Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Medical University of Lodz, Żeligowskiego 7/9, 90-752 Lodz, Poland.
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Medical University of Lodz, Kopcińskiego 22, 90-153 Lodz, Poland.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Mar 24;19(7):3861. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19073861.
Probiotic therapies and fermented food diets hold promise for improving mental health. Although in this regard psychiatric patients appear to benefit more than healthy individuals, no research has been performed to directly evaluate this hypothesis. The present study examined a cohort of medical students facing a stressful event, and some of the students reported suffering from chronic psychiatric diseases. The amount of fermented food consumption was calculated with the use of seven-day dietary records, while depressive and anxiety symptoms were assessed with the use of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, respectively. In psychiatrically healthy medical students under psychological stress ( = 372), higher fermented food consumption was associated with more depressive and anxiety symptoms. In contrast, psychiatrically ill medical students ( = 25, 6.3% of all the participants) were found to present a negative association between the amount of fermented food consumed and the severity of depressive symptoms (adjusted β -0.52, 95% CI -0.85 to -0.19, = 0.0042); however, this relationship was insignificant for anxiety symptoms (adjusted β -0.22, 95% CI -0.59 to 0.15, = 0.22). A significant interaction was found between the consumption of fermented food and psychiatric diagnosis in predicting depressive symptoms ( = 0.0001), and a borderline significant interaction for anxiety symptoms ( = 0.053). In conclusion, psychiatrically ill people, but not healthy ones, may benefit from fermented food consumption in terms of alleviation of depressive symptoms. Our findings require cautious interpretation and further investigation.
益生菌疗法和发酵食品饮食有望改善心理健康。尽管在这方面精神疾病患者似乎比健康个体受益更多，但尚未进行研究来直接评估这一假设。本研究检查了一组面临压力事件的医学生，其中一些学生报告患有慢性精神疾病。使用七天饮食记录计算发酵食品的消耗量，而使用患者健康问卷-9 和广泛性焦虑症-7 分别评估抑郁和焦虑症状。在面临心理压力的精神健康医学生中（n = 372），发酵食品消耗量较高与更多的抑郁和焦虑症状相关。相比之下，患有精神疾病的医学生（n = 25，占所有参与者的 6.3%）发现发酵食品消耗量与抑郁症状严重程度之间存在负相关（调整后的β值为-0.52，95%CI 为-0.85 至-0.19，p = 0.0042）；然而，这种关系对于焦虑症状并不显著（调整后的β值为-0.22，95%CI 为-0.59 至 0.15，p = 0.22）。在预测抑郁症状方面，发酵食品的消耗与精神诊断之间存在显著的交互作用（p = 0.0001），而在预测焦虑症状方面存在边缘显著的交互作用（p = 0.053）。总之，患有精神疾病的人可能会从发酵食品的摄入中受益，缓解抑郁症状，而健康人则不然。我们的发现需要谨慎解释和进一步研究。
