Pass me the Yoghurt, I Feel Sad

In honour of the fact that I am graduating next week, I thought I would scout out some of the new developments that are happening in my college. Seems like I will be eating more yoghurt from now on...


An article publishind in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA outlined a collaborative project that showed that mice who were fed with a type of bacteria showed less stress, anxiety and depression-related behaviours than those fed with just broth. Importantly, these mice showed lower levels of corticosterone, which is a hormone associated with stress.


What's interesting about this study is that it highlights the important role that probiotic bacteria play in the communication between the gut and the brain. Remember that there are lots of different types of bacteria in the gut, many of which are involved not only in digestion, but also in maintenance of a healthy gut and production of vitamins. According to John F. Cryan, Professor at University College Cork, these findings ''open up the intriguing opportunity of developing unique microbial-based strategies for treatment for stress-related psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.''


Further findings show that feeding mice with this bacteria causes changes in the number of receptors for a neurotransmitter in the brain (called GABA). This is the first time that it has been shown that probiotics can have a direct effect on brain chemistry in normal situations. The communications between the brain and gut is three-way, involving the Vagus nerve as well, and perhaps this axi can be exploited in the future to treat other disorders that involve the brain.


So pass me an Actimel* and perhaps I can fight these 'Back-to-College' blues.

* Just to clarify, Actimel doesn't contain the exact same bacteria that they fed the mice. They used Lactobacillus rhamnosus JB-1, whereas Actimel has some other Lactobacilli.