Lots of fermented onesNatural products like kimchiare good probiotics foods. A new review of current research on the effects of prebiotics and probiotics on depression and anxiety has found that probiotics, either alone or in combination with prebiotics, may help reduce such symptoms. However, the review also found that such food did not have a statistically significant effect on anxiety. Additionally, prebiotics alone do not reduce symptoms of anxiety or depression.
Effects of probiotics on the psyche
Because current research on these topics remains limited, the review authors advocate for further research to explore these potentially valuable findings. Depression is a mood disorder that lasts at least 2 weeks and can present with a range of symptoms. This may include feeling sad, angry, irritable, worthless, guilty, or helpless. Some people may not be interested in hobbies and activities, feel tired, have difficulty concentrating, have trouble sleeping, or even feel suicidal. Treatment for depression usually includes medication, talk therapy, or a combination of both. According to recent research, one factor that may contribute to depression and mental health problems is the gut-brain axis.
Two key factors in maintaining the health of the gut microbiome are prebiotics and probiotics. People can usually consume probiotic foods such as yogurt or pickled vegetables. Prebiotics are present in small amounts in various plants and must be synthesized to have a clinically measurable effect. In this context, the authors of the review article wanted to see the evidence from current research on the possible benefits of taking prebiotics and probiotics to relieve the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Overview of the study results
The authors found that the studies were significantly different. This made a direct comparison difficult, as they all clearly showed a positive benefit of dietary probiotic intervention in reducing symptoms of depression. All studies used probiotic capsules containing either one or more probiotic strains. The doses varied between 2 and 20 billion units. A 100 gram portion of yogurt, which typically contains 100 million microbes per gram, would be 10 billioncontain probiotic bacteria. The same amount would be present in 10g of kimchi, which typically contains around 1 billion microbes per gram. The studies also found that a combination of prebiotic and probiotic foods was beneficial. However, prebiotics alone had no significant effect. While probiotic or combined prebiotic and probiotic interventions were effective in reducing symptoms of depression, the authors found little evidence that they reduce symptoms of anxiety.
DieAuthors emphasizethat current research is limited. In addition to significant differences between the included studies in terms of their methods, objectives and scope, the studies were relatively small and had very short observation periods. Therefore, it is difficult to draw definitive conclusions from this. However, the early evidence seems promising. This highlights that future research examining a relationship between the gut microbiome and mental health problems may be valuable. This is especially the case when there is evidence that maintaining microbiome health can improve chronic health problems that often accompany depression, such as irritable bowel syndrome. Probiotic foods could therefore have a strong positive impact on mental health.
