Stress testing: Cork scientists create food which may relieve anxiety and depression

Because bacteria in the gut influence our emotions, Cork scientists have created a food that may alleviate anxiety and depression, says John Daly

Stress affects Leaving Cert students, harried home-buyers, and job hunters. All of us, regardless of our occupations, are touched by it daily.

The word has become so ubiquitous that it crops up variously as verb, noun, adjective and adverb, depending on the situation. Stress is that universal feeling people have when they are overloaded and struggling to cope with demands, ranging from finances to work, relationships to ambitions.

Because bacteria in the gut influence our emotions, Cork scientists have created a food that may alleviate anxiety and depression.

The Health and Safety Authority describes it as “a negative state, which involves, to varying degrees, anxiety, fear, and agitation. It comes about when a demand being placed on a person by a situation, a relationship, or a specific task is not easily met or the person feels he or she cannot meet the demand properly.” Help may be at hand for this scourge, however.

Cork-based scientists have created a new food supplement clinically proven to reduce stress.

The treatment, developed after a key component in the ‘gut-brain axis’ was identified, demonstrates that what happens in the stomach can have a direct effect on the human brain.

The scientific team, led by UCC professors, John Cryan and Ted Dinan, identified a bacteria in the gut that reduces stress and which can be taken in the form of a simple probiotic.

The clinically tested product, called Zenflore, is supported by research on this gut-brain axis, showing how both organs interact. The gut produces 90% of the serotonin in the body. Serotonin is sometimes called ‘the happy chemical’, because it contributes to wellbeing and happiness.

“We have discovered that the bacteria living in our gut, the microbiota, influence our emotions,” says Professor Dinan.

“We have shown that people who are clinically depressed have less diversity in the bacteria in their gut than people who are not depressed. The question now is how can we improve the diversity of our bacteria.”

Professor Ian Robertson, neuroscientist at Trinity College, Dublin, and journalist, Jennifer O’Connell.

It proves the theory that a healthy gut is connected to a healthy mind, says his colleague, Professor Cryan.

“We’re talking about a paradigm shift, in relation to how we conceptualise how our brains work. In medicine, traditionally, we tended to compartmentalise systems in the body, so if you’re interested in what happens in neuroscience or psychiatry, you’re interested in what happens from the neck up.

For so long, it has generally been perceived that anti-depressants and cognitive behavioural therapy are the mainstay of treating depression, but our work clearly shows that your microbiota is very important and that, for a more holistic management of depressive illness, we should be focussing on diet and exercise, as well.

Dr Barry Kiely, CEO of Precision Biotics, part of the Alimentary Health Group, which produces the product, says:

“We have a long track record in gut microbiome science, which started over 17 years ago. Building on this foundation, we have developed a precision approach to specific culture selection, which means we can identify the precise bacteria for the health condition we are targeting, as with our new product, Zenflore, which targets everyday stressful situations.”

616,000 people aged between 30 and 55 have suffered stress in the last 12 months in Ireland. Mild to moderate stress is pervasive, with feelings of worry the most common manifestation reported by 37% of those surveyed.

Professor Ted Dinan: link between bacteria in the gut and our moods.

Up to 23% experienced headaches, with 17% suffering sleep disruption, whilst others testified to fatigue, upset stomach, and aching muscles.

A recent RTÉ documentary, Stressed, featured a diverse cast of volunteers from all walks of life, including an entrepreneur, carer, mature student, chef and teacher, all of whom agreed that the condition impacted negatively on their lives.

Presenter and journalist, Jennifer O’Connell, allowed herself to undergo ‘before and after’ testing with Zenflore, a process that resulted in a decrease in the ‘cortical’ hormone, shown to have a clear link with stress.

“Stress should be a temporary, manageable response to a challenging situation, not an inescapable fact of adult life,” she says.

“There are unavoidable stresses, like bereavement, money worries, changing or losing a job, negative equity, illness, heartbreak, divorce.

But stress should not be what it has become for so many of us — a state in which we are permanently, uselessly floundering in a sea of cortisol and caffeine.

With the research proving the theory that a healthy gut is connected to a healthy mind, the two UCC professors have collaborated on a book, The Psychobiotic Revolution, which is being heralded as a ‘ground-breaking game changer’ in the field of biomedicine.

Medical journal, The Lancet, declared: “Overall, this is a great book that encourages you to ‘take charge of your gut to optimise your mind and your mood’. This is a book that you would reluctantly lend to friends, in the fear that they might not return it.”

The Guardian was similarly taken: “The hope is that it may one day be possible to diagnose some brain diseases and mental health problems by analysing gut bacteria, and to treat them — or at least augment the effects of drug treatments — with specific bacteria.”