Can prebiotics assist in the management of cognition and weight gain in schizophrenia?

TheBest · September 12, 2018, 8:16pm

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Can prebiotics assist in the management of cognition and weight gain in schizophrenia?

AC Kao, PWJ Burnet and BR Lennox, Psychoneuroendocrinology, Sep 2018

Schizophrenia is among the top half of the 25 leading causes of disabilities worldwide with a 10-20 year decrease in life expectancy. Ineffective pharmacotherapy in the management of cognitive deficits and weight gain are known to be significant contributors; therefore interventions that may mitigate one, or both, of these parameters would be highly beneficial. Manipulation of the gut microbiome using dietary supplements such as prebiotics may be one such intervention. Preclinical studies have shown that a 2-4 week dietary supplementation with a prebiotic has beneficial effects on learning and memory, and prevents pro-inflammatory signals that are detrimental to cognitive processes. Furthermore, prebiotics influence metabolism, and in obesity they increase the expression of anorexigenic gut hormones such as peptide tyrosine tyrosine, glucagon-like peptide 1 and leptin, as well as decrease levels of orexigenic hormones such as ghrelin. Despite compelling evidence for the pro-cognitive and neuroprotective effects of prebiotics in rodents, their ability to alleviate cognitive deficits or enhance cognition needs to be evaluated in humans. Here we suggest that important symptoms associated with schizophrenia, such as cognitive impairment and weight gain, may benefit from concurrent prebiotic therapy.

These are my 2 main areas of concern.

anon4362788 · September 12, 2018, 8:30pm

There was just an article linked about how previous are useless. There is always a study disproving another. It’s crazy

TheBest · September 12, 2018, 8:35pm

Yeah I remember them. I thought this was interesting the double whammy for cognition and weight gain in schizophrenia. It just made me happy to find it. I was looking up random stuff on pubmed. I’ve never seen this before.

insidemind · September 12, 2018, 8:37pm

So prebiotics and probiotics are the same thing? I guess if you’re depressed and they personally help you with depression, I can see how probiotics can increase intelligence. Maybe make you feel better emotionally.

TheBest · September 12, 2018, 8:38pm

I don’t think they are the same thing.

TheBest · September 12, 2018, 8:39pm

Rhubot · September 12, 2018, 9:28pm

Probiotics are good bacteria you can take through food or supplements. Prebiotics help foster the kind of environment that allows good bacteria to flourish. So you might take prebiotics for your current gut bacteria, or take them with probiotics in order to give the probiotics a better chance of setting up shop in your gut.

twinklestars · September 13, 2018, 1:53am

Prebiotics and probiotics are not the same thing.

Prebiotics are kinds of fiber that probiotics can use to feed off of.

Also you have to be careful about reading study headlines - like that one that omega 3/DHA was “useless” except they only looked at heart disease and there’s plenty of evidence for other disorders.

As for probiotic pills, yeah, mostly you won’t significantly change your intestinal flora, but a high fiber diet rich in prebiotics can help.

I take a prebiotic called Bimuno.

I linked a blog post from some autism blogger recently on how it was largely pro and pre biotic changes that offered neurological benefit in the ketogenic diet.

Edit: here it is How ketosis and gut bacteria change levels of GABA in the hippocampus

Csummers · September 13, 2018, 7:46pm

I have been drinking those ‘Kiefer’ (drinkable yogurty stuff) for (?) 30 years, not because it was good for me, but because I just like the taste.
There’s 4 in my fridge right now, russian style, Amish style, greek style and plain.
My fave are the fruit flavors.

Must have mistakenly bought a Sz style one time…

jeroenp · September 15, 2018, 11:18pm

ive read that too a few days ago lol youre right

TheBest · February 10, 2019, 12:06pm

@shutterbug this was the best article I couldn’t find about probiotics. Yet it’s about prebiotics. Fairly close.

Wesley · February 10, 2019, 3:52pm

I take prebiotic supplements like inulin, FOS, GOS. arabinogalactan (Larch) fiber, acacia fiber, and resistant starches like very green bananas, raw potato starch, etc. And I get my probiotics from things like raw milk kefir. My grandparents own a small farm and we get raw goat milk and raw milk kefir from them. Their goats are so cute. If I lived where I could legally own a goat, I would have one as a pet. I love goats.

shutterbug · February 10, 2019, 4:08pm

I have been using prebiotics and probiotics to help with my diverticular disease, but I found that my head runs better when I’m on them as well, thus my curiosity.

TheBest · February 10, 2019, 4:13pm

Sorry if my comment was incoherent. I just read it again. Thanks for the reply.

shutterbug · February 10, 2019, 4:14pm

We’re all incoherent before our fourth pot of coffee for the day, so no worries.