A new study, conducted by Jackson et al., demonstrates that intake of the prebiotic dietary fiber oligofructose alone, or in combination with the human milk oligosaccharide 2’fucosyllactose, promotes a significant increase in Bifidobacteria in the gut and can result in substantial improvements in mood in healthy adults with mild to moderate feelings of anxiety and depression.

The study, which ran over five weeks (one-week run-in and four weeks intervention), aimed to look at the effect of the chicory root fiber oligofructose and the human milk oligosaccharide 2’fucosyllactose on intestinal colonization and their ability to reduce anxiety and depression. The 92 subjects chosen for the study were healthy and had mild to moderate levels of anxiety and depression. Using a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-designed methodology, the subjects were split into four groups of 23 and given either 8g of oligofructose plus 2g of maltodextrin per day, 8g of oligofructose plus 2g of 2’fucosyllactose per day, 2g of 2’fucosyllactose plus 8g of maltodextrin per day, or 10g of maltodextrin per day.