Bifidobacterium infantis M-63 improves mental health in victims with irritable bowel syndrome developed after a major flood disaster

Abstract

Individuals in a community who developed irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) after major floods have significant mental health impairment. We aimed to determine if Bifidobacterium infantis M-63 was effective in improving symptoms, psychology and quality of life measures in flood-affected individuals with IBS and if the improvement was mediated by gut microbiota changes. Design was non-randomised, open-label, controlled before-and-after. Of 53 participants, 20 with IBS were given B. infantis M-63 (1×109 cfu/sachet/day) for three months and 33 were controls. IBS symptom severity scale, hospital anxiety and depression scale, SF-36 Questionnaire, hydrogen breath testing for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and stools for 16S rRNA metagenomic analysis were performed before and after intervention. 11 of 20 who were given probiotics (M-63) and 20 of 33 controls completed study as per-protocol. Mental well-being was improved with M-63 vs controls for full analysis (P=0.03) and per-protocol (P=0.01) populations. Within-group differences were observed for anxiety and bodily pain (both P=0.04) in the M-63 per-protocol population. Lower ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes was observed with M-63 vs controls (P=0.01) and the lower ratio was correlated with higher post-intervention mental score (P=0.04). B. infantis M-63 is probably effective in improving mental health of victims who developed IBS after floods and this is maybe due to restoration of microbial balance and the gut-brain axis. However, our conclusion must be interpreted within the context of limited sample size. The study was retrospectively registered on 12 October 2017 and the Trial Registration Number (TRN) was NCT03318614.

Multidisciplinary and Comparative Investigations of Potential Psychobiotic Effects of Lactobacillus Strains Isolated From Newborns and Their Impact on Gut Microbiota and Ileal Transcriptome in a Healthy Murine Model

“…The F4 treatment induced a significant microbial community shift which resulted in the domination of phylum Bacteroidetes, including Bacteroidales S24 group and Prevotellaceae , as compared to all other experimental groups. Although modulation of Bacteroidetes population through probiotics administration that links to mental illness or mood disorder is scarce yet, one study reports increased Bacteroidetes population along with mental health improvements after Bifidobacterium infantis M-63 intervention in a human trial (Ma et al, 2019). Yet more studies are warranted for the identification of active substances from the F4 strain, it is intriguing that the F4 treatment resulted in a consistent microbial shift in each F4-treated mouse.…”

Delivery of Metabolically Neuroactive Probiotics to the Human Gut

“…The delivery of the organisms at clinically relevant levels throughout the small intestine and colon is important to confer the different functionalities of the strains; for example, a large proportion of absorption of metabolites and interactions with the immune system occurs in the small intestine [8], whereas modulation of short chain fatty acid concentrations is relevant for metabolic and immune homeostasis in the colon [26]. By clinically relevant, we mean the concentration of each organism when applied earlier in clinical settings [11,[27][28][29][30].…”

Personalized medicine in functional gastrointestinal disorders: Understanding pathogenesis to increase diagnostic and treatment efficacy

“…These data may provide the rationale for bacteria or their toxins impacting brain function, as demonstrated through correlations of permeability and brain structure and function[ 56 ]. A probiotic[ 57 ], B. infantis M-63, has seemed to be effective in improving mental health in patients who developed IBS after floods, and this may be due to restoration of microbial balance and the gut-brain axis.…”