Social Anxiety? Fermented Foods May Help

A diet rich in fermented foods and beverages likely to contain probiotics may help curb social anxiety in young adults, especially those who are highly neurotic, new research suggests.

"While our study cannot definitely determine a causal relationship between fermented food consumption and social anxiety, in combination with the preclinical and clinical studies, our findings suggest that eating more fermented foods can decrease social anxiety," Matthew Hilimire, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia, told Medscape Medical News.

"Future studies could test potential applications, such as supplementing drug or cognitive-behavioral therapy with fermented foods," he said.

The study was published in the August 15 issue of Psychiatry Research and is available online.

Gut-Brain Interaction

The study included 710 students enrolled in introductory courses in psychology at the College of William and Mary. The participants completed questionnaires about fermented food consumption, neuroticism, and social anxiety.

The questionnaire asked about a variety of foods, including yogurt; kefir or food or beverages that contain yogurt; soy milk; miso soup; sauerkraut; dark chocolate; juices that contain microalgae; pickles; tempeh; and kimchi.

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

In an interaction model that controlled for demographics, general consumption of healthful foods, and frequency of exercise frequency, the researchers found that exercise frequency, neuroticism, and fermented food consumption significantly and independently predicted social anxiety.

Fermented food consumption also interacted with neuroticism in predicting social anxiety. That is, in students with high degrees of neuroticism, a higher frequency of fermented food consumption correlated with fewer symptoms of social anxiety.

These observations are in line with previous preclinical and clinical trials suggesting that probiotics can have an anxiolytic effect, the researchers say. However, this is the first study to examine the relationship between probiotics and social anxiety, they point out.

"Our study was not able to address the mechanisms because it was a survey of normal eating patterns, social anxiety, and personality. However, previous preclinical studies have suggested potential mechanisms," Dr Hilimire told Medscape Medical News.

"For example, probiotics reduce the permeability of the gut, so harmful substances don't leak out. . Because anxiety is often accompanied by gastrointestinal symptoms, reducing gut inflammation helps alleviate those symptoms," he explained.