Could probiotics, dietary changes help protect brain health as we age?

• A new review investigates whether influencing the makeup of the gut microbiome can improve brain health.
• Specifically, it focuses on probiotics, prebiotics, dietary changes, and fecal microbiota transplants (FMT).
• The authors conclude that modulating the gut microbiome may slow cognitive decline and improve brain health.
• This effect may be due to reduced inflammation in the brain, altered neurotransmitter signaling, and increased levels of microbial metabolites.

If a nutrition or wellness trend becomes popular on social media, it is best to remain skeptical. Much of the content shared is inaccurate at best and downright wrong at worst.

Gut health, however, bucks this trend. While gut microbes have become internet darlings, the evidence of their widespread importance in overall health continues to stack up.

A new review on probiotics and cognitive health adds to this growing stack. The study appears in the journal Nutrition Research.

Although the authors call for more research, their conclusions are positive. They find that modulating the gut microbiome might help older adults with early cognitive decline improve their thinking skills.

Overall, this is still a very young field, and there is much work to be done, but they conclude that “microbiota modulation is a promising therapeutic target that complements existing pharmacological and lifestyle interventions.”