Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Eat your soil bacteria?!

"...recent studies indicate that treatment with a specific soil bacterium, Mycobacterium vaccae, may be able to alleviate depression." Check out this report.

I don't know how much Prozac costs, but dirt is definitely cheaper! Of course, we need to take the results of these studies with a grain of salt. And mice are not humans. But still! I mean, we all know that gardening is good for the soul. But who ever thought that inhaling soil bacteria would be the source of that "goodness". Very interesting.

4 comments:

Stefaneener said...

I keep meaning to buy some Mycobacterium for my beds. . . guess it's on my "to do" list. But that was more for the mutual benefit between bacteria and plants. . . anything else would be just a nice perk. You do find the most interesting research.

Anonymous said...

As a fellow blogger/gardener who is currently on meds for depression, I think you could be on to something. I smell a book brewing, brewing? Brewing, lurking–whatever. Here is the title: Dirt and Depression. Or Dirt Cheap Anti-Depression Medication. How about, A Little Dirt Never Hurt Anybody?
I love your blog, It's beautiful

Avis said...

Gardening is definitely therapeutic! By the way, there's an award waiting for you on my blog. Cheers!

Jennifer Tidwell said...

I've probably eaten plenty of bacteria from my garden over the years (not on purpose). I wash my hands, but I'm not a serious germophobe.

As my Dad always says "A little dirt never hurt."