Supplement found to buffer the body against stress and improve sleep.
For a long time probiotics — the so-called 'good bacteria' in fermented foods and elsewhere — have been linked to all sorts of physical and psychological benefits.
Now the lesser-known prebiotics are getting in on the act.
Prebiotic fibre — also available as dietary supplements — can improve the health of your gut by helping beneficial bacteria to multiply.
New research has found that prebiotics can help improve sleep and protect the body against stress.
"Acute stress can disrupt the gut microbiome, and we wanted to test if a diet rich in prebiotics would increase beneficial bacteria as well as protect gut microbes from stress-induced disruptions.
The study, carried out on rats, found that prebiotics increased both major types of sleep (REM and NREM).
"The stressor the rats received was the equivalent of a single intense acute stressful episode for humans, such as a car accident or the death of a loved one.
Professor Monika Fleshner, another study author, thinks it is too early to recommend prebiotic supplements for sleep problems.
The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience (Thompson et al., 2017).