New bacterial and other treatments could emerge from all this research. In the meantime, there may be a more immediate way of improving our psychological state using the complex web of *bacteria living in our guts.

‘Evidence suggests gut *bacteria can communicate directly with the brain,’ says Professor Glen Gibson, a microbiologist at Reading U*niversity. ‘It’s early days, but studies have found that giving tiny amounts of probiotics (friendly gut bacteria) can affect parts of the brain involved in emotions.’

So could we soon be taking *probiotics instead of antidepressants? Maybe, says neuroscientist Professor John Cryan.

‘You won’t be able to use something off the supermarket shelves,’ he adds, ‘but there is a small study on humans showing that a particular strain of friendly gut bacteria can reduce depression.’

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