Yogurt Information May Affect People's Brain Responds

UCLA scientists will have the initial evidence that bacteria ingested in food can impact brain function in humans. In a early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they discovered that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both during a resting state and in reaction to an emotion-recognition process. The finding that changing the environment, or microbiota, in the gut make a difference the brain carries significant implications for future research that could point the way toward dietary or drug interventions to boost brain function, the researchers said. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans done both before and following the four-week study period checked out the women heads in a state of sleep and in response to an emotionrecognition task by which they viewed a series of photos of people with angry or scared faces and matched them to additional faces showing the exact same emotions. The researchers found that, weighed against the ladies who did not consume the probiotic yogurt, those who did showed a decrease in activity in the insula which functions and combines internal body sensations, like those form the belly and the somatosensory cortex through the emotional reactivity process. Further, in reaction to the duty, these women had a reduction in the engagement of the widespread network in the brain that features emotion -, knowledge- and physical -related areas. The women in the other two groups showed a well balanced or increased activity in this network. Through the resting brain scan, the ladies consuming probiotics showed greater connectivity between an integral brainstem region called the periaqueductal gray and cognition-related aspects of the prefrontal cortex. The ladies who ate no product at all, on one other hand, showed higher connection of the periaqueductal gray to feeling- and discomfort-associated locations, as the group consuming the low-probiotic dairy product showed benefits in-between. navigate to this website

The scientists were surprised to find that the brain results might be seen in many places, including those involved in sensory processing and not simply those related to feeling, Tillisch said. The study included 36 women between the ages of 18 and 55. Researchers divided the women into three groups: one group ate a certain yogurt containing a variety of several probiotics bacteria thought to have a positive impact on the intestines twice a day for a month; another group consumed a dairy product that looked and felt like the yogurt but contained no probiotics; and a third group ate no product whatsoever. "Many of us have a container of yogurt in our freezer that we may eat for enjoyment, for calcium or because we feel it could help our health in alternative methods,said Dr. Kirsten Tillisch, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and lead writer of the study.Our findings suggest that a number of the contents of yogurt may actually change just how our brain responds to the surroundings. When we look at the implications of this work, the old words you are what you eat and gut-feeling accept new meaning. Scientists have known that mental performance sends signals to the stomach, which is why other emotions and stress can subscribe to gastrointestinal symptoms. This study demonstrates what's been alleged but so far had been proved only in animal studies: that signals travel the contrary way also. Finally, because the complexity of the gut flora and its influence on the brain is way better understood, scientists could find ways to adjust the intestinal contents to deal with chronic pain conditions or other brain related illnesses, including, possibly, Parkinson disease, Alzheimer disease and autism. Meanwhile, Mayer notes that other researchers are studying the potential great things about specific probiotics in yogurts on mood symptoms such as anxiety. He explained that different nutritional strategies are often found to be helpful. By showing the brain aftereffects of probiotics, the research also raises the question of whether repeated courses of antibiotics can impact the brain, as some have speculated. Antibiotics are utilized extensively in neonatal intensive-care units and in childhood respiratory system infections, and such suppression of the normal microbiota could have long-term effects on brain development. "Time and time again, we hear from people that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing difficulties with their instinct,Tillisch said. Our research demonstrates the gut - brain connection is just a two-way street. The data that signals are sent from the gut to the mind and that they can be modulated with a dietary change will probably result in an expansion of research directed at discovering new ways of prevent or treat digestive, mental and neurological disorders, said Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine,

physiology and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the analysis senior author. "You will find studies showing that what we eat can change the composition and goods of the gut flora particularly, that people with high-vegetable, fiber-based diets have an alternative composition of their microbiota, or gut environment, than people who eat the more typical Western diet that's high in fat and carbohydrates, Mayer said. Now we all know that this comes with an influence not just on the metabolism but in addition affects brain function. The UCLA researchers are trying to find to identify certain substances produced by gut bacteria that may be causing the signals to the brain. Additionally they plan to study whether people with gastrointestinal symptoms such as for example bloating, abdominal pain and altered bowel movements have improvements in their digestive symptoms which correlate with alterations in brain response. The study was funded by Danone Analysis. Mayer has served on the organization medical advisory board.