Nuts for knowledge. Can walnuts be the answer for stressed university students?

AGRF’s genomic data is helping researchers explore the connections between gut health, gut microbiota and brain health, particularly in relation to stress and depression.

Being a student can be quite stressful, especially during the university years which coincide with a critical transition into early adulthood. According to a recent Australian study, students are more susceptible to experiencing psychological distress and are at greater risk for changes to their mental health.

At the University of South Australia (UniSA), researchers have been exploring the connections between gut health, gut microbiota and brain health, particularly in relation to stress and depression. Professor Larisa Bobrovskaya leads the neuroscience research group at UniSA and is joined by PhD student Mauritz Herselman who has been actively involved in this research. Bobrovskaya explains, “We were interested in investigating whether daily walnut consumption could have a positive impact on the mental health and gut microbiome of university students, as they are a group particularly vulnerable to the impacts of academic stress, especially during exam periods.”

To unravel the intricate relationship between the gut and the brain, the research team conducted a randomised clinical trial with university students. Participants were divided into two groups: a control group and a treatment group that was asked to consume a serving of walnuts daily for the duration of the study. The focus was on examining the effects of walnuts on mental health and general wellbeing through this dietary intervention.

Analysing the gut microbiota is a complex business due to the huge number of bacterial species. This is when AGRF’s invaluable expertise came into play, taking a critical role in assisting with the analysis of these samples. By employing Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) microbial profiling techniques, the researchers were able to gain insights into the overall diversity of gut flora in the participants, as well as specific changes in the subgroups of gut bacteria.

“Our partnership with AGRF has been incredibly valuable, particularly when it comes to analysing the gut microbiota,” says Mauritz. “We have benefited greatly from the high quality and timely data and would recommend them to others.” He praised the value of the partnership with AGRF, which provided expertise and access to cutting-edge technology to enable the research.

The team’s findings revealed that consuming walnuts during stressful periods had a positive impact on self reported mental health and wellbeing. Mauritz explains that academic stress can have a negative impact on mental health in the longer term. “However, in this study, we’ve seen that walnut consumption helped mitigate some of these effects and, in some cases, the analysis suggested that they may have a protective effect on the gut microbiota.”

This research has opened exciting avenues for further exploration, with the team eager to delve deeper into the role of the gut microbiota and diets in stress-related mental health disturbances. They also aim to expand the research scope to get a better understanding of the potential impact of walnuts in neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson’s disease.

The progress made by the UniSA research group in collaboration with AGRF highlights the importance of studying the gut-brain connection and its potential implications for mental health. By continuing to uncover the beneficial effects of dietary interventions such as walnut consumption, they aim to contribute to the wellbeing of students and individuals affected by neurological disorders.