UCC researchers make 'world-first discovery' in stress treatment

The researchers at UCC said their study supports increasing evidence that brain-gut interactions may play a key role in how stress is regulated. File picture

Scientists at University College Cork (UCC) believe there may be a new way to treat people for stress — with the answer perhaps lying in the gut.

A team of researchers from APC Microbiome Ireland, the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) research centre based at UCC focused on understanding the gastrointestinal bacterial community, have said that some viruses within our gut may actually play a key role in keeping the bad bacteria at bay in times of stress in what is described as a “world-first discovery”.