Effects of Bifidobacterium Lactis BS01 and Lactobacillus Acidophilus LA02 on cognitive functioning in healthy women

Abstract

A growing body of research studies the relationship between probiotic bacteria in the gut and the host organism, including the impact on cognitive functioning. Data from human studies are scarce; however, recent studies point toward the beneficial role of probiotics for cognitive functioning. One of the mechanisms involved in this relationship is the probiotic’s ability to influence inflammation and immune response. The aim of this initial study was to investigate the effects of probiotic supplementation with Bifidobacterium Lactis BS01 and Lactobacillus Acidophilus LA02 on cognitive functioning in healthy, young adult females. A total of 53 participants aged 19–31 were enrolled, and 38 completed the trial. A 6-week probiotic or placebo treatment was conducted. Five measures of cognitive functioning were applied pre- and post-treatment. Both groups showed general improvement at the second assessment. Contrary to our hypothesis, the placebo group improved slightly, but significantly, in four out of five measures of cognitive functioning, with the exception of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). The supplementation group improved significantly in two measures of the WCST, compared to the placebo group. Similar results have been previously reported. Probiotic supplementation, while not harmful, might not be beneficial for cognition in the healthy population, or at least not universally.

Keywords:

• Cognition
• functional food
• gastrointestinal microbiome
• memory
• probiotics

Acknowledgments

None.

Ethical standards

The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008

All procedures involving animals were in compliance with the European Community Council Directive of 24 November 1986, and ethical approval was granted by the Poznan University of Medical Sciences Bioethics Committee (decision number 1070/16, 05.01.2017).

Author contributions

Dominik Czajeczny was responsible in the study design, data collection, data analysis, and manuscript preparation.

Karolina Kabzińska was responsible for data collection and manuscript preparation.

Rafał Wojciech Wójciak was responsible for study design and manuscript preparation.

Disclosure statement

Authors have no conflict of interests to disclose

Additional information

Funding

The study has been supported by the Poznan University of Medical Sciences grant for young scientists.