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   The Surprising Link Between Gut Bacteria And Anxiety   
      
   Carolyn Gregoire   
   The Huffington Post Posted: 01/04/15 10:05 AM ET Updated: 01/05/15 12:59 PM ET   
      
      
   In recent years, neuroscientists have become increasingly interested in the   
   idea that there may be a powerful link between the human brain and gut   
   bacteria. And while a growing body of research has provided evidence of the   
   brain-gut connection, most of    
   these studies so far have been conducted on animals.   
      
   Now, promising new research from neurobiologists at Oxford University offers   
   some preliminary evidence of a connection between gut bacteria and mental   
   health in humans. The researchers found that supplements designed to boost   
   healthy bacteria in the    
   gastrointestinal tract ("prebiotics") may have an anti-anxiety effect insofar   
   as they alter the way that people process emotional information.   
      
   While probiotics consist of strains of good bacteria, prebiotics are   
   carbohydrates that act as nourishment for those bacteria. With more evidence   
   that gut bacteria may exert some influence on brain function and mental   
   health, probiotics and prebiotics    
   are being studied for the potential alleviation of anxiety and depression   
   symptoms.   
      
   "Prebiotics are dietary fibers (short chains of sugar molecules) that good   
   bacteria break down, and use to multiply," the study's lead author, Oxford   
   neurobiologist Dr. Philip Burnet, told The Huffington Post. "Prebiotics are   
   'food' for good bacteria    
   already present in the gut. Taking prebiotics therefore increases the numbers   
   of all species of good bacteria in the gut, which will theoretically have   
   greater beneficial effects than [introducing] a single species."   
      
   To test the efficacy of prebiotics in reducing anxiety, the researchers asked   
   45 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 45 to take either a prebiotic or   
   a placebo every day for three weeks. After the three weeks had passed, the   
   researchers completed    
   several computer tests assessing how they processed emotional information,   
   such as positive and negatively-charged words.   
      
   The results of one of the tests revealed that subjects who had taken the   
   prebiotic paid less attention to negative information and more attention to   
   positive information, compared to the placebo group, suggesting that the   
   prebiotic group had less anxiety    
   when confronted with negative stimuli. This effect is similar to that which   
   has been observed among individuals who have taken antidepressants or   
   anti-anxiety medication.   
      
   The researchers also found that the subjects who took the prebiotics had lower   
   levels of cortisol -- a stress hormone which has been linked with anxiety and   
   depression -- in their saliva when they woke up in the morning.   
      
   While previous research has documented that altering gut bacteria has a   
   similarly anxiety-reducing effect in mice, the new study is one of the first   
   to examine this phenomenon in humans. As of now, research on humans is in its   
   early stages. A study    
   conducted last year at UCLA found that women who consumed probiotics through   
   regularly eating yogurt exhibited altered brain function in both a resting   
   state and when performing an emotion-recognition task.   
      
   "Time and time again, we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or   
   anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut," Dr. Kirsten   
   Tillisch, the study's lead author, said in a statement. "Our study shows that   
   the gut-brain    
   connection is a two-way street."   
      
   So are we moving towards a future in which mental illness may be able to be   
   treated (or at least managed) using targeted probiotic cocktails? Burnet says   
   it's possible, although they're unlikely to replace conventional treatment.   
      
   "I think pre/probiotics will only be used as 'adjuncts' to conventional   
   treatments, and never as mono-therapies," Burnet tells HuffPost. "It is likely   
   that these compounds will help to manage mental illness... they may also be   
   used when there are    
   metabolic and/or nutritional complications in mental illness, which may be   
   caused by long-term use of current drugs."   
      
   The findings were published in the journal Psychopharmacology.   
      
      
      
      
   http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/6391014   
      
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