Probiotics Can Help Decrease Rumination, A Study Suggests

Psychologists found that probiotics can help individuals lessen their focus on negative feelings and bad experiences from the past. The research, published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity, suggests that a significant link between live microorganisms and mood exists.

Study authors Laura Steenbergen and Lorenza Colzato from the Leiden Institute of Brain and Cognition investigated the effects of probiotic administration to feelings of rumination. Probiotics are live microorganisms that can help boost immunity and digestive processes when taken in sufficient amounts. Rumination pertains to the recurrent thinking of an individual about potential causes and effects of an anguish. “Rumination is one of the most predictive vulnerability markers of depression” says Steenbergen. “Persistent ruminative thoughts often precede and predict episodes of depression.”

The team conducted the study by asking 40 healthy individuals to mix the powder contents of a sachet with lukewarm water or milk and to drink it daily. Fifty percent of the participants were given placebo powder and the rest were given multispecies probiotic solutions. The participants were assessed before the experiment and four weeks after they have taken the mixture. The evaluation included a questionnaire that requires the study subjects to gauge their sensitivity levels to depression.

After the review of the data collated, it was found that the participants who took the sachet with multispecies probiotics had lesser reports of ruminative thoughts, compared to the placebo group. “Even if preliminary, these results provide the first evidence that the intake of probiotics may help reduce negative thoughts associated with sad mood,’ Colzato said. “As such, our findings shed an interesting new light on the potential of probiotics to serve as adjuvant or preventive therapy for depression.”

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