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Review
. 2021 Feb 26;22(5):2351.
doi: 10.3390/ijms22052351.

Effects of Microbiota Imbalance in Anxiety and Eating Disorders: Probiotics as Novel Therapeutic Approaches

Elisabet Navarro-Tapia  1 , Laura Almeida-Toledano  2   3 , Giorgia Sebastiani  4 , Mariona Serra-Delgado  2   3 , Óscar García-Algar  1   4 , Vicente Andreu-Fernández  1   3   5
Affiliations
Review

Effects of Microbiota Imbalance in Anxiety and Eating Disorders: Probiotics as Novel Therapeutic Approaches

Elisabet Navarro-Tapia et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

Anxiety and eating disorders produce a physiological imbalance that triggers alterations in the abundance and composition of gut microbiota. Moreover, the gut-brain axis can be altered by several factors such as diet, lifestyle, infections, and antibiotic treatment. Diet alterations generate gut dysbiosis, which affects immune system responses, inflammation mechanisms, the intestinal permeability, as well as the production of short chain fatty acids and neurotransmitters by gut microbiota, which are essential to the correct function of neurological processes. Recent studies indicated that patients with generalized anxiety or eating disorders (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge-eating disorders) show a specific profile of gut microbiota, and this imbalance can be partially restored after a single or multi-strain probiotic supplementation. Following the PRISMA methodology, the current review addresses the main microbial signatures observed in patients with generalized anxiety and/or eating disorders as well as the importance of probiotics as a preventive or a therapeutic tool in these pathologies.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; anxiety; binge-eating disorder; bulimia nervosa; dysbiosis; gut microbiota; gut–brain axis; probiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Methodological flowchart following preferred reporting items for systematic review based on PRISMA.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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