Gastroenterology

Gastroenterology

Volume 144, Issue 7, June 2013, Pages 1394-1401.e4
Gastroenterology

Original Research
Full Report: Clinical—Alimentary Tract
Consumption of Fermented Milk Product With Probiotic Modulates Brain Activity

https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2013.02.043Get rights and content

Background & Aims

Changes in gut microbiota have been reported to alter signaling mechanisms, emotional behavior, and visceral nociceptive reflexes in rodents. However, alteration of the intestinal microbiota with antibiotics or probiotics has not been shown to produce these changes in humans. We investigated whether consumption of a fermented milk product with probiotic (FMPP) for 4 weeks by healthy women altered brain intrinsic connectivity or responses to emotional attention tasks.

Methods

Healthy women with no gastrointestinal or psychiatric symptoms were randomly assigned to groups given FMPP (n = 12), a nonfermented milk product (n = 11, controls), or no intervention (n = 13) twice daily for 4 weeks. The FMPP contained Bifidobacterium animalis subsp Lactis, Streptococcus thermophiles, Lactobacillus bulgaricus, and Lactococcus lactis subsp Lactis. Participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after the intervention to measure brain response to an emotional faces attention task and resting brain activity. Multivariate and region of interest analyses were performed.

Results

FMPP intake was associated with reduced task-related response of a distributed functional network (49% cross-block covariance; P = .004) containing affective, viscerosensory, and somatosensory cortices. Alterations in intrinsic activity of resting brain indicated that ingestion of FMPP was associated with changes in midbrain connectivity, which could explain the observed differences in activity during the task.

Conclusions

Four-week intake of an FMPP by healthy women affected activity of brain regions that control central processing of emotion and sensation.

Section snippets

Study Design

The study used a single center, randomized, controlled, parallel-arm design. One intervention group (FMPP) and 2 control groups were utilized: a nonfermented control milk product (Control) to allow differentiation of specific treatment responses from those due to potential changes from increase in dairy ingestion or anticipation of improved well being, and a no-intervention group to allow us to control for the natural history of brain responses over time. Subjects were screened for eligibility

Results

Mean subject age was 30 ± 10.4 years (range, 18–53 years) and mean body mass index was 22.8 ± 2.7. Twelve female subjects completed intervention with FMPP, 11 with a nonfermented milk control product (Control), and 13 had no intervention. One FMPP subject was excluded for product noncompliance (negative stool B lactis quantitative polymerase chain reaction post intervention), 2 for antibiotic use. Six subjects were excluded for B lactis positive stool, either at baseline or in the Control or

Discussion

In healthy women, chronic ingestion of a fermented milk product with probiotic resulted in robust alterations in the response of a widely distributed brain network to a validated task probing attention to negative context. FMPP intervention-related changes during the task were widespread, involving activity reductions in brain regions belonging to a sensory brain network (primary interoceptive and somatosensory cortices, and precuneus), as well as frontal, prefrontal, and temporal cortices,

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Joshua Bueller, Brandall Suyenobu, Cathy Liu, and Teresa Olivas for technical and administrative assistance.

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    Author names in bold designate shared co-first authorship.

    Conflicts of interest These authors disclose the following: Kirsten Tillisch received grant funding for this project from Danone Research. Denis Guyonnet, Sophie Legrain-Raspaud, and Beatrice Trotin are employed by Danone Research. The remaining authors disclose no conflicts.

    Funding This study was supported by Danone Research.

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