Probiotics for Depression associated with IBS

There are more and more studies showing the wide range of health benefits from taking certain types of probiotics.

Probiotic Study

There was a new study showing that a certain strain of bacillus coagulans (MTCC 5856) helped to significantly reduce depression in people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

40 patients with both major depressive disorder MDD and irritable bowel syndrome IBS were put into 2 groups randomly.

20 patients took 2 billion cfu (1 capsule) of bacillus coagulans daily for 90 days. The other 20 patients took a placebo.

The group who took bacillus coagulans experienced significant improvements in their depression, according to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the Montgomery-Asberg depression Rating Scale and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale.

This group also experienced significant improvements in their IBS symptoms according to the Irritable Bowel Syndrome quality of life questionnaire.

Although the exact mechanism for these results is not entirely known, it is worth noting that they measured “serum myeloperoxidase” in both groups, which is a biomarker for inflammation. The bacillus coagulans group had significantly lower serum myeloperoxidase levels, so this could be part of the reason.

The conclusion of the study was that bacillus coagulans MTCC 5856 is an important new treatment option for major depressive disorder for IBS patients. It is already known that bacillus coagulans is effective for IBS in general, but the help with depression is new and exciting.

This strain of bacillus coagulans is very powerful. Only a small dose of 2 billion cfu is needed because this type of probiotic is actually able to survive and thrive in the gut, whereas most other probiotics are relatively ineffective because they die in the harsh stomach acids before even getting inside the gut.

This is the probiotic we use. We make it in a GMP facility and get all of our products 3rd party tested. We use high quality veggie capsules, and we never use magnesium stearate or other unhealthy fillers.