Social anxiety ameliorated by fermented foods

In the midst of the current scientific revolution pertaining to the human microbiome in general and its effect on the brain-gut axis in particular, a study recently published in Psychiatry Research offers evidence that eating fermented foods can ease social anxiety. The authors state:

"Animal models and clinical trials in humans suggest that probiotics can have an anxiolytic effect. However, no studies have examined the relationship between probiotics and social anxiety. Here we employ a cross-sectional approach to determine whether consumption of fermented foods likely to contain probiotics interacts with neuroticism to predict social anxiety symptoms."

They gathered data on fermented food consumption, neuroticism and social anxiety for their study cohort included 710 young adults (445 female), and found a significant correlation:

"An interaction model, controlling for demographics, general consumption of healthful foods, and exercise frequency, showed that exercise frequency, neuroticism, and fermented food consumption significantly and independently predicted social anxiety. Moreover, fermented food consumption also interacted with neuroticism in predicting social anxiety. Specifically, for those high in neuroticism, higher frequency of fermented food consumption was associated with fewer symptoms of social anxiety."

Reducing the brain's response to negative stimuli

Quoted in Medscape Medical News, lead author Matthew Hilimire, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia stated:

"Probiotics have also been shown to modify the body's response to stress, and stress response is highly linked to mental health disorders, such as social anxiety. In addition, consumption of fermented milk has been shown to reduce the brain's response to negative facial expressions. By reducing the brain's response to negative social stimuli, social anxiety symptoms might be reduced."

A variety of fermented foods

The fermented foods tallied in the authors' questionnaire included yogurt, kefir, miso soup, sauerkraut, dark chocolate, juices that contain microalgae, pickles; tempeh, and kimchi. Dr. Hillmire also stated to Medscape:

"Not all of these foods necessarily had active cultures, but they have the potential to contain probiotics and bioactive peptides."

The authors conclude with a low-risk recommendation:

"Taken together with previous studies, the results suggest that fermented foods that contain probiotics may have a protective effect against social anxiety symptoms for those at higher genetic risk, as indexed by trait neuroticism. While additional research is necessary to determine the direction of causality, these results suggest that consumption of fermented foods that contain probiotics may serve as a low-risk intervention for reducing social anxiety."