Jamie Lee Curtis may soon have more to talk about: International researchers have conducted studies that show reduced anxiety in mice who have been fed probiotics. Now before you race out for cases of Activia probiotic yogurt, you should know a few things:
The mice that were fed broth spiked with the organism Lactobacillus rhamnosus, a bacteria, were less likely to be anxious or stressed than control mice that drank a bacteria-free broth. The mice who ingested the organism also produced less of the stress hormone corticosterone in response to a stressful event. However, another strain of bacteria called Lactobacillus salivarius had no effect. Incidentally, the bacteria in Dannon’s Activia and Yoplait’s YoPlus yogurt is Bifidobacterium genus-no information yet if that bacteria will help with mood problems or stress.