Stress Bacteria first discovered in Cork

A groundbreaking international study has shown that a strain of bacteria, first discovered in Ireland contains stress coping elements. The Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University of Tübingen in Germany has published research which shows the B. longum 1714 strain shows clear evidence of gut brain activity, particularly in brain regions associated with stress management.

This is new scientific data, showing for the first time that a probiotic enables better stress management by changing the brain’s central processing of stress stimuli. The B. longum 1714 was first discovered at the APC Microbiome Institute in University College Cork. It is from the family of bacteria given by baby from mother at birth. It is now being developed by Alimentary Healthcare for the probiotic, Zenflore.

This latest trial was carried out by Professor Paul Enck and his colleagues at University Hospital Tübingen. He is a renowned researcher on the placebo effect. Their interest was in assessing if probiotics really had an effect on the brain. The trial was over four weeks and participants were asked to play a renowned stressful game, which is a virtual ball-tossing game with two other virtual players. All of the people showed increased stress during the Cyberball game.

They concluded that the probiotic:

– enabled them to better cope or manage increased stress levels

– enhanced brain process that deal with stressful events

– moderated brain processes linked to negative emotions

The study carried out by the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the University Hospital of Tübingen has now confirmed what animal experiments suggest for a long time: probiotics can both improve stress processing and make it easier for healthy people to deal with stress. Probiotics are living bacteria that have beneficial effects on ingestion, by supporting, together with the other bacteria in the human body, especially in the intestinal bacteria, inter alia, digestive measures and produce vitamins.

Dr Paul Enck, Head of Research at the Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, Tubingen, Germany said: “As researchers in the area of neurogastroenterology and psychobiology, we have been sceptical about many of the claims made about probiotics and the gut-brain axis. We have significant experience in the placebo effect and our team designed a comprehensive double blind placebo controlled study to assess this strain. We think the results are novel and innovative and provide a scientific basis to assess the true impact of the specific bacterial strains on the brain.”

Dr Barry Kiely, CEO of Alimentary Health said: “We are delighted with these results, which show the potential for targeted strains with a scientific basis to support claims. This research builds on earlier studies with our partners at the APC Microbiome Institute in UCC, Ireland showing B. longum 1714 reduces stress output and stress responses in healthy subjects exposed to an acute stressor. Mental wellness is rapidly becoming one of the greatest challenges in the modern world. Studies have shown that 35% of Americans reported increased levels of stress in the past year, with this figure growing to 39% for millennials.”