Health Update: Inflammation, Not Serotonin Levels…Linked to Depression

RVAchironeuro • August 11, 2022

Hello again everyone:

Here is some interesting news about depression. The study below found the following data:

“The main areas of serotonin research provide no consistent evidence of there being an association between serotonin and depression, and no support for the hypothesis that depression is caused by lowered serotonin activity or concentrations. Some evidence was consistent with the possibility that long-term antidepressant use reduces serotonin concentration.”      https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-022-01661-0

So, if it is NOT serotonin, then what do you think has been found to correlate with depression? Well, if you know my area of research, then you know the answer is: inflammation. Please recall that almost all inflammation is related to, caused, aggravated, or perpetuated by the immune system. Here are some links to reveal the knowledge base about this critical topic:

“Depression represents the number one cause of disability worldwide and is often fatal. Inflammatory processes have been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression. It is now well established that dysregulation of both the innate and adaptive immune systems occur in depressed patients and hinder favorable prognosis, including antidepressant responses.”  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7381373/

We now know that depression is associated with a chronic, low-grade inflammatory response and activation of cell-mediated immunity, as well as activation of the compensatory anti-inflammatory reflex system. It is similarly accompanied by increased oxidative and nitrosative stress (O&NS), which contribute to neuroprogression in the disorder. The obvious question this poses is ‘what is the source of this chronic low-grade inflammation?’      https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1741-7015-11-200

Bottom Line: In depression, as well as anxiety and brain fog (any brain issue), to reach optimal improvement requires finding and reducing or controlling all sources and drivers of inflammation. The last paper has a partial list:

“This review explores the role of inflammation and oxidative and nitrosative stress as possible mediators of known environmental risk factors in depression and discusses potential implications of these findings. A range of factors appear to increase the risk for the development of depression and seem to be associated with systemic inflammation; these include psychosocial stressors, poor diet, physical inactivity, obesity (insulin resistance), smoking (air pollution along with altered oxygen status such as anemia), altered gut permeability, atopy (allergies), dental cares (includes any latent infection such as mono or Lyme etc.), sleep and vitamin D deficiency. (One could also look at Omega-3’s, all B vitamins, Probiotics, and Magnesium)

  The identification of known sources of inflammation provides support for inflammation as a mediating pathway to both risk and neuro-progression in depression. Critically, most of these factors are plastic (modifiable), and potentially amenable to therapeutic and preventative interventions. Most, but not all, of the above-mentioned sources of inflammation may play a role in other psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism, and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

The best way to check out all these health issues and reduce or improve or get rid of them, is through a thorough functional neurologic and functional medicine evaluation in association with primary care providers treating mental health patients. In my opinion, when it comes to depression, we should not limit care to only medications, or only nutrition or exercise, but all tools should be appropriately evaluated and applied as needed. When the brain is inflamed it simply does not work right, and depression can be a symptom. Note that in the first quotation listed above that the efficacy of anti-depressants is less in those that are inflamed…a strong key to how important it is to identify and reduce inflammation sources. Finally, the last quotation and reference below summarizes how nutritional therapeutics should be important adjunctive care in depression and other mental health issues. It may also be that some anti-depressant meds have an anti-inflammatory effect that will be elucidated in future studies. And please note: if you are taking any prescriptions for depression, do not stop them without clearance and a schedule to wean off of them slowly with the prescribing physicians assistance.

“In summary, nutrition and nutraceuticals should now be considered as mainstream elements of psychiatric practice, with research, education, policy, and health promotion reflecting this new paradigm.”

 

Can Diet Lower Inflammation Markers?

By Mark Smith • October 29, 2025
New Title

Your Brain on Food

By Mark Smith • October 13, 2025
Your Brain on Food

What is Good for the Heart is Good for Everything

By Mark Smith • October 6, 2025
New Title

Go Green Mediterranean to Lose Fat, Gain Health

By Mark Smith • September 29, 2025
New Title

: Modern Food Losing its Mojo

By Mark Smith • September 22, 2025
New Title

Do You Know Where 80 to 90% of Your Health Comes From?

By Mark Smith • September 15, 2025
New Title

What You Eat Can Save Your Life…or Not

By Mark Smith • September 8, 2025
New Title

To Avoid Chronic Disease, Watch What You Eat

By Mark Smith • September 1, 2025
To Avoid Chronic Disease, Watch What You Eat

Health News Update: Inflammaging is Bad News

By Mark Smith • August 25, 2025
Hello everyone: I think I have mentioned inflammaging before but never really focused on it. So, let’s dig into this interesting topic. Inflammaging is when chronic, low-grade inflammation develops with age as dietary and environmental stress accumulates, contributing to the development of all of the various age-related diseases and health issues. It results from a loss of control over systemic inflammation, which tends to come from an unbalanced and dysregulated immune system. One of the key drivers of inflammaging is diet…which means that one of the key tools to slow and reduce aging is our what we eat as well as what we don’t eat. In this paper, the authors reveal that the typical Western Diet (what science calls the Standard American Diet or S.A.D.) is the best example of a pro-inflammatory diet pattern. “ Conclusion: Inflammation is a key physiological process in immunity and tissue repair. However, during aging it becomes increasingly more chronic. In addition, we found that certain foods such as saturated fats have pro-inflammatory activity. Taking this into account, in this review we have proposed some dietary guidelines as well as a list of compounds present in foods with anti-inflammatory activity. It must be taken into account that the amounts used in the studies that detect anti-inflammatory activity of these compounds are very high, and the intake of a single food to achieve its anti-inflammatory power is not feasible. (My Comment: what this means is that it is the overall dietary pattern that matters the most.) However, the combination of foods rich in compounds with anti-inflammatory activity could exert beneficial effects during aging and in pathologies associated with inflammation and in reducing the detrimental effects of foods with pro-inflammatory activity. Therefore, we can conclude that the compounds in our diet with anti-inflammatory activity could help alleviate the inflammatory processes derived from diseases and unhealthy diets and thereby promote healthy aging. Thus, we can use diet not only for nourishment, but also as medicine.” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8389628/ anti-inflammatory diet and health aging https://www.healthline.com/health/5-minute-guide-to-inflamm-aging Bottom Line: We all must age, and how we do so is largely under our own control. To create an anti-inflammatory lifestyle is not that difficult, especially if you put it all together in stages. Start with a clean, whole-food, unprocessed plant-based food plan. And to begin, first focus on what you can add into your menus and use those additions to sort of crowd out the things that are more inflammatory…sugar, refined grains, processed and pre-packaged things. Set realistic goals such as going plant based one or two days a week, or even one meal…just start and gradually work up. It has to be doable so don’t stress. Next, start moving and doing regular exercise at least three times a week…and find what you enjoy doing and focus on that. Then add activities that de-stress you, whether that is socializing, church, meditation, prayer, yoga, etc. Overall, shift your attention to giving love to things that love you back. Sugar, drive-thru and processed food like thingies do not love you back but apples or kiwis or berries or veggies do. Sitting around does not love you back but going for a short walk after a meal does love you back. Hang out and give love to the people you really like to be with, they will most always love you back. Create a love you back lifestyle and see how you feel.

Health News Update: Blocking Internet on Smartphones Improves Mental Health

By Mark Smith • August 18, 2025
Hello everyone: I frequently hear about mental health issues with the people in our practice. They could be experiencing depression, or anxiety, feel flat, can’t focus or sustain attention, or may not feel well in general. These comments can come from anyone of any age…I can hear from parents about their kids, or it may be themselves experiencing these feeling. So, when I read this paper, it felt important to share it because we all seem to have mobile phones. Here is how the paper is summarized: “Concern about how smartphones affect users is widespread: half of American smartphone users—and 80% of those under age 30—worry that they use their device too much, and correlational research suggests that smartphone use is negatively related to mental health and cognitive functioning. However, few large-scale experiments have tested for causal effects. We report such an experiment, finding that blocking mobile internet for 2 weeks reduces smartphone use and improves subjective well-being (SWB) (including life satisfaction and positive affect), mental health (more than antidepressants), and sustained attention (as much as being 10 years younger). Despite the many benefits mobile internet offers, reducing the constant connection to the digital world can have large positive effects.” https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/2/pgaf017/8016017?utm_source=klaviyo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=%28Email%20-%20Chris%20Kresser%20General%20News%29%20Chris%27s%20Friday%20Favorites&utm_term=randomized%20controlled%20trial&utm_content=randomized%20controlled%20trial&_kx=fARhTo_gi8X3B_2-MaeO_RyzUl9tvT3tr4re-Dy7cNQ.my75y6 Bottom Line: It seems like a smartphone ‘timeout’ can be very beneficial for mental, emotional, physical health and can be an important part of stress reduction. The world today, with nearly instant communications, the almost constant bad and anxiety promoting news, and the fast pace of data consumption can add up to significantly stress us out and pull us down…or just simple keep us distracted. From what I can see, a ‘timeout’ may be just what the doctor ordered.
More Posts