Effects of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei K56 on perceived stress among pregraduate students: a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial

作者：Yiran Guan, Ruixin Zhu, Wen Zhao, Langrun Wang, You Li, Zhaozhong Zeng, Qiuyue Jiang, Zeyang Zhu, Jiayu Gou, Qi Zhang, Jie Guo, Keji Li, Liang Zhao, Yixuan Li, Pengjie Wang, Bing Fang, Wei‐Lian Hung, Jian He, Jian He, Liwei Zhang, Ran Wang, Jingjing He, Jingjing He · 发表于：Frontiers in Nutrition · 年份：2025 · DOI：10.3389/fnut.2025.1544713 · 被引用次数：10 · 研究领域：Gut microbiota and health、Probiotics and Fermented Foods、Gastrointestinal motility and disorders

Background Globally, master’s and doctoral students, especially pregraduate students, are under great pressure. Probiotics are emerging as a promising intervention to improve mental health via gut-brain axis. Objective The aim of this study was to explore the impact of Lacticaseibacillus paracasei K56 supplementation on perceived stress among pregraduate students. Methods We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in 120 healthy master’s and doctoral students who faced graduation. Participants were randomly assigned to either probiotics (containing Lacticaseibacillus paracasei K56 6 × 10 10 CFU / d) or placebo group for 2 weeks intervention. The main outcome was perceived stress assessed using Cohen’s Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10). The secondary outcomes were stress, depression, and anxiety assessed by Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales (DASS), gastrointestinal symptoms, and sleep evaluated by corresponding scales. These outcomes were assessed at baseline, 1, and 2 weeks. Pre- and post-treatment serum biomarkers, gut microbiota composition and metabolites were also detected. Results There was no difference in changes of PSS-10 scores from baseline to 2 weeks between the K56 groups and the placebo [mean (standard error): −1.68 (0.48) vs. -0.39 (0.46), p = 0.055]. Furthermore, the K56 group exhibited superior reductions in both stress [−2.15 (0.38) vs. -0.96 (0.49), p = 0.035] and anxiety symptoms [−1.54 (0.32) vs. 0.53 (0.43), p = 0.003] via DASS...