Is bacterial chatter behind mental illness, obesity?

The chatter between bugs present in your gut and your brain plays a key role in bringing on psychiatric illness, intestinal diseases and obesity among others.

This 'communication of the body and the brain influence metabolic disorders, such as obesity and diabetes', says Jane Foster, associate professor in psychiatry and behavioural neurosciences at McMaster University.

'We have a hypothesis in my lab that the state of your immune system and your gut bacteria - which are in constant communication - influences your personality,' Foster said.

Using germ-free mice, Foster's research shows gut bugs influence how the brain is wired for learning and memory, the journal Neurogastroenterology and Motility reports...