To fight against stress, it is often advised to practice cardiac coherence, to go for a walk, or to take so-called “adaptogen” plants. A new study, led by the Center for Microbiome Research in Cork, Ireland, shows that well-chosen foods can also reduce stress.
For this study, the researchers recruited 45 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 59, whose diets were relatively low in fiber. More than half were women. Participants were split into two groups that were randomly assigned a diet to follow for at least 4 weeks. One of the two groups therefore followed a so-called “psychobiotic” diet including foods usually associated with better mental health (prebiotic and fermented foods).
Less stress and better sleep with fermented foods
The dietician asked them to include 6-8 servings per day of fruits and vegetables rich in prebiotic fiber (such as onions, leeks, cabbage, apples, bananas), 5-8 servings of cereals (such as oats) and 3-4 servings of legumes per week. They were also told to include 2-3 servings of fermented foods per day (such as sauerkraut, kefir and kombucha) in their diet. Participants in the control group, on the other hand, received only general dietary advice, based on the food pyramid of healthy eating, without emphasizing fermented foods.
At the end of the 4 weeks, participants who followed the psychobiotic diet reported feeling less stressed than those who followed the control diet. And while sleep quality improved in both groups, those on a psychobiotic diet noted greater sleep improvements.
“Our study offers exciting evidence that an effective way to reduce stress may be diet. It will be interesting to know if these results can also be replicated in people with stress-related disorders, such as anxiety and depression” underline the researchers.
Source : Feed your microbes to deal with stress: a psychobiotic diet impacts microbial stability and perceived stress in a healthy adult populationMolecular psychiatry, October 2022
