World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

PROBIOTICS AND PREBIOTICS ON MENTAL HEALTH: A BRIEF REVIEW

Jose R. Rodriguez-Gomez, Carmen Rocha-Razuri*, Michael J. González and Jose Rodriguez-Quiñones

ABSTRACT

Nutrition have demonstrated an important role in preventing and treating mental health illness. Research on probiotics and prebiotics have shown that they may have a special part in mental wellbeing. Particularly, probiotics may have an essential role in the treatment of mental disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and stress within others. This brief literature review aimed to evaluate studies of the use of probiotic and prebiotic interventions in mental health. The more recent high-quality evidence suggests positive effects of probiotics on individuals with preexisting depressive symptoms, whereas the effect on mood symptoms was less significant, suggesting that probiotics have antidepressant effects. Besides depression, research suggested that prebiotics and probiotics have beneficial effects on anxiety, Alzheimer, and autism spectrum disorders. Research agrees that correcting intestinal dysbiosis, including restoring healthy microbiota, has shown improvement in physiological and psychological diseases. Methods of recovering microbiota have been found successful by utilizing probiotics, prebiotics, and a healthy diet high in fiber. Most important probiotics, according to literature, are Lactobacilli (e.g., L. acidophilus, L. rhamnosus and L. helveticus) and Bifidobacteria (e.g., B. longun B. bifidum, B. infantis). In conclusion, it is becoming more evident that the modulation of the gut microbiota offers a novel approach for the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders.

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