Gut Microbiota Associated With Effectiveness And Responsiveness to Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy in Improving Trait Anxiety
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology May 10, 2021 Zonghua Wang, Xiaoxiao Xu, Shuang Liu et al.
Young adults with high trait anxiety had lower gut bacterial diversity and a different microbial composition than healthy controls. An eight-week mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) program reduced trait anxiety and depression, improved mindfulness and resilience, and shifted the gut microbiota toward a profile more similar to that of healthy controls. A high pre-treatment abundance of the bacterium Subdoligranulum was associated with greater responsiveness to MBCT, and decreases in Subdoligranulum after treatment corresponded with reduced anxiety. Tryptophan metabolism pathways were more active in high responders than in low responders.