Healthless

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A Canada-wide team of researchers is making a big ask. But, for researchers, doctors and patients like Lisa Lemieux of Cantley, it is an important one.

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Researchers are working to better understand the link between gut health and mental health as part of a study called MAGIC (Mind and Gut Interactions Cohort) — one of the largest of its kind.

Canada has one of the highest rates of inflammatory bowel disease in the world, and between 40 and 60 per cent of those patients also experience psychological symptoms such as anxiety disorders and depression.

In order to complete their study, the team needs additional help —in the form of poop — from people willing to take part. In exchange, participants will receive an analysis of their gut microbiome.

More than 6,000 people have already enrolled in the national study, but researchers are looking for 2,000 additional people, including patients and healthy volunteers.

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Participants are asked to give urine and blood samples at a clinic (including one at The Ottawa Hospital) and to fill out questionnaires. Crucially to the study, they are also asked to submit stool samples. Each person is followed over time.

It might seem a lot to ask, but the stakes are high.

The size of the cohort being studied allows researchers to get a better understanding of the links between gut health and mental health, said Dr. Stephen Vanner, who heads the Gastrointestinal Disease Research Unit at Queen’s University and is the clinical site lead for the research network behind the study.

The research could lead to new and better forms of therapy. Current therapies mainly target symptoms, not the underlying cause of illness, Vanner said.

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“There is a tremendous need for better understanding and new therapies.”

Toward that goal, Vanner called the MAGIC study “one of the most exciting initiatives” across Canada in many years.

Researchers have “inklings” of the links between the gut microbiata (the microorganisms and viruses that live in an environment such as the digestive system), which is influenced by what people eat, and how that connects to mental wellness, he said, “but we don’t have sufficient understanding.”

Lisa Lemieux has been treated for Crohn’s, an inflammatory bowel disease, for more than 30 years. It has had a profound impact on her, including on her mental health.

“It brings on anxiety. I worry I won’t be healthy when I grow older and won’t be able to support my kids in their adulthood.”

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When she has flare-ups, it slows her down and affects her morale and self-esteem, but Lemieux said she works hard and pushes herself to be positive.

“It takes a lot of effort to maintain that state of mind, it has to be a conscious effort.”

Because she has had surgery as part of her treatment, Lemieux is not eligible to participate in the research. But she said people who do — whether patients or healthy volunteers — can make a difference for people like her.

“It is such an opportunity to be part of a study that has the potential to have a high impact on a specific disease,” she said. “A study like this would give us clear guidance of what we can do and how we can help ourselves living with a chronic disease like Crohn’s.”

Vanner said other research projects are offering clues to the links between the brain and the gut. Among them, one study demonstrated that transplanting gut microbiata from someone with depression into germ-free rodents caused them to display depressive-like behaviours.

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Vanner said he hopes the MAGIC research will further that and other work.

He said patients are usually happy to be part of the study.

“I think it is helpful for people to get a feeling that somebody is taking their symptoms seriously.”

The participation of so-called “healthy volunteers” is crucial to the research, he said.

In Ottawa, 318 patients have been recruited for the study. For more information, contact local research coordinator Vishwambari Tamane at vtamane@ohri.ca.