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You may attribute your lingering fatigue to late nights, stress at work, or parenting a two-year-old.
But a new study from Texas A&M University has linked people’s degree of energy or fatigue to the good or bad bacteria that inhabit your digestive tract.
Researchers quizzed subjects about their diets and found that mental and physical energy or fatigue were significantly dependent on what the people ate.
“Healthy” diets feed beneficial bugs in the gut; fried, sugared, processed, and additive-laden food—what has come to be called the Standard American Diet—nourish unfriendly bacteria that cause sluggish digestion and inflammation, which has been shown to be the underlying cause of many common maladies, including depression.
Less-healthy diets in study subjects were associated with inflammation, physical, and mental fatigue. People who regularly consumed healthier fare showed a more efficient metabolism of nutrients and correlated with greater physical and mental energies.
The study indicates that inflammation underlies a sense of fatigue, while a gut populated by beneficial bacteria quells inflammation and can give a person the fuel to maintain energy in the face of challenges that otherwise would wear you down.
TREND FORECAST: The research shows that the cure for fatigue or mild depression isn’t extra coffee or a prescription for Prozac. As the trends toward personalized and precision medicine grow, medical practitioners will be able to “tune” a person’s diet to their individual gut profile to maximize their energy and positive mood.