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Comment by amriksohata | Hacker News Reader

In Ayurveda (comes from hindu sages, invented yoga etc) they say that some forms of depression come from the gut brain axis. THere are 3 types of body type and eating the wrong foods for each body type can make your mind inbalanced. Whilst in comparision western nutrionists/dieticians say have a balanced diet, Ayurveda says eat foods depending on your body type its not as simple as calories, protein, carbs. It depends on the food itself.

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I think there is something to be said about modern food recommandations. It seems that some people think that we will find at some point find an "ultimate diet" that will work for everyone in the world. But that's probably not true. Some people react very well to keto, others not well at all. Some people are fine with high carbs diet, others are not. We're all different in some ways, and there is value in exploring how your body reacts to different types of food.

How much of these differences could be attributed to our gut flora?

Would a gut flora transplant help change our diet?

Why are these Asian pseudo scientific ideas so tolerated here? I wouldn't expect people being on board when some 3000 year old earth Christians start talking about how your body reacts through the lens of some old judoeo Christian values.

In the same way Yoga was called mumbo jumbo by Christian invaders but now is adopted, give it ten years Ayurveda is the next thing.

I think the reality is closer to different dysbiotic states can cause depression. Depending on the the specific dysbiosis, the interventions will be different.

.. And would you categorise those different dysbiotic states into ... types?

I'm sure you could - but if you went about it scientifically there would easily be thousands (not just the 3 in Ayurveda). That being said, I do think Ayurveda is mostly about manipulating the microbiome, and I think there are probably real nuggets of truth in its approaches. For example the use of Triphala to improve motility will help in numerous dysbiotic states.

Well I don't think there's any evidence for that to be true, actually.

Agree (in terms of the kind of formal evidence I imagine you would accept). However it doesn't need to be "true" in any objective sense, to provide relief or improve wellbeing.

Is an interesting thought, would love to see clinical trials of various spiritual and traditional medicine practices.

The combo of say, CBT and (dubiously effective) antidepressants doesn't seem wildly different, except traditional practices are often better "socially integrated" and have less stigma.

Someone should conduct those researches, the thing is people who do it and who benefit from it they don't need any proof, any acceptance from others or anything like that.

I’m not the original poster, but there is definitely increasing evidence in modern health research that gut bacteria is directly linked to mental health: https://www.science.org/content/article/meet-psychobiome-gut...

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