Asperger\u2019s Syndrome<\/a> in male infants with at least one allergic first-degree family member (P\u00e4rtty et al., 2015). In these children, at the age of 13, no children in the probiotic group showed symptoms of ADHD or Asperger\u2019s Syndrome (AS). However, in the control group, 4.0% of the children were diagnosed with ADHD, AS was observed in 1.3% of the children, and 2.7% of the children showed symptoms of both ADHD and AS by the age of 13 years. All the children with these neuropsychiatric diagnoses were male. Overall, 17.1% of the children in the placebo were diagnosed with the above-mentioned conditions as opposed to no positive diagnoses in the probiotic treated group, suggesting that early probiotic intervention may help attenuate these conditions in children. Further studies are needed to understand the underlying mechanisms for these difference in age and gender-related effects. But these studies do point to promising progress in investigating the role of gut microbiota and utility of probiotic interventions in addressing mental health-related symptoms.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThis hypothesis also extends to other conditions including but not limited to IBS. It is well known that IBS predominantly affects women. Furthermore, anxiety and depression are common comorbidities in IBS and examining gender specific differences in utilization of probiotics for conditions such as IBS also need to be further explored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clearly, probiotic use cannot be reduced to a simple matter of male or female or young or old, but evidence suggests that some features in the gut-brain space are more common in women than in men, and that some are more common in children than in adults, and vice versa<\/em>. More gender-focused studies, as well as documentation of gender gaps, are needed to fully understand and expand on these differences. Furthermore, the evidence provided here suggests that probiotics may be used to improve gut-brain wellness which may directly impact brain health on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\nReferences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nChen, J. J., Zheng, P., Liu, Y. Y., Zhong, X. G., Wang, H. Y., Guo, Y. J., & Xie, P. (2018). Sex differences in gut microbiota in patients with major depressive disorder. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat<\/em>, 14<\/em>, 647-655. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2147\/NDT.S159322<\/p>\n\n\n\nDesbonnet, L., Clarke, G., Traplin, A., O’Sullivan, O., Crispie, F., Moloney, R. D., Cotter, P. D., Dinan, T. G., & Cryan, J. F. (2015). Gut microbiota depletion from early adolescence in mice: Implications for brain and behaviour. Brain Behav Immun<\/em>, 48<\/em>, 165-173. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.bbi.2015.04.004<\/p>\n\n\n\nDinan, T. G., & Cryan, J. F. (2017). The Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis in Health and Disease. Gastroenterol Clin North Am<\/em>, 46<\/em>(1), 77-89. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.gtc.2016.09.007<\/p>\n\n\n\nJaggar, M., Rea, K., Spichak, S., Dinan, T. G., & Cryan, J. F. (2020). You’ve got male: Sex and the microbiota-gut-brain axis across the lifespan. Front Neuroendocrinol<\/em>, 56<\/em>, 100815. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.yfrne.2019.100815<\/p>\n\n\n\nKamimura, I., Watarai, A., Takamura, T., Takeo, A., Miura, K., Morita, H., Mogi, K., & Kikusui, T. (2019). Gonadal steroid hormone secretion during the juvenile period depends on host-specific microbiota and contributes to the development of odor preference. Dev Psychobiol<\/em>, 61<\/em>(5), 670-678. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1002\/dev.21827<\/p>\n\n\n\nLiu, Y. W., Liong, M. T., Chung, Y. E., Huang, H. Y., Peng, W. S., Cheng, Y. F., Lin, Y. S., Wu, Y. Y., & Tsai, Y. C. (2019). Effects of Lactobacillus plantarum PS128 on Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder in Taiwan: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Nutrients<\/em>, 11<\/em>(4). https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/nu11040820<\/p>\n\n\n\nMarkle, J. G., Frank, D. N., Mortin-Toth, S., Robertson, C. E., Feazel, L. M., Rolle-Kampczyk, U., von Bergen, M., McCoy, K. D., Macpherson, A. J., & Danska, J. S. (2013). Sex differences in the gut microbiome drive hormone-dependent regulation of autoimmunity. Science<\/em>, 339<\/em>(6123), 1084-1088. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1126\/science.1233521<\/p>\n\n\n\nP\u00e4rtty, A., Kalliom\u00e4ki, M., Wacklin, P., Salminen, S., & Isolauri, E. (2015). A possible link between early probiotic intervention and the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders later in childhood: a randomized trial. Pediatr Res<\/em>, 77<\/em>(6), 823-828<\/p>\n\n\n\nRincel, M., Aubert, P., Chevalier, J., Grohard, P. A., Basso, L., Monchaux de Oliveira, C., Helbling, J. C., L\u00e9vy, \u00c9., Chevalier, G., Leboyer, M., Eberl, G., Lay\u00e9, S., Capuron, L., Vergnolle, N., Neunlist, M., Boudin, H., Lepage, P., & Darnaud\u00e9ry, M. (2019). Multi-hit early life adversity affects gut microbiota, brain and behavior in a sex-dependent manner. Brain Behav Immun<\/em>, 80<\/em>, 179-192. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.bbi.2019.03.006<\/p>\n\n\n\nTsilimigras, M. C. B., Gharaibeh, R. Z., Sioda, M., Gray, L., Fodor, A. A., & Lyte, M. (2018). Interactions Between Stress and Sex in Microbial Responses Within the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis in a Mouse Model. Psychosom Med<\/em>, 80<\/em>(4), 361-369. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1097\/PSY.0000000000000572<\/p>\n\n\n\nVemuri, R., Sylvia, K. E., Klein, S. L., Forster, S. C., Plebanski, M., Eri, R., & Flanagan, K. L. (2019). The microgenderome revealed: sex differences in bidirectional interactions between the microbiota, hormones, immunity and disease susceptibility. Semin Immunopathol<\/em>, 41<\/em>(2), 265-275. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00281-018-0716-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Shikha Snigdha, Ph.D. and Jeremy Bartos, Ph.D. MeriCal There are differences between men and women in almost every aspect of health and physiology. Yet, when it comes to the microbiome and microbiome-related effects on mood and stress and related conditions, there is a paucity of products that differentiate between effects on men vs women. When […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7441,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_eb_attr":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[656],"tags":[652,204,593,655,654,63,651,94,653],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7440"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7442,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7440\/revisions\/7442"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internationalprobiotics.org\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}