Bacteria in the stomach proven to affect brain functions

07/14/2013 - 00:00


By Enrico de Lazaro -

A new small study of healthy women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics has provided the first evidence that changing the bacterial environment, or microbiota, in the gut can affect brain function in humans.

“Many of us have a container of yogurt in our refrigerator that we may eat for enjoyment, for calcium or because we think it might help our health in other ways,” said Dr Kirsten Tillisch from the University of California Los Angeles’ David Geffen School of Medicine, lead author of the study published in the journal Gastroenterology.

“Our findings indicate that some of the contents of yogurt may actually change the way our brain responds to the environment. 

READ MORE ON SCI-NEWS