Browsing by Author "Parada, Francisco J."

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Measuring the Brain-Gut Axis in Psychological Sciences: A Necessary Challenge
    (2020) Palacios-Garcia, Ismael; Parada, Francisco J.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Psychobiotic Effects on Anxiety Are Modulated by Lifestyle Behaviors: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial on Healthy Adults
    (MDPI, 2023) Morales-Torres, Ricardo; Carrasco-Gubernatis, Cristobal; Grasso-Cladera, Aitana; Cosmelli, Diego; Parada, Francisco J.; Palacios-Garcia, Ismael
    Psychobiotics are modulators of the Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis (MGBA) with promising benefits to mental health. Lifestyle behaviors are established modulators of both mental health and the MGBA. This randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial (NCT04823533) on healthy adults (N = 135) tested 4 weeks of probiotic supplementation (Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 and Bifidobacterium longum R0175). We assessed effects on wellbeing, quality of life, emotional regulation, anxiety, mindfulness and interoceptive awareness. We then analyzed if lifestyle behaviors modulated probiotic effectiveness. Results showed no significant effects of probiotic intake in whole sample outcomes. Correlational analyses revealed Healthy Behaviors were significantly correlated with wellbeing across scales. Moreover, the linear mixed-effects model showed that the interaction between high scores in Healthy Behaviors and probiotic intake was the single significant predictor of positive effects on anxiety, emotional regulation, and mindfulness in post-treatment outcomes. These findings highlight the relevance of controlling for lifestyle behaviors in psychobiotic and mental health research.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The 4E approach to the human microbiome: Nested interactions between the gut-brain/body system within natural and built environments
    (2022) Palacios-Garcia, Ismael; Mhuireach, Gwynne A.; Grasso-Cladera, Aitana; Cryan, John F.; Parada, Francisco J.
    The complexity of the human mind and its interaction with the environment is one of the main epistemological debates throughout history. Recent ideas, framed as the 4E perspective to cognition, highlight that human experience depends causally on both cerebral and extracranial processes, but also is embedded in a particular sociomaterial context and is a product of historical accumulation of trajectory changes throughout life. Accordingly, the human microbiome is one of the most intriguing actors modulating brain function and physiology. Here, we present the 4E approach to the Human Microbiome for understanding mental processes from a broader perspective, encompassing one's body physiology and environment throughout their lifespan, interconnected by microbiome community structure and dynamics. We review evidence supporting the approach theoretically and motivates the study of the global set of microbial ecosystem networks encountered by a person across their lifetime (from skin to gut to natural and built environments). We furthermore trace future empirical implementation of the approach. We finally discuss novel research opportunities and clinical interventions aimed toward developing low-cost/high-benefit integrative and personalized bio-psycho-socio-environmental treatments for mental health and including the brain-gut-microbiome axis.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    The holobiont mind: A bridge between 4E cognition and the microbiome
    (2023) Palacios-Garcia, Ismael; Parada, Francisco J.
    All life on earth is intrinsically linked. At the very foundation of every evolutionary interaction are microorganisms, integral components in the composition of both organisms and ecosystems. The available data and this perspective on the order of life challenge the traditional conception of monogenetic biological individuals, suggesting living beings are actually composite multi-species complexes: holobionts. In the present article, we introduce our perspective on the concept of the holobiont mind, a biogenic conception of cognition compatible with the 4E approach and the holobiont theory. We furthermore expand on the idea of the mind as the emerging product of multi-genomic morphology of a composite animal-agent, in ever-changing interaction with its ecological niche. We thus briefly review recent evidence on the brain-gut-microbiome axis and the Microbiome of the Built Environment in order to provide a bridge between the Holobiont Mind and the 4E approach to Cognition, two complementary lines of evidence that have not been linked before, opening novel venues for research with direct impact on health and disease.