(Tom: This ad for a competitive product to the one I use in my products is worth sharing with you. The product I use has 12 different strains of bacteria so is far more nutritionally diverse than that formulated by this supplier.)
Not so long ago, scientists at UCLA made a surprising discovery. They wanted to understand how probiotics affect the brain and mood. So, they decided to run a test using brain scans. What they discovered shook the foundations of probiotic science.
It has even led some scientists to suggest that probiotics should be called “psychobiotics.” While the term might sound odd, I promise it has nothing to do with an old Hitchcock movie.
You see, the UCLA researchers discovered probiotics have a much bigger effect on how your brain works.
Brain Imaging Reveals Probiotics Support Clearer Thinking
The UCLA study began with a simple goal. The researchers set out to see how the brains of people who consumed probiotics worked differently from those who didn’t. To do this, they used a technology called functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). It’s an MRI for the brain. The test worked this way…
Participants were hooked up and prepped for the fMRI. Then, they looked at pictures designed to stimulate emotional responses. As they did, brain scans were done.
The group that got a placebo without probiotics performed as expected. They showed activity in the sensory and emotion areas of the brain. But the test group who were given probiotics produced brain scans that were completely unexpected…
The Probiotics Group Showed Higher “Executive Function”
Scientists use the term “Executive function” to describe thinking, reasoning, judgment and self-control. Thinking like this takes place in an area of the brain called the pre-frontal cortex. This was exactly the area of the brain that showed activity in the probiotics group.
Thinking like this helps you stay calm. You feel less anxious. It’s also the area active when you think most clearly.
The UCLA researchers had discovered a link between probiotics and higher thinking. It wasn’t that probiotics altered the participants’ emotions. The probiotics enhanced their ability to think and respond.
This study led researchers everywhere to realize probiotics do a lot more than aid digestion and ease gas and bloating. Probiotics affect how well – and clearly – we think.
