and Mary and University of Maryland study.
Groundbreaking research out of Iran suggests that
probiotics may even boost cognitive function in one
particularly desperate group: patients with advanced
Alzheimer’s. The researchers put severely demented patients
on a twelve-week, high-dose cocktail of Lactobacillus and
Bifidobacterium (two common strains of probiotics) and
found that, compared to the control group who received
only a placebo, the probiotic group improved on a test of
cognitive function by an astonishing 30 percent. Though the
effect would need to be replicated with a larger sample size,
these preliminary results are certainly cause for hope.
Scientists have truly just scratched the surface of what
will be a fascinating decade to come in microbiome research
as the broad reach of probiotics comes into view. Certain
strains may help fight off certain cancers, boost heart health,
enhance brain neurogenesis, and even alter mood states–the
latter paving way for “psychobiotics” (more on this in
chapter 8).^36
The two reigning bacterial families found in the large
intestine are the Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes. They’re sort
of like the Montagues and the Capulets, if Romeo and Juliet
took place in your large intestine. Though there is currently
no consensus on what the “perfect” microbial composition
looks like, there are correlates that scientists can draw by
observing the microbial signature of various populations
with different health profiles. For example, some research