Gut mycobiome and neuropsychiatric disorders: insights and therapeutic potential
Hadrich et al./Frontiers/2025
Why It Matters
If you've been treating gut health as bacteria-only, you're missing part of the picture. This paper caught my attention because it challenges the bacteria-centric view of the gut-brain axis — fungi like Candida and Saccharomyces might be influencing neuroinflammation and mental health outcomes. That said, this is a review of early-stage research, not a clinical roadmap. The therapeutic ideas (antifungals, probiotics, diet) are speculative at this point.
Key Findings
- Specific fungal species like Candida and Saccharomyces have been linked to neuroinflammation, altered gut permeability, and immune responses that may affect mental health
- Gut mycobiota dysbiosis has been associated with schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, autism spectrum disorders, bipolar disorder, and depression in observational studies
- The mycobiome represents a minor but potentially significant component of the gut microbiome that has been largely ignored in traditional microbiome research focused on bacteria
- Proposed therapeutic approaches include antifungal treatments, probiotics targeting fungal communities, and dietary modifications, though clinical evidence for these interventions is limited
- Current research relies heavily on metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatics to characterize fungal diversity, but the field lacks standardized methods and large-scale human studies