The symptoms of depression can be debilitating. These include apathy, guilt, hopelessness, changes in body weight, insomnia and irritability. Although these symptoms are usually the main focus of treatment, there is also a long list of cognitive symptoms, such as difficulty concentrating, indecisiveness, and memory problems.

A new study suggests that a popular supplement may help with cognitive problems associated with depression. This randomized controlled trial, which included more than 40 patients, found that high-dose probiotics for four weeks significantly improved memory and affected the brain mechanisms underlying cognitive problems associated with depression.

The results showed that people in the probiotic group had improved hippocampal function (the part of the brain responsible for emotions and memory) at the end of the study period.

As lead author Elsa Schneider, Ph.D., explained in an interview, “This supports our hypothesis that the hippocampus is the primary structure that benefits from probiotics, and therefore we only see improvements in episodic memory and not others cognitive areas. , which are less dependent on the hippocampus.”