Benefits of Ecologic® Barrier in mood confirmed 

Only young, healthy students

We conducted this double-blind, randomized placebo-controlled study in collaboration with Dr. Dana Ault, Associate professor of Exercise Science in the USA. She and her team included forty-nine healthy students (18-24 yrs), who took Ecologic® Barrier (2.5 x 109 CFU/g; daily dosage 2×2 g) or placebo for six weeks. Only healthy students without severe mental health complaints were included. That is, at baseline, they had only mild symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress on the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Score (DASS) questionnaire. During the study they completed the DASS questionnaire a second time after three weeks and a third time after six weeks of probiotic intake. 

Improvements lasted longer in Ecologic® Barrier group

After six weeks, the researchers found significant improvements in mood symptoms in both the placebo group (-18%) and the probiotic group (-20.4%). Although the differences between the two groups were not significant, intake of  Ecologic® Barrier showed additional benefits. All participants reported immediate improvement in mental health symptoms after the first three weeks. However, only in the Ecologic® Barrier-group, did total mood and stress symptoms continue to improve until the trial’s end.  

Follow-up study in 2023 to confirm promising benefits 

The results of the study support earlier findings that Ecologic® Barrier can be beneficial for mood.  As this study is performed among participants with mild symptoms, seeing significant improvements is very challenging. However, unlike the placebo group, the Ecologic® Barrier group continued to improve over time. This indicates that Ecologic® Barrier should be taken for a longer time to achieve the optimal effect. Given these points, we are very eager to further examine these assumptions in a follow-up study with a new design based on these learnings. We will keep you posted.