emotional health in later childhood. If unaddressed, symptoms of depression and anxiety can carry a higher risk of mental health challenges persisting as children develop into adolescence and adulthood, said study senior author Dr. Bridget Callaghan at UCLA.