Probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum P8 alleviated stress and anxiety while enhancing memory and cognition in stressed adults: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study

Lew LC 1 , Hor YY 1 , Yusoff NAA 2 , Choi SB 3 , Yusoff MSB 2 , Roslan NS 2 Show all authors , Ahmad A 2 , Mohammad JAM 2 , Abdullah MFIL 4 , Zakaria N 2 , Wahid N 5 , Sun Z 6 , Kwok LY 6 , Zhang H 7 , Liong MT 8

Affiliations 

  • 1 School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
  • 2 School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 16150, Kubang Kerian, Malaysia
  • 3 School of Data Sciences, Perdana University, 43400, Serdang, Malaysia
  • 4 Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Bertam, Malaysia
  • 5 Community Health Center, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia
  • 6 Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010018, China
  • 7 Key Laboratory of Dairy Biotechnology and Engineering, Ministry of Education, Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, 010018, China. Electronic address: hepingdd@vip.sina.com
  • 8 School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia. Electronic address: mintze.liong@usm.my
Clin Nutr, 2019 10;38(5):2053-2064.
PMID: 30266270 DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2018.09.010

Abstract

BACKGROUND & AIMS: To investigate the effects of probiotic in alleviation of stress in stressed adults, along our focus to identify and justify strain specificity on selected health benefits with a precisely targeted population.

METHODS: This 12-weeks randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study investigated the effects of a probiotic (Lactobacillus plantarum P8; 10 log CFU daily) on psychological, memory and cognition parameters in one hundred and three (P8 n = 52, placebo n = 51) stressed adults with mean age of 31.7 ± 11.1 years old. All subjects fulfilled the criteria of moderate stress upon diagnosis using the PSS-10 questionnaire.

RESULTS: At the end of study, subjects on P8 showed reduced scores of stress (mean difference 2.94; 95% CI 0.08 to 5.73; P = 0.048), anxiety (mean difference 2.82; 95% CI 0.35 to 5.30; P = 0.031) and total score (mean difference 8.04; 95% CI 0.73 to 15.30; P = 0.041) as compared to placebo after 4-weeks, as assessed by the DASS-42 questionnaire. Although plasma cortisol levels were only marginally different between placebo and P8 (mean difference 3.28 ug/dl; 95% CI -7.09 to 0.52; P = 0.090), pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IFN-γ (mean difference 8.07 pg/ml; 95% CI -11.2 to -4.93; P 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

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