Depression is a phenomenon that can happen to us throughout our lives, that can separate us from our loved ones and cut our ties with life. Many of us experience this phenomenon. The incidence of depression is quite high in our country. Roughly 1 out of every 10 people have depression. When we look in detail, epidemiological data show that 13% of women and 8% of men are depressed in any given year. In the Türkiye Mental Health Profile Study, the 12-month prevalence of depressive episodes is given as 5.4% in women, 2.3% in men and 4.0% in the whole population.

The increasing prevalence of depression, along with the social isolation, fear, panic, trauma, and other conditions experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, makes it inevitable that depression will be more widespread. In order to prevent this process, there are changes we need to make in our lives.To briefly summarize these changes:

Exercise should become an integral part of life. We need to do exercise as a life habit for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. It is desirable that the intensity of the exercise increases from the initial phase. Exercise has incredible benefits in terms of brain health and maintaining body resistance. Exercise is one of the key activities that protect against depression.

Strong social relationships are among the top activities that prevent depression. Making new friends, sharing life, and strengthening social communication with existing friends and loved ones are essential for a healthier brain.Effort must inevitably be strived for to achieve this. This activity has significant benefits for both strengthening the immune system and maintaining a healthy brain.

And of course, another of the things to be done for a healthy brain is to eat healthy. What is meant by a healthy diet is a balanced diet. In our country, there are deficiencies in terms of healthy nutrition. The most important of these deficiencies are lack of protein-rich diet, lack of fibre-rich diet and deficiencies in vitamin-mineral-polyphenol intake. Our country's eating habits are carbohydrate-rich. This type of nutrition also causes an increase in our susceptibility to diseases.In our country, one in every four people dies from cardiovascular diseases, and obesity and diabetes are also very common. These diseases are known as chronic diseases and are directly related to lifestyle and nutrition.The elimination of these diseases is possible through sudden changes in lifestyle. Changes in habits such as weight loss, starting exercise, and eating a diet rich in vitamins, minerals, and polyphenols can help eliminate these diseases.

Due to the increase in refined foods and our preference for them because of their taste, there is a significant lack of fiber-rich food consumption in ourcountry. While the amount of fiber we need to consume daily should be around 15-20 grams, we only consume 1/5 of this amount. This is a very low amount. Low fiber consumption leads to many problems, especially related to our microbiome. Our microbiome is a vast system that regulates many aspects of our body, from our blood values to our psychology. Our microbiota performs many tasks such as thoroughly digesting the foods we consume, transforming them intohealthier components, relieving our stress and synthesizing happy neuroactive components. In order for our microbiota to accomplish these tasks, it is necessary to eat a diet rich in fibre, especially prebiotic fibres. Daily 10-15 grams of prebiotic fibre rich diet plays a major role in the regulation of our microbiota.

There are thousands of scientific publications that reveal the connection between our microbiome and our brain. These publications, particularly those showing that our microbiome produces chemicals with happiness-inducing and depression-preventing properties, which protect us from stress, are increasing day by day. 

Prebiotics will be of great benefit in preventing depression, which is predicted to be widespread in our country during and after this period. The development of prebiotic-rich foods will provide great benefits to increase the welfare of the society. This needs to be clearly seen.Ensuring that our society has access to food products enriched with prebiotic fibers and enriching basic foods such as milk, yogurt, bread, and pasta with prebiotics will create incredible benefits for public health. Prebiotic foods will be a great cornerstone in reducing and combating depression that exists and is expected to increase.

Instead of taking probiotics from outside, increasing the probiotics that exist in our microbiota with prebiotics will provide a more harmonious promotion of health. Prebiotic foods are more balanced due to their high fiber content. When developing prebiotic foods, less carbohydrates, sugar, and fat are used. This opens the door to a more balanced food. Especially, the combination of isolated plant proteins and prebiotics in foods is essential for developing a healthy and balanced product.

Depression has the potential to end lives. Therefore, protecting our people from depression will also reduce the number of depression cases that may occur. Ensuring the reduction of depression will prevent workforce losses and the human losses that would follow. Prebiotics are powerful actors in this regard. Promoting their widespread use also means saving the future.