大象传媒

鈥淵ou are what you eat鈥� is a well-known saying, but is it really true? That鈥檚 what we explore in this week鈥檚 CrowdScience thanks to a question from listener Claire from Australia.

We each have trillions of tiny microbes and bacteria inside our bodies, living in our mouths, skin, ears and even in our eyes. Each community of microbes and bacteria is known as a microbiome. The most populous of these is in our gut, with hundreds of trillions of organisms and bacteria helping us digest our food.

Our gut microbiome is affected by lots of things but mainly by our diet. With our gut microbiome forming such a massive part of our insides, people have long suspected that what we eat impacts how we feel. But how much of that is true?

Presenter Caroline Steel investigates. She speaks to experts to find out how our gut and brain communicate and if our microbiome really does influence our mental health. Caroline wants to know - if it does, can we harness the power of microbes to potentially find new treatments to help our mental health?