CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 256Probiotics and Fermented FoodsGut microbiota and healthTryptophan and brain disorders

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 104 of the 106 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Gut feelings: A randomised, triple-blind, placebo-controlled trial of probiotics for depressive symptoms

Open access
Chahwan, Bahia, Kwan, Sophia, Isik, Ashling, van Hemert, Saskia, Burke, Catherine, Roberts, Lynette·2019·Journal of Affective Disorders
DOI 10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.097
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide; with evidence suggesting that decreased gut barrier function and inflammation are correlated with depressive symptoms. We conducted a clinical trial to determine the effect of consumption of probiotic supplements (Winclove's Ecologic® Barrier) on depressive symptoms in a sample of participants with mild to severe depression. METHOD: 71 participants were randomly allocated to either probiotic or placebo, which was, consumed daily over eight weeks. Pre- and post-intervention measures of symptoms and vulnerability markers of depression as well as gut microbiota composition were compared. Clinical trial participants were also compared on psychological variables and gut microbiota composition to a non-depressed group (n = 20). RESULTS: All clinical trial participants demonstrated improvement in symptoms, suggesting non-specific therapeutic effects associated with weekly monitoring visits. Participants in the probiotic group demonstrated a significantly greater reduction in cognitive reactivity compared with the placebo group, particularly in the mild/moderate subgroup. Probiotics did not significantly alter the microbiota of depressed individuals, however, a significant correlation was found between Ruminococcus gnavus and one depression metric. LIMITATIONS: There was a high attrition rate, which may be attributed to weekly monitoring visits. Additionally, modulation of the gut microbiota may need more specific testing to distinguish subtle changes. CONCLUSIONS: While microbiota composition was similar between all groups, probiotics did affect a psychological variable associated with susceptibility to depression. Further research is needed to investigate how probiotics can be utilised to modify mental wellbeing, and whether they can act as an adjunct to existing treatments.

Overview

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.097

Cites

104 of 104 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Verification

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Citations

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 106 references

2 of the 106 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. Beck, 2002, Cognitive models of depression, Clin. Adv. Cognit. Psychother. Theory Appl., 14, 29

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 201–256 of 256

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Chahwan, B., Kwan, S., Isik, A., van Hemert, S., Burke, C., & Roberts, L.
Affiliations
  • University of Technology Sydney (AU)
  • Winclove Probiotics (Netherlands) (NL)
Corresponding author
  • Burke, Catherine
  • Roberts, Lynette
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2019-06
Volume
253
Pages
317-326
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jad.2019.04.097
OpenAlex
W2944223773
Cited by
256
References
106
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 43 · 2023: 49 · 2022: 39 · 2021: 43 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 4
FWCI
20.07
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • UTS ePRESS (University of Technology Sydney) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Food Science › Probiotics and Fermented Foods
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Biological Psychiatry › Tryptophan and brain disorders
Keywords
probiotics, depressive symptoms, depression, gut microbiota, Ruminococcus gnavus, cognitive reactivity, intestinal barrier, inflammation, gut-brain axis
MeSH terms
Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Adult, Depression, Female, Humans, Male, Placebos, Research Design, Dietary Supplements, Probiotics

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review