Navigation
Probiotics in psychosocial stress and anxiety. A systematic review
This 2020 systematic review scoured through the online databases Medline, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and clinical trials.gov with the aim of finding out whether probiotic supplementation can have a profound effect on psychological stress and anxiety disorders, and if so, to what extent. Vitellio et al. (2020) searched for double blind, randomized and placebo controlled or prospective studies, and those studies that also assessed psychological signs of perceived stress and anxiety pre- and post-intervention. The twelve studies that met the inclusion criteria, 3 of which were on stress, 4 on anxiety, and 5 on both stress and anxiety, made up a total of 1521 participants. Measures of stress improved in 1 out of the 3 studies, while 3 of the 4 studies measuring anxiety reported better outcomes, and 2/5 found positive results for both stress and anxiety. This article views probiotics as a potential enhancer of psychological symptoms given the evidence, especially regarding anxiety. Research should be continued to test probiotics on psychological stress disturbances. [NPID: probiotics, gut-brain axis, gut microbiota, gut bacteria, microbiota, gut microbiome, prebiotics, anxiety, stress]
Year: 2020
