Consumers and scientists are transforming how they approach brain health. Individuals who want to optimize their cognitive state are making nutritional choices and supplementing their diets in order to stay sharp.
Meanwhile, scientists are discovering how deeply the gut microbiome influences human health in general, and individuals’ brains more specifically.
A growing body of evidence shows that brain health and gut health are inextricably linked. Not only does the vagus nerve act as a super-highway for messages to travel between the gut and brain, but the gut-brain barrier functions as a protective system that regulates what passes between the two organs, blocking harmful substances that could impact mood and cognition.
As a result of the gut lining becoming compromised, its increased permeability – leaky gut – may allow more inflammatory molecules to enter the blood. This low-grade inflammation over decades is associated with changes in cognition. So rather than being a sudden degeneration, cognitive decline can be viewed as a process that starts decades earlier than when symptoms become noticeable.
“Microbiome abnormalities promote leaky gut, leaky gut promotes inflammation, and inflammation drives cognitive decline,” says Dr Hariom Yadav, director of the USF Center for Microbiome Research, Microbiomes Institute, whose work on healthy aging, gut-brain axis and microbiome modulation is re-defining how we think about aging and dementia prevention.
Morinaga Nutritional Foods’ ‘Spotlight On: Innovative microbial solutions for cognitive and emotional wellness’ uncovers the science behind microbial wellness and its effect on the brain. The broadcast deep dives into clinical findings with world-leading gut microbiome researcher Dr Hariom Yadav, demonstrating how biotics can unlock cognitive and emotional health across the lifespan.
The idea of taking a proactive approach is set out by Dominique Ostrander, general manager at Morinaga Nutritional Foods. “For decades we treated brain health as something to rescue once it begins to fail. The science now shows decline is programmed silently across decades,” she says. “Midlife is the biological inflection point. If we wait for symptoms, we miss the most tractable window for intervention.”
More microbial than human
This evidence-based session demonstrates just how reliant we are on microbes as human beings. “Our bodies carry ten times more microbial cells than human cells, and over 300,000 microbial genes shape our biology,” says Dr Yadav and he explains that gut neurons also produce 90% of serotonin and 50% of dopamine. He concludes that the phrase “gut feeling” perhaps has more to it than just being a throwaway comment.
In his presentation, Dr Yadav also posits his analogy that inflammation, resulting from leaky gut and the foods that cause it, acts as “gut punches” damaging the brain.
“When food makes you sleepy in the daytime, that is a ‘punch’ to your brain,” he says, “a sign of leaky gut and inflammation.” These repeated ‘gut punches’ across a lifetime determine whether the brain retains its healthspan or moves toward cognitive decline.
“Aging is not a disease, but inflammation makes the brain age faster. This is inflammaging.”
However, the microbiome can affect outcomes in brain health. Dr Yadav will deep dive into his experiments in mice which had breakthrough findings. They proved old microbiota causes aging phenotypes and therefore inflammation in young mice, and young microbiota reverses aging phenotypes in old mice, and therefore decline.
“By transplanting young microbiota into old mice, we reversed leaky gut, inflammation, and multiple aging‑related brain phenotypes,” he says. While these are animal models, findings here may also be relevant to human aging.
Dr Yadav will also set out how his team discovered a link between reduced microbial activity in older adults with increased gut permeability.
Biotics for neuroprotection
In order to protect the brain in targeted ways, Morinaga is developing biotics that can be used decades before decline is noticeable.
“What we are exploring today is not supplementation as support, but microbial signaling as a strategic biological lever,” says Ostrander. “Our probiotic strain MCC1274 – which has undergone multiple randomized controlled trials – is the first single-strain biotic to support cognitive function.1 It significantly improved memory and attention in people with suspected mild cognitive impairment (MCI) — in other words this represents measurable preservation of cognitive function in domains known to predict long-term cognitive outcomes.2”
Additional Morinaga strains can support better emotional resilience: M-16V targets stress physiology, sleep architecture, and emotional regulation; while LAC-Living+, the clinically validated postbiotic, offers rapid improvements in positive affect, fatigue and vigor.
What will drive the demand
Discover how the market for these products is likely to grow as a result of two factors. The first being that dementia ranks as the most feared disease owing to its link to a loss of identity.3 In addition, Gen Z and Millennials are driving this agenda. They employ self-care habits and are interested in how gut microbiome can be leveraged to optimise their health.
“Up to 40% of young adults experience depressive symptoms severe enough to impair daily functioning,” notes Ostrander. “Younger generations are experiencing unprecedented levels of mental distress – and they are actively seeking microbiome‑based solutions.4”
Ostrander has a vision of brain health being something that can be protected proactively and affected decades before symptoms of decline are evident. She confirms that microbial interventions offer pathways that are precise and biologically efficacious and that early action may offer meaningful shifts in brain health.
“The future of brain health will not be reactive. It will be precision‑guided, biologically informed, and implemented decades earlier than today’s standard of care,” she says.
“The real question is no longer if we can influence brain health through the microbiome, but how quickly we choose to act on it.”
Watch On Demand for clinical trial data and real world applied solutions.
References
- Morinaga Probiotics Centre. MCC1274: A unique strain for Cognitive Health and Healthy Aging.
- Morinaga Probiotics Centre. B. breve MCC1274.
- T&D Taiyo Life Insurance Company. Survey on Dementia (in Japanese). (2024).
- The Global Mind Project. The Mental State of the World Report.
