Antonino De Lorenzo
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy
Title: Can psychobiotics intake modulate psychological profile and body composition of women affected by normal weight obese syndrome and obesity? An interventional study
Biography
Biography: Antonino De Lorenzo
Abstract
Background & Aim: Evidence of probiotics effects on gut function, brain activity and emotional behavior were provided. Probiotics can have dramatic effects on behavior through the microbiome-gut-brain axis, through vagus nerve. We investigated whether chronic probiotic intake could modulate psychological state, eating behavior and body composition of normal weight obese (NWO) and preobese-obese (PreOB/OB) compared to normal weight lean women (NWL).
Methods: 60 women were enrolled. At baseline and after three-week of a probiotic oral suspension (POS) intake, all subjects underwent to evaluation of body composition by anthropometry and dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and psychological profile assessment by self-report questionnaires (i.e., EDI-2, SCL90R and BUT). Statistical analysis was carried out using paired t test or a non-parametric Wilcoxon test to evaluate differences between baseline and after POS, one-way ANOVA to compare all three groups and where applicable, Chi square or t-test were used to assess symptoms.
Results: Of the 48 women that concluded the study, 24% were NWO, 26% were NWL and 50% were PreOB/OB. Significant differences in body composition were highlighted among groups both at baseline and after POS (respectively p<0.05 and p<0.001). After POS, a significant reduction of weight, body mass index (BMI), hip and waist circumference, intracellular water (ICW) (L), total body water percentage (TBW %) and total body fat (TBFat %) (p<0.001) was observed in all subjects. After POS, reduction of TBFat, bacterial overgrowth syndrome (p<0.05) and lower psychopathological scores (p<0.05) were observed in NWO and PreOB/OB. Significant improvement of the orocecal transit time were observed (p<0.001) after POS. Furthermore, significant differences were observed for meteorism (p<0.001) and number of defecation (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Three-week intake of selected psychobiotics modulates body composition, bacterial contamination, psychopathological scores of NWO and PreOB/OB. Further researches are needed on larger population and for longer period of treatment before definitive conclusions.