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Billions Of Tiny Warriors Help You Create The Future Through Action!:
Most of the time, people tend to gravitate to what’s simple, straightforward, and obvious.
Eat right, exercise, … Done.
If there’s anything we’ve found-out at HT it’s that details, sometimes weird ones, really do matter.
They can be so hard to believe because they either seem inconsequential, or out-of-left field.
So the Health & Wellness space’s back-and-forth saga of “Are probiotics magic or snake oil?” is getting another tiny swing at-bat.
And you might brace yourself for the Yoga+Activia crowd to come rushing-in and throw a little street-party…
The Short Answer:
- Some details often seem too small to notice.
- The effects of probiotics on psychology might be one of those details.
- The results so far have been mixed.
- So have my own.
- Jarrow Red didn’t help but VitaminShoppe Ultimate 10 really did.
- Leiden University tried to find out for sure.
- They studied ~90 young people, receiving probiotics 1x/day for one month.
- Their results were evaluated in 3 different ways.
- Within two weeks, the subject reported feeling significantly less negative emotion.
- This ramp-up time was about the same or even faster than anti-depressants.
- But probiotics didn’t reduce all feelings like medication, just the negative feelings.
- The study authors think one of the best groups to benefit from this effect would be those who are risk-averse/avoidant.
- They still emphasize that many people will probably still need medication.
- There is a chance that probiotics may reduce inflammation that would otherwise make it into your brain and cause anxiety.
- There are 9 strains used in the study sample.
- Most of these are already in off-the-shelf products you’d buy.
- Probiotics are also important because your gut makes 50% of all the brain-chemicals you need.
- Your brain also has a high-speed, two-way connection to your gut so it knows everything that’s going on there.
- It may not be an overstatement to say, “Change your gut, change your life!”
Read on to find out the details…
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Mixed Results Don’t Lend Themselves To Easy Rubber-Stamps:
The science on probiotics is at least a little mixed.
Some studies show they might not do much, or can even be slightly-detrimental.
In my own experience, it is possible to take too many and end up feeling low-energy, tired and even anxious.
On the other hand, they’ve also been sporadically-amazing as well.
So it’s fair to say they’re not all good, all the time.
Leiden’s Team Tries For Lab-Grade Results On Probiotic Benefits:
BUT, to put some more SCIENCE! to it, Leiden University researchers set to do another study.
In 1 month, they tested almost 90 young people, divided into 2 groups.
They were also filtered for anything that could ruin the results like antibiotics, weight, drug use, serious health problems, etc.
Over the course of that time, they were given Winclove probiotics 1x/day and tested on a few factors.
These included standard Psych questions, computer tasks, and the most-effective: simple mood-reports.
And as soon as two weeks, the results came in.
Subjects taking the gut-boosters started having significant reduction in negative feelings in that short time!
Positive-Effects In Just A Few Weeks, Without Any Bummers!:
-Which is pretty impressive!
Because anti-depressants can take 2-4 weeks to kick-in, with the full effects out near 6 months in some cases.
But in the case of those drugs like SSRIs, they clamp-down on ALL feelings, not just the negative ones.
What’s even more impressive is that not only can probiotics start relieving negative emotion and maybe expand the scope of your life as a result,
They might even take it further and affect things like productivity, because the authors stated one of the most-obvious groups to benefit would be risk-averse/avoidant people.
Another way to word that is of course, Anxiety!
Anybody Who Knows Antibiotics Can Tell Inflammation Is Part Of It, Too:
Now that being said, the authors were careful not to over-reach and stated that for people who really need anti-depressant/anti-anxiety medication, they should keep taking it.
But since so many positive activities like Exercise can help Anxiety & Depression,
Then if you’re feeling at least mildly anxious or depressed, maybe probiotics can be a tool in the arsenal as well?
For example, inflammation is implicated in Depression.
Well, when you take Cipro and it kills all your gut microbes, guess what happens? –You get joint pains!
Why, because some bugs make an anti-inflammatory called Butyrate!
So what if probiotics can also make anti-inflammatories … for your Brain!!!
-BOOM!
The Nerdy Details On Exact Strains For People Who Care:
Okay, so if you wanted to nerd-out on a few specifics, here are a few details you won’t find in any summary article except here.
The different strains of good microbes they used were as-follows:
1) B. bifidum 23
2) B. lactis 51,52
3) L. acidophilus 37
4) L. brevis 63
5) L. casei 56
6) L. salivarius 24
7) L. lactis 19, 58
Now the even better news is that after looking at a few bottles, I can tell you that any fairly-complete probiotic should have all of these.
I know that Vitamin Shoppe’s Ultimate 10+ is just one example.
But wait!,
BUT WAIT! Probiotics Can Come From Food-Choices Too, Bubbie!:
-Because there’s even better news!
You can also get this stuff from a bunch of non-yogurt natural sources as well.
Natural, minimally processed foods that may have all kinds of great probiotics in them also include:
1) Kefir (10+ strains)
2) Kombucha
3) Tempeh
4) Kimchi – the most amazing cole-slaw ever invented by human hands
5) Unpasteurized Sauerkraut
6) Unpasteurized Fermented Pickles (like Bubbie’s)
So you have at least a few choices depending on what you might like.
Other Studies Show Psych Implications, And Results!, Far And Wide:
And if you head over and check out one of the first +/- “superposts” we did,
You’ll find that gut microbes are responsible for making 50% of all the neurotransmitters your body & brain need,
And there is a high-speed, two way connection between your gut and your brain that runs all the time.
So your brain REALLY knows what’s going on there.
So much so, that your gut has recently been called, “The Second Brain“.
Not only that, but several of those neurotransmitters are linked to calmness and adventurousness.
And, drumroll please, so are some probiotic strains, like Rhamnosus which was not in the Leiden study.
This Is One Of The Few Probiotic Studies To Be So Clear + So Soon!:
So not only is this Leiden work one of the few to get such clear results, so soon,
+AND to find that simple mood-reports work better for clear answers than a lot of standardized psych questionnaires,
But it’s another one that shows, despite the naysayers, that probiotics really can work.
You just have to give them enough time (and maybe get the right strains).
So if the sleep guys want to tell you, “Change your sleep, change your life.”
Maybe the same goes for your gut microbes as well!
Now go out and get yourself some Kefir, wait two weeks, and then get at it!
References & Links:
• Source: U.Leiden
• More Coverage: HT-PsychoBiotics!
• Source Study: NPJMentHlth. – Probiotics reduce negative mood over time: the value of daily self-reports in detecting effects
