Trial reportMolecular psychiatry2023
Feed your microbes to deal with stress: a psychobiotic diet impacts microbial stability and perceived stress in a healthy adult population.
Trial report in Molecular psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 138 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Dietary interventions and the gut microbiota: a systematic literature review of 80 controlled clinical trials.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Psychobiotic, nutritional, and behavioral interventions targeting the microbiome-gut-brain axis in depression, anxiety, and stress: a scoping review.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Mediterranean diet and gut microbiota: impact on memory and other cognitive functions: a systematic review.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2026Pooled it
- Beyond Analgesia: Psychobiotics as an Adjunctive Approach to Pain Management in Gastrointestinal Oncology-ANutrients · 2025Trial
- Probiotic-mediated modulation of gut microbiome in students exposed to academic stress: a randomized controlled trial.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Trial
- Indicators of improved emotion behavior in 6-14-year-old children following a 4-week placebo controlled prebiotic supplement intervention at home with a parent.Nutrition journal · 2025Trial
- Psychobiotics Ameliorate Depression and Anxiety Status in Surgical Oncology Patients: Results from theNutrients · 2025Trial
- Modulating the human gut microbiome and health markers through kombucha consumption: a controlled clinical study.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- The Moderating Role of Dietary Quality and Dietary Fibre Intake on the Mood Effects of Positive Expressive Writing: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Metabolic Status Influences Probiotic Efficacy for Depression-PRO-DEMET Randomized Clinical Trial Results.Nutrients · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Article
- Article
- Short-chain fatty acid-producing psychobiotics in mood disorders: mechanistic insights into the microbiota-gut-brain axis.Clinical nutrition research · 2026Article
- A bibliometric mapping of research on antimicrobial resistance and mental health.Public health in practice (Oxford, England) · 2026Review
- The Gut-Brain Axis as a Mediator of Environmental Endocrine Disruptors in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review and Mechanistic Synthesis.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2026Review
- Psychological Resilience in Surgery: Psychobiological Pathways, Clinical Impact, and Perioperative Modulation-A Narrative Review.Journal of personalized medicine · 2026Review
- Analysis of Microbial Interactions During the Production of Chinese Ethnic Fermented Foods.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Development and Validation of a Food Frequency Questionnaire to Assess Fermented Food Consumption in Adults.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2026Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The impact of diet on the microbiota composition and the role of diet in supporting optimal mental health have received much attention in the last decade. However, whether whole dietary approaches can exert psychobiotic effects is largely understudied. Thus, we investigated the influence of a psychobiotic diet (high in prebiotic and fermented foods) on the microbial profile and function as well as on mental health outcomes in a healthy human population. Forty-five adults were randomized into either a psychobiotic (n = 24) or control (n = 21) diet for 4 weeks. Fecal microbiota composition and function was characterized using shotgun sequencing. Stress, overall health and diet were assessed using validated questionnaires. Metabolic profiling of plasma, urine and fecal samples was performed. Intervention with a psychobiotic diet resulted in reductions of perceived stress (32% in diet vs. 17% in control group), but not between groups. Similarly, biological marker of stress were not affected. Additionally, higher adherence to the diet resulted in stronger decreases in perceived stress. While the dietary intervention elicited only subtle changes in microbial composition and function, significant changes in the level of 40 specific fecal lipids and urinary tryptophan metabolites were observed. Lastly, microbial volatility was linked to greater changes in perceived stress scores in those on the psychobiotic diet. These results highlight that dietary approaches can be used to reduce perceived stress in a human cohort. Using microbiota-targeted diets to positively modulate gut-brain communication holds possibilities for the reduction of stress and stress-associated disorders, but additional research is warranted to investigate underlying mechanisms, including the role of the microbiota.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.