Psychobiotic PS128 improves mood and sleep quality in its first clinical study on anxiety and stress

Bened Biomedical's psychobiotic PS128 significantly improved insomnia, stress, and anxiety during a recent clinical trial. Participants were IT professionals under high levels of work-life stress.

Psychobiotics are probiotics that yield specific mental health benefits. PS128, a Lactobacillus plantarum strain, has previously shown improvements in preclinical models, and this study demonstrated its human health benefits in areas of anxiety, stress, and sleep.

"Seeing that PS128 can help people sleep better at night and put them in a better mood each day makes us glad to be able to provide this kind of product," said Dr. Alain Delpy, head of global development at Bened.

Perceived mental and physical health benefits

The study, published in Frontiers in Nutrition in March, involved 36 individuals who took PS128 daily for eight weeks. During this time, many measures changed significantly. Participants reported higher energy levels and positive emotions, as well as better life quality and psychological health. Improvements were seen in insomnia severity, anxiety, job stress, negative emotions, and gastrointestinal symptoms.

"We are very pleased to see these results in people, to verify what we have already seen preclinically. PS128 really can benefit the high-pressure, high-stress, high-anxiety world we live and work in," Delpy said.

Probiotics can impact health through a pathway called the gut-brain axis. One theory is that as PS128 interacts within the gut, molecules are released which then travel via the bloodstream or nerves directly to the brain. Previous studies have shown that rodents given PS128 had higher levels of serotonin and dopamine, results which could correlate with the benefits seen in this trial.

Stress hormone reduction

This study also tested key stress biomarkers in participants' saliva. One of these, cortisol, dropped significantly during the trial.

"Seeing reduced cortisol levels is probably the most important takeaway from this experiment," said Dr. Allen Wu, who heads Bened's research lab. "It proves that PS128 is causing real changes in the body, changes which can then be experienced and felt by the mind."

All-natural, vegan PS128 is self-affirmed GRAS status. Previous clinical trials have shown higher doses of the psychobiotic alleviating symptoms of neurological conditions such as Parkinson's, autism, and depression.

Actively advancing gut-brain axis research, Bened is a worldwide ODM looking for new partners to extend PS128's availably in international markets.