A Yogurt of the Future as an Anxiety Treatment?

Over the past few years, research in rodents has revealed the existence of a “microbiota–gut–brain axis,” through which microbial actions are mediated through vagal afferent nerves to affect functional bowel disorders, hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis stress responses, and anxiety behaviors. Now, researchers from two laboratories using slightly different protocols report on their examination of the possible effects of the probiotic bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus (JB-1) on GABAergic brain systems and on stress responses, anxiety- and depression-like behaviors in relation to vagal nerve functioning.

Animals received broth with or without L. rhamnosus (JB-1). Chronic administration of L. rhamnosus (JB-1) in healthy mice differentially aff…