ZOE Science & Nutrition Most replayed moment: Reduce anxiety by improving your gut health | Uma Naidoo
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Mar 24, 2026 
Uma Naidoo, Harvard-trained nutritional psychiatrist who studies the gut-brain connection. She explores how gut microbes influence neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA. She explains gut-to-brain wiring via the vagus nerve. Practical tips include simple diet swaps, adding colourful plants, movement, and calming food principles.
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Gut As A Neurotransmitter Hub
- The gut is a major site for neurotransmitter production with 90–95% of serotonin receptors located there.
- Uma Naidoo explains food is digested in the same environment as serotonin/GABA receptors, linking diet, microbiome, and mental states.
Diet Drives Gut Inflammation Linked To Anxiety
- Poor diets can drive gut inflammation which correlates with higher anxiety and depression markers like IL-6 and CRP.
- Uma cites a UK Biobank study of 144,000+ people showing increased inflammatory markers in those with anxiety and depression.
Microbes Influence GABA And Anxiety
- Gut bacteria influence other neurotransmitters beyond serotonin, for example certain Bifidobacterium strains are associated with GABA production.
- Low Bifidobacterium adolocentis levels linked to lower GABA and higher anxiety in research Uma describes.
