How the gut-brain axis can support mental well-being
08 Dec 2020 | FrieslandCampina Ingredients
This webinar from FrieslandCampina Ingredients details the latest science in the emerging field of the gut-brain axis. Experts explain the impact of nutrition on the microbiota and brain health, as well as the exciting opportunities to tap into this growing market.
Brought to you by
Good morning and good afternoon.
A very warm welcome to today's webinar on mental -being and how the good brain axis can support in here.
I hope you all slept tonight, or are at least feeling relaxed.
Not everyone does, unfortunately.
I think we can all relate to this picture on the left.
If it's not ourselves, we probably know someone else close to us who is feeling stressed, anxious, or suffers from sleeping issues on a frequent basis.
Our mental -being as part of our overall -being is a growing consumer concern.
Where we traditionally saw a focus on physical health, a more holistic approach to health is now becoming the standard, with a high percentage of people who are actively trying to improve their overall health and wellness.
42% of the consumers indicate that they would like to improve their mental -being.
And unfortunately, the world has changed rapidly in the last couple of months.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, consumers are even becoming more aware of their overall health and -being.
But can we do something about this?
With almost 60% of consumers worldwide stating that they are interested in products to reduce stress, mental -being has certainly risen to the top of the agenda.
At the same time, scientific research is revealing more and more evidence of the role of the gut microbiome, not just in optimizing the digestion and absorption of nutrients, but in overall health and -being.
So could the good brain access be the key to supporting mental -being?
Today we'll try to find an answer on this question.
I'm really pleased and honored that we get some support in finding an answer to this question by some experts, so let me first quickly introduce them.
Mike Hughes, heading the research and insights division at FMG Gurus.
With Dr.
Katherine Cohen Kadoch, leader in developmental cognitive neuroscience in the School of Pathology and head of the Social Brain and Development Lab at Surrey University.
Then we have Dr.
Arje Nauta, global lead microbiome scientist within Friesen Campina.
And myself, Jauque Veltmann, global market development manager with the present Camppina Ingredients, adult nutrition.
The practicality.
We'll host a question and answer at the end of the webinar, so in case of any questions, feel free to ask them at the end, and we'll try to answer all of them.
If we don't make it within the session, don't worry, we'll make sure to answer all of them after the webinar.
So, having said that, I would like to give the floor to Mike.
Hi, good morning and good afternoon.
My name is Mike Hughes and I head up the research and insight division at FMCG Groot.
We're just going to spend 10 minutes now looking at consumer attitudes towards stress.
Sleep health, mental -being, and cognitive health.
We will look at how these issues have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis, and we will also examine.
How the the frantic nature of modern life is something that is making these problems more common.
Now, we know the impact of COVID-19 has been long-lasting and wide-ranging.
Moreover, consumers believe that irrespective of a vaccine on the horizon, the disease will continue to influence daily lives for considerable time to come.
For instance, many consumers anticipate a 3rd, 4th, and even 5th wave of the virus.
Moreover, consumers are also re-evaluating their attitudes to airborne viruses in general.
As we see, as a result of COVID-19, it is something that has significantly impacted our mental -being, with 4 in 10 consumers saying that they've become more conscious about this.
In addition, around 2 in 10 consumers also say that their sleep health has been impacted as a result of COVID-19.
Now we know that consumers are adopting a holistic approach to health.
They recognize that all aspects of health are interlinked and should not be treated in isolation.
Our mental -being and good sleep health is seen as critical for this.
This is because consumers feel that these issues don't just impact on energy levels and mood, but can also directly impact on the imm immune system.
As a result of this, consumers will take greater steps to address these issues over the next 12 months and beyond.
So as we see there, 3 quarters of consumers say that they're concerned about COVID-19.
This shows that consumers believe that the level of attention given to the virus is not sensationalized, and that as a result of this, they're stressed about a wide variety of issues.
They're concerned about the impact of the economy, especially as many households believe that they do not have adequate savings to deal with an economic downturn.
They're concerned about their health and wellbeing, with many consumers questioning their vulnerability to disease and illness and questioning just how strong their immune system is.
Noticeably, a high proportion of consumers are also concerned about the health and -being of loved ones, particularly given the high level of attention to how senior consumers are more vulnerable to serious complications arising from the disease.
However, as you see there, consumers are worried about a variety of things that previously they may have taken for granted, and what we need to factor in is just the level of extent this is having on their mental -being and overall health.
However, once we've just focused on COVID-19, it's important to recognize that mental -being and stress-related problems were common even before the, before the virus.
This is because the frantic nature of modern life is something that can impact on consumers' ability to relax and unwind.
They're dependent on technology for a large part of the day.
They have longer commute times, they often take less breaks.
And as a result of this, cognitive health problems such as feelings of fatigue, difficulty sleeping, and stress were already common in 2018 and 2019.
However, our research also shows that consumers are suffering from problems such as a lack of concentration, general forgetfulness, lack of mental focus, and a variety of other issues.
This is something that can create a sense of embarrassment.
It can sometimes impact on the quality of life, such as the ability to digest and react to information, and it can also potentially lead to serious health problems, especially if the consumer has responsibilities such as looking after young children or when they're operating heavy machinery or when they're driving on the road.
So what this research shows is that cognitive health problems are common across the globe.
One of the reasons for this is that consumers are not satisfied with their work-life balances, and as was previously alluded to at the beginning of this presentation, it's not uncommon for people to get up early in the day.
Go to bed later, have longer commuting times, work long hours without a break, and this is something that can impact on consumers' ability to relax and unwind.
And as we know, whilst consumers may be looking to meet obligations in the short term, this is actually something that can impact on health in the long term, and as a result of this.
It's no surprise that 64% of consumers say that they are making greater attempts to improve their work-life balance.
Consumers can often feel tired and fatigued.
They can often not have enough energy to get through the day.
However, feelings of stress, which we'll look at in a second or so, shows that consumers can often struggle to get to sleep at night.
It's a very vicious cycle and one that many consumers want to address.
Over the last 12 months there's been a significant increase in the proportion of consumers who say that their sleep health has worsened.
We see 36% of consumers said this in 2019 and this has increased by a massive 8% to 44% in 2020.
Again showing the impact that COVID-19 is having on mental -being and cognitive health problems.
Consumers can often struggle to get to sleep at night, and there's many reasons for this.
Sometimes they can be self-inflicted, such as consumers using technology.
Directly before they go to bed, consumers have unstructured dietary habits, meaning they can often feel bloated, which is something that can struggle them to get to sleep.
They can also binge watch and streamline television services.
However, there's also feelings of stress and anxiety that are keeping consumers awake at night.
And again, as mentioned, consumers recognize that this is something that just doesn't impact on their mood and energy levels, but can actually also have a direct impact on the immune system.
With consumers recognizing that if they feel tired and rundown, then they're actually more vulnerable to disease and illness.
Disrupted sleep patterns are common, with few consumers sleeping throughout the night.
We know that many consumers are not happy with their sleep quality.
40% of consumers say that they find it difficult to get to sleep once they've gotten to bed, meaning even when the consumers finished their daily obligations and got into bed, they can often sit there struggling to drift off at night, because they're thinking about a wide variety of issues.
And a massive 8 in 10 consumers say that they're normally woken at least once in the average night.
And there can be a variety of reasons for this, such as temperatures indoors, noises outside, small children, partners snoring, but also feelings of stress and anxiety.
Nevertheless, it shows that sleep quality has been impacted.
And many consumers are not having the daily recommended intake of sleep per day, something which will impact on energy levels, but also concentration levels and levels of focus.
And just to highlight there, we asked consumers why they struggle to get to sleep in the evening and the main reason for this was worries and feelings of stress, and when related to this, what kind of stress consumers have, 79% of the health and -being of loved ones.
We know consumers feel that time is a precious commodity.
We know that consumers are more concerned than ever before about, elderly relatives.
When it's late at night and consumers are tired and they're overthinking things, sometimes these thoughts can often be irrational, something that was highlighted in the in the research, but nevertheless, it shows that consumers are laying in bed, worrying at night, and this is something that's impacting on their sleep health which will directly impact on their mental -being.
As a result of this, a considerable proportion of consumers are looking to take steps to improve their sleeping patterns.
When asked what steps they're taking, consumers are most likely to change their diets, meaning they're focusing on the elimination of bad ingredients and processed foods such as sugar, but also looking to increase their intake of vitamins and minerals and other ingredients that are associated with improving sleep quality.
Consumers are also looking to improve their sleep hygiene habits.
And they're trying to reduce their intake, their their dependency on digital devices such as using tablets and iPads and smartphones directly before they go to bed because of the dangers of the blue lights.
But the research shows that consumers recognize that this is a serious.
Problem that they're looking to address.
And over the next 12 months, this is something that will become particularly critical as we mentioned.
Stress, sleep, poor mental -being were already common.
They were exacerbated by COVID-19 and consumers expect those trends to continue in 2021.
Thank you very much for listening.
I will now pass you over to our next presenter, Catherine.
Thank you.
Good morning.
As became evident in the previous slides, mental health problems and a particular anxiety represent a very big challenge to our society.
Anxiety affects approximately 25% of the EU population each year or half a billion people worldwide.
As was really nicely explained in the previous slides, is there are a number of factors that influence our mental health, such as physical health, but also sleep, exercise, and environmental factors.
Think, for example, about the current on off lockdown patterns that we're all experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
And it's also been shown that diet has a significant effect on how we feel.
One good outcome is so that research has shown that many of these factors can be targeted to significantly improve anxiety in patients, such as lifestyle changes, so better sleep hygiene, more exercise, and also diet.
In my presentation, I want to focus on the importance of supporting mental health and development and throughout the lifespan.
We're beginning to understand that much like physical health, mental wellbeing represents an important asset to our society.
And what is shown in this slide is the change of mental health across the lifespan, starting with the prenatal stage and ending with old age.
And what is also shown here is that there are a number of different factors that influence our mental health.
So there are protective factors such as very early on, , a good maternal diet, for example, during pregnancy, a healthy home environment, good education.
In adolescence, it is important how we relate to others and whether we're able to resist, peer pressure, for example, and that we engage socially.
And when we look at our working life as adults, key stress factors here are stress, which is probably no surprise to anyone.
And again, in old age, protective factors are aspects such as cognitive and mental activity and physical exercise.
And the big plus about understanding these factors is that we can then go back and develop targeted interventions in order to improve the outcome for the individual and to enhance mental health and wellbeing with significant and very important consequences for society.
The work that we do in my research group focuses on neurocognitive development throughout the first two decades of life.
And in particular we're interested in the period right around the onset of adolescence, which is a time where many things change for the individual.
So there is significant physical growth, we have hormonal changes, as as, as already mentioned before, a really strong peer orientation in that an individual is, is trying to fit in, to connect to others at the same age and to really find their social tribe.
It is also a time where many children transition into secondary school, which adds an additional upheaval during this time.
And very recently, we've also discovered that this is a key period where the gut brain access is fine-tuned.
So this turns out to be a really important factor that contributes to our understanding of the developmental changes during this time.
This is not trivial because it's also been shown that 2/3 of all mental health problems start right around the period of puberty and adolescence.
And it is also known that these early difficulties are strong predictors for lifelong mental health problems.
So what is really urgently needed is to gain a good understanding of how these many changes, and recently also our new understanding of the gut microbiome all work together.
To, improve the outcome for the individual and how we can use a better understanding of these changes in order to, push back against, the rise in mental health problems.
So one of the most common mental health problems is anxiety, which affects up to 1 in 5 children and young people and 1 in 4 adults.
Anxious people experience intensive fears and worries which lead to problems with friendships and usually poor school performance and educational attainment, but also work.
And as I said already earlier, these early difficulties are strong predictors for lifelong mental health problems.
And that is really one of the reasons of why we need to get a good handle and find good interventions to help young people at this critical developmental stage.
I'm now handing over to REN.
As Catherine indicated, the good brain access is important for mental -being, and the good microbiota seems to play an important role in this respect.
The good microbiology in general is getting more attention in relation to human health and -being.
Also for parties that produce food products and ingredients.
Every day we nourish millions of consumers around the world, but we increasingly realize that we also serve an additional target group.
The good microbiota.
The trillions of bacteria that are present in our inner outside, the gastrointestinal tract.
For long it was known that bacteria inhabited our gastrointestinal tract, but the relevance of these bacteria in human health and -being throughout life has become increasingly apparent in the last decades, also due to the development of culturing and sequencing techniques for complex ecosystems that enabled to get insight into the inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract and their characteristics.
And on the basis of the wealth of data obtained, we can conclude now that we are never alone.
In a way it's a bit confusing as to who we are.
The gut microbiota in adults is composed of over 1000 different species, which in turn are represented by various different strains, adding up to the complexity in composition.
If you consider the number of cells, the gut microbiota outnumbers the amount of human cells with 90%, so only 10% of the cells in our bodies of our cells.
The figures with respect to genetic potential of the gut microbiota species are even more impressive.
The number of bacterial genes that encode for proteins, enzymes, etc.
Outnumbered the human genes almost 150 times.
This is a bit strange idea, but the good microbiota plays a prominent role in our bodies.
However, this also provides opportunities as the microbiota composition and activity.
Can to a certain extent be steered by intervention strategies, whereas our genetic potential is fixed.
As such, we are not alone.
We live in a mutualistic relationship with the bacteria in our inner outside.
Both the human host and the good microbiota members benefit.
And knowledge on this beneficial relationship for humans is increasing and covers various aspects.
The protective role of the gut microbiota in preventing invading pathogens to thrive, a concept known as colonization resistance, was known for long, as as the breakdown for the human digestive system, indigestible food components, and making these available for the human host.
But the gut microbiota directly or indirectly through the production of specific metabolites also contributes to gut physiology, good mobility, and intestinal barrier homemostasis to protect us from harmful bacteria and underside compounds, plus in the gastrointestinal lining.
But also, for example, facilitates nutrient absorption from the gastrointestinal tract, and thus, the microbiota also has a systemic metabolic impact.
In addition, the gut microbiota has a crucial role in the development, training, and functionality of the innate and adaptive immune system.
A relationship that has also become apparent is the impact of the good microbiota on the brain.
Although this interrelationship was originally mainly acknowledged with respect to the digestive functions, for example, signaling with respect to satiety, as we know now, this seems also to hold true for brain function, behavior, and mental -being, for example, mood, stress, and anxiety.
As revealed mainly in animal studies, the gut microbiota plays an important role in the communication between the gut and the brain via the so-called good brain axis.
And this really gives food for thought, at least puts the phrase gut feeling in another perspective.
The communication between the gut and the brain appears to be bi-directional.
The microbiota, as said, playing an important role.
The central nervous system impacts gastrointestinal function and gut microbiota composition, but in turn, the gut microbiota also impacts the central nervous system.
Under healthy conditions, in case of no disease or mental issues, the good brains efficiently as it should.
But upon disturbances, for example, stress, this can result in the production of stress hormones like cortisol that treats the gastrointestinal tract through the circulation and affects GI function, for example, impacting enteric smooth muscle, but also gut microbiota composition directly or indirectly through a change in the activity of immune cells in the guts by the production of cytokines.
And this can result in gut microbiotadysbiosis or an unhealthy, unbalanced composition and activity.
It has been shown, for example, that stress can lead to reduced level of lactobacilli in the guts.
And this biosis can also lead to changes in gut derived metabolites that signal to the brain or even to the outgrowth of patopons or pathogenic bacteria which negatively impact gut physiology.
Can, for example, give rise to the impairment of the intestinal barrier.
Function And this can contribute to an inappropriate good brain access signaling.
Because the microbiota signals in different ways, and here are some pathways indicated.
The gut microbiota can activate immune cells to produce cytokines that reach and affect the brain through the circulation.
The interaction with neuroendocrine cells can also give rise to neuroactive molecules that interact, interact directly with the vagus nerve and signal to the brain, for example, by inducing region-dependent alteration in gamma amino butyric acid receptor expression in the brain.
The gut microbiotic can also produce metabolites, asset that impact the brain, like neurotransmitters, HABA as indicated, serotonin, but also short chain fatty acids that reach the brain through the circulation.
Said, as the microbiotic can truly good brain access impact brain behavior and -being, a healthy composition and activity is this of eminent importance.
But what impacts the microbiota composition, and are there opportunities to interfere when the microbiota composition is suboptimal?
Several factors are at play, as you can see here, of course, your genetic makeup and even that of your mother, as mum's genetics impact the composition of her breast milk, the first food you receive in life, and that pamper the preferred bacterial species to colonize the gastrointestinal tract, but also a type of birth, either natural via C-section.
Later in life, pregnancy is shown to have a big impact on microbio decomposition, but also aging.
Which have an impact on GI functions and good microbiota composition.
And this is mainly also due to health status, for example, underlying diseases or medicine use like antibiotics, have a great impact on microbiota composition, but also lifestyle.
For example, exercise is really important, but also important nutrition, which has an impact on microbiota composition and activity.
And this, through the good brain access could have impact on your brain and, for example, -being.
But what I said in the beginning, there are, , a lot of bacterial species, so you should really target those bacteria that have been linked with, with mental -being.
And that has, for example, been shown for bifidob bacteria and lactobacilli, as indicated on top.
What you could do is just introduce those bacteria in the gut.
But you could also stimulate those bacteria through, for example, your diet.
Some components in your diet has been shown to stimulate those bacteria, and also dietary fibers and prebiotics have been shown to stimulate beneficial bacteria and, for example, also to reduce the pathogenic bacteria that are under yoursired.
One component that has been shown to increase bifidobacteria levels is Busch.
It has a strong biphyogenic effect.
It's produced by the enzymatic conversion of lactose, by the use of an enzyme, beta galactoidase, and this gives rise to a mixture of galactose chains, starting with the glucose, with a degree of polymerization between 2 to 10, and connected to various different lings, so a complex mixture is obtained.
And it's shown on the left.
Was shown to induce PVO bacteria, increase the levels in adults.
And Catherine will elaborate on an intervention trial as she performed in accord with female late adolescent participants with the Alti.
Thank you.
I'd now like to show the results of a intervention study.
That we conducted using bioiscos.
So this is the first study of its kind that was conducted in 64 female participants.
They were aged 17 through 25 years, which places them right at the end of adolescence and early adulthood.
Our participants were stratified into groups of high and low anxious participants, and it was a double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial.
The participants underwent a four-week course of either taking prebiotics, or biotics course, or they took a placebo.
And what was done in this study is that we conducted also very comprehensive behavioral and psychological assessment both at baseline and week 4.
Participants kept a nutrition diary so that we would get some insights in what they were eating and critically also whether there were any changes in their diet.
And we also conduct, conduct stool sampling for microbiome sequencing, both at baseline and week 4, and this was done in order to understand whether the dietary intervention had an impact on the gut microbiome.
And a smaller sample of this group also underwent brain imaging, in specifically we did, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, looking at key emotion regulation regions.
The aim of this subsample was really to understand whether we could close the link from changes in the gut and behavior and to see whether there would be any differences in, brain-based metabolites that relates to mental health and -being.
In this case, that would be GABA.
And this is giving you a bit of an idea of how the experimental design looked like.
So you can see that we have a baseline, a very comprehensive psychological and behavioral assessment, stool sampling, and the brain imaging session.
Then our participants would go off for 4 weeks, take a daily dose of either the Beatis or the placebo.
Keep food diaries and then come back for the follow-up session where we would repeat the testing.
And what was really cool is this is one of the very first studies that comprehensively looks at all the different aspects and tracks the gut brain axis in this particular sample, because so far most of the evidence is based on actually all the evidence has been based on animal research, and this is the first time that this research was conducted in humans.
And this is what we found.
So our results showed that when we look at the bifidu abundance in the biotis group from baseline to follow up, we found a significant increase in bifidobacteria in our experimental group.
And there was no change in the bacteria in the placebo group.
So really a clear increase again, which is permiss of the of the bacterial bacteria increase that was shown on one of the previous slides.
So it's a nice replication of these findings.
We also then found that these dietary intervention had an effect of how anxious our participants felt.
So here you see the participant groups divided according to their own anxiety levels.
So this is for our high anxious participants.
You can see the trait anxiety on the Y axis.
And here shown for time one, the biotis and the placebo group, and then in comparison for time two, again, the biotis and the placebo group.
And the striking result here really is that only our periodtic group showed a significant reduction in trade anxiety levels, so they became less anxious based on their self-report.
When we add the low anxious group, we did not find any changes, so it seems to be there was a slight reduction overall, but it was not specific.
So our high anxious participants were the ones that benefited most from this probiotic intervention.
We also found a trend level, some changes in overt behavioral responses.
So here you see the response towards emotional stimuli.
So you could either have negative or positive stimuli.
And what is shown here on the Y axis is the bias score towards the stimuli.
And what you can see here, trend level for the two groups.
So we have biotis group and the placebo group.
We can see that this this significant interaction is really driven by the differences in how negative stimuli are processed.
So there's a bias of the biois group towards negative stimuli and away from positive stimuli, and exactly the opposite in the placebo group.
Yet, at time to post pervertic intervention, this was turned around.
And now our perverted group shows a really strong bias towards positive stimuli.
And away from negative stimuli.
Bis away from negative stimuli and there's no difference, no clear bias in the placebo group.
So this is a first sign that there may also be that these early self-reported changes in how anxious our participants feel can also be translated into changes at the behavioral level and how participants engage with emotional stimuli in their environment.
So maybe just to conclude, we showed that 4 weeks of biotics were taken daily, had a significant impact on the gut microbiotic composition, especially with regards to bacterium level, and our participants also became less anxious in self-report measures, and that was particularly the case for those that were high anxious to begin with.
So really specific effect for this group.
And there was also evidence for a change in the overt behavioral responses towards emotional stimuli, which together was obviously really encouraging.
And maybe just to, to summarize, this was the first study where we were able to, to track the effect of a dietary intervention, both at the gut level, and at the behavioral and self-report level.
And not shown here, but maybe just to add this for those interested, we also found at least in our sub-sample of participants, evidence for changes at the brain level and significant increases in brain-based neurotransmitters.
Thank you.
Thanks so much, Catherine and Arian for this exciting story and, and very cool results.
I would like to tell you a bit more about what we can do then, and, stress and anxiety are, and poor sleeping habits are common across the globe, as already mentioned by, Mike.
I touched upon it earlier.
Unfortunately, a lot of people suffer from stress, anxiety and sleeping issues, impacting their daily lives.
What is changing though, is the attention for mental -being.
It's no longer a social taboo to talk about the topic.
Where it was in the past, the social taboo, as in, yeah, it was a bit cool, even when you say, for example, I don't need a lot of sleep and I can I can I can survive the 34 hours.
And that's no longer the case.
So people start really appreciating and also understanding how important it is to, for example, sleep , or, or also de-stress and sometimes not work.
So you see that the attitude is changing, and consumers are more taking care of getting, yeah, enough, sleep, and making sure that they're not all the time stressed or, or anxious.
If you can look at, , yeah, how are these related, so we know that stress is impacting, impacting a lot, your total body, it has, it has quite a lot of impact.
For example, on mood, energy levels, but also on sleep.
It, it happens to all of us, I think, at least I cannot escape from it sometimes, if I'm stressed, I'm also not sleeping that.
But very important to understand is that for everyone, the reasons for not sleeping or being stressed are different because we're all individuals after all.
So consumers are indicating, over here you can see that stress is linked to all kinds of problems and health issues.
Next to the indications from consumers, there's sufficient scientific proof that stress positively but also more often negatively impacts other health issues.
You can easily find these results on the internet or on PubMed.
Just Google around, I would say.
What is changing also is that consumers are now looking for solutions.
So it is it's really yeah, kind of new and trending that they're really actively trying to improve their health and -being.
Looking for solutions in all different kinds of ways to solve their mental health issues, so it can be from behavior to, for example, nutrition.
44% of the consumers indicate that they have taken action to improve their mental and emotional -being.
This number is growing, and it's coming even closer to the physical -being, which is now still leading the pack with 52%.
Other ways how to improve this, functional food is, one option, and we see that the demand is on the rise on, on functional food.
Looking at new concepts launched in food and beverage space, we see an increase in feel good products, 21%, nutrition targeting sleep, 18%, and relaxation, 12%, all new and emerging categories.
What is the preferred intake for consumers?
50% of the consumers indicate that they increased the consumption of functional foods and drinks over the past year.
But when looking at different ways how to consume functional nutrition, we see a clear shift.
Where traditionally powder and tablets were popular, consumers, consumer research indicates that food and drinks are gaining market share.
So away a bit from traditional pill popping to the so-called close to normal food trend.
This gives brand owners the possibility to come up with new food and beverage concepts which we also see happening right now.
Brand owners stepping into the opportunity.
They're trying to ride the wave and provide consumers with a format that fits the occasion best.
And over here you see some examples of food and beverage concepts that are launched recently or in the past years, targeting mental -being and like stress and sleep.
So a wide variety of energy companies are stepping into the category right now.
So what are consumers then looking for?
What's the right format?
We ask consumers what's really important for them when it comes to consuming functional solutions.
And a lot of information insights that came out of that research, and of course it differs a lot per target group or per health benefit you're targeting, but also regional differences.
But two things really stood out and are, I think, valid for all is when it comes to nutritional solutions, they should be natural and they should be non-addictive.
And next to that, it's important to easily fit into their daily lives.
A tasty and convenient choice, fitting the occasion so that you can create an example, yeah, kind of a healthy habit, a new habit.
And that's exactly where Botte's brain and where Bootte's brain comes in.
Bootte's team developed a relax HealthShock solution based on Baotte's galacto oleosaccharides, which we already used for decades in early life nutrition.
They develop this health shot is supporting consumers' mental -being in a holistic way.
A tasty, convenient friend to stay, or get back into, into balance.
So we designed the relax shot to meet the important consumer demands.
So it's a 100% natural shot and safe for daily use, a non-addictive and non-habit forming, and and it targets stress and anxiety in a holistic way, be it a so-called good brain access, which I already elaborated on earlier.
So it supports stress and mood management.
It supports digestive health, and it may have an impact on sleep quality.
It's a unique solution supported by clinical evidence supporting consumers with building their mental resilience, maintaining mental balance, and reducing feelings of stress and anxiety.
As already mentioned, a special role for bio is collector oligosaccharides.
Bio oleosaccharides stimulate the gut microbiota, which signals the brain to produce neurotransmitters that lower your stress levels.
You can indeed see this in reduction of cortisol levels, which earlier studies already indicated.
Next to that, studies suggest that biotis galacto oleosaccharides stimulate the production of Lactobacillus and B for the bacteria, which may reduce stress and anxiety symptoms that are connected to, for example, a good night's sleep.
And as mentioned by Catherine and Ariane earlier, it's supported with the first human clinical trial in women showing a reduction of feelings of stress and anxiety.
Now, how can you then, yeah, work with this kind of ingredients?
The possibilities and opportunities are, are many.
Biote gauze is an ingredient rich in non-digestible galactoleosaccharides.
It's a very versatile ingredient, heat and acid stable and very easy to fit into daily, in different applications for daily life and formats which you can use, actually every, every day.
The very clean sensory profile and the slight sweet flavor also make it an ideal ingredient for food formulators.
Yeah, and that's, of course, always the big question.
What can you claim?
What can you communicate, and what can you say around relax and unwind.
On the left side, you see some possible communications, so, e.g., stimulation of gut bacteria, alleviating psychological stress, reduction of anxiety, and, of course, this can differ per country and needs to be compliant with the legal requirements.
Our experts can support and work together with you on this, if you would like to position it in your market.
Yeah, and then the question, how to launch a successful formula.
It depends, of course, on the target group and the position.
The biotis relaxed health shot is typically positioned as a functional food.
So that it's between, , more normal foods, so with broad claims, and pharma, which is purely functional.
Positioning for consumers who actively seek for solutions, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety, I think it's a relevant topic for both genders, although we would recommend to position it in a slightly different way for each gender.
And how can you use it then?
It can be used in a preventative way, so it can help you build some mental resilience before, e.g., a very stressful period, which can come up, but you can also think in a more creative form.
So during specific periods of stress, so you're a bit, you're already a bit stressed, you can get back into balance, in 14 or 21 days, for example.
So in a nutshell, some takeaways.
Mental -being is a growing consumer concern.
Stress, anxiety, and poor sleeping habits are unfortunately common across the globe.
A relevant the, unfortunately, due to COVID, even more relevant, I think.
Biotara offers holistic, natural solutions to boost your mental -being in a natural way.
It targets stress via the emerging good brain axis, tapping into the digestive health, sleep, and stress category.
The efficacy of biotis oleosaccharides is backed up by a lot of clinical data, as already mentioned by, , by IN and Catherine.
Now also with the first human clinical trial in women showing a reduction of feelings of stress and anxiety.
So the question to you is, Do you have the gut to stress a bit less?
No.
This proposition is part of Biotes brain health, from sleep and mood enhancement to improve mental focus, clarity, agility to healthy aging and mental resilience.
And the Biote brain health umbrella offers a wide spectrum of solutions.
So solutions to nourish mind and brain.
And if you're interested to learn more, get inspired, or just want to try and experience some of the solutions yourself, feel free to reach out and we will see how we can how we can help you.
This is the second solution after the recently launched Sleep range.
We launched earlier, I think the beginning of October.
Be able to sleep formulation is, is a combination of prebiotics and protein for adults who want to improve their sleep quality in a natural way.
And that all comes together in our Biois umbrella, an exciting new brand from Frio Campia ingredients which represents a whole new era of ingredient science.
The Biotes range of health benefit solutions are all based on the age-old principle of working with the body's natural processes.
The solutions launched under the Biois brand can be used by our B2B brand owners for their new product launches, focusing on different health benefits.
And over here you see an overview of the focus areas where we launched Gut health already earlier this year, together with maternal health and recently brain health, focusing on mental -being.
As you can see on the, on the right hand side, you see a preview that immune health solutions for natural immune support, they will follow soon, early next year.
So we're already at the end, and I would like to thank everyone for listening, and Mike, Catherine, Aran for great presentations and stories about mental -being and how the good brain axis can support.
With that, I would like to open the floor for questions.
As mentioned, if we don't address your question within the session, don't worry, we'll make sure that we answer all of the questions after the webinar.
And I see the first questions coming in.
Let me see.
I think this one is for you, Mike, from, from Angela.
You show that people have become even more stressed and feeling anxious with the recent COVID situation.
What are your expectations for the consumer interest in mental -being post COVID?
Thank you very much.
I think it's a great question.
One of the things that we've been exploring at the moment is how will consumer attitudes change, post COVID.
Obviously it's been a very, a very turbulent year.
My view is it will remain the same things such as stress and anxiety have been intensified because, consumers have had a variety of concerns about the economy, the health and -being of themselves, the health and -being of loved ones, etc.
But the reality is that even before the pandemic, the, the, the kind of frantic nature of modern life meant consumers have many stresses.
They were juggling with finances on a day to day basis.
They often try to cram as many activities into the day and didn't have time to relax.
They often struggle to switch off in the, in the evening.
And these are trends that will continue, even after, you know, recovering from COVID.
At the same time, consumers are also recognizing that actually things such as stress, anxiety, poor sleep health, don't just impact on your, your, your energy levels and your mood levels, but, but can actually have a direct impact on the immune system, because if you're, if you're feeling more vulnerable, you're feeling more tired, then you might be more easily susceptible to, disease and illness in the long term.
So I think what will happen is we will see the continuing trend that We've seen over the last 3 to 5 years where mental -being comes at the forefront of health, just as important as physical health, and consumers will continue to take steps to address their, their mental -being and issues such as sleep and stress, especially as they kind of step back after 2020 and re-evaluate what's important to them.
So I, I don't think it's something that's impacted purely by COVID.
I think this is just , a continuing trend that's been accelerated by COVID-19 but will continue to be increasingly relevant for, the foreseeable future.
Thanks a lot there, Mike.
Got another one coming in for Catherine, Armand.
How representable will the study results of stressed young ladies be for other age groups and, men, for example?
Catherine, can you help us a bit?
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yeah, that's a very good point.
So based on the, the results of our study, we now have a really good idea about this particular age group, which also reports generally with high levels of anxiety.
And what is now needed is more research into other age groups and gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic backgrounds, nutrition habits, and so forth.
I think it's really important to remember that, in development, it makes very little sense to mix different age groups and even just to mix gender because of the , the many changes during this period.
And, one of the, the, the shortcomings of the evidence that we have to date is that a lot of studies have indeed mixed gender and a large range of age, ages, so.
May actually not be as representable.
So going forward, we need to be working with very narrow age ranges and very, very targeted interventions in order to, to make sure that our results are beneficial for our, stakeholders.
Thanks a lot, Katherine.
I actually have another one for you over here, and that is, , coming from Hector.
And how restrictive was your research performed?
Did you control food intake, sleep, and these kinds of variables?
Yeah, that's, that's a good question.
So we asked our participants to self-report on their, diet and also on factors such as sleep, menstrual cycle, and how much exercise they did.
So, going forward, we will try and take even tighter control of some of these factors.
But, however, it's really important to remember that this is research conducted with humans and not with animals, where we have a much better control of what is happening to participants.
And at the end of the day, our interventions need to be robust enough to be integrated in real life because, I'm sure people would object to.
Having to live, to adjust many other factors at the same time.
So we're very confident that with our level of control, our intervention is valid.
Thanks a lot, Catherine.
I have one from Lillian over here for you, Ardan, I think, I think you can answer this one best.
Great to learn these insights on the importance of the microbiota.
What could be next steps to zoom in on the impact of the microbiota on mental -being.
Yeah thanks for this question.
Yeah, but Catherine showed was the the impact of the intervention with the calls on bifida bacteria.
The link is known, , from, from other studies, but I think the next step would be to zoom in more on, on the additional microbiota differences between the placebo group and the intervention group.
Whether also other genera or species can be linked with those lower anxiety levels, because in this study we used the 16S ribosomal RNA analysis, and this gives rather a low resolution.
So a metagenomics, for example, could, could give a higher resolution and reveal also other strains or cross feeding with other bacteria.
Which can be linked to, to, to the outcomes.
Also, for example, , reduction in, in pathogens.
So that would be next steps.
And, and in this respect, it's also of interest to compare the low anxious and the high anxious group, because the difference in microbiotic composition could already reveal, some, some underlying mechanisms.
But of course, then you have to also take into account that there could be interdividual.
Differences.
So you should, discriminate those from, from, the real link with, with anxiety.
Yeah.
Thanks a lot, Arian.
I think, back to you, Mike, on this one from from Christa.
Really interesting to see the rise in consumer interest for mental -being.
What challenges do consumers have when trying to improve their mental -being?
Again, I think it relates back to the, the first thing that I mentioned about, the frantic nature of modern life is something that means that despite consumers' best intentions, they can sometimes struggle to improve their work-life balance.
We know consumers are getting up earlier, they're traveling longer to work, they're working longer hours, taking fewer breaks, trying to juggle a variety of, obligations, both personal and professional at home.
And the reality is that this is something that will, continue over the next, you know, few years.
Consumers have digital dependency, so it's not just, you know, some, some of the, some of this time scarcity is something that's, self-inflicted rather than an inevitable consequence.
But I think it's about consumers finding the time to make the work work-life balance, and the reality is for many consumers, especially the younger ones, they'll study to do, they'll struggle to do that, at least in the short term, so.
They won't be able to actually make fundamental changes to their, their, their lifestyle, so instead they'll turn to products to help facilitate relaxation.
So this is something that will drive demand for products that help improve stress levels, help aid relaxation, help improve quality of sleep because consumers will say actually I can't make the fundamental changes to my lifestyle that I want because of.
Modern living, I'm, I'm not going to be able to change that in the near future, but what I can do is actually return to functional foods.
Specifically promoted around ingredients and and health claims and facilitate these into my, into my diet and when it comes to these products, it's important that these products are seen as credible, affordable and basically to incorporate into diets and if if brands can help offer that, it's something that will appeal immensely to these consumers.
Yeah.
Thanks a lot.
Thanks, Mike.
Another one coming in, Arian.
So Sultan, with your research, you focus a lot on microbiota composition.
Should you determine microbiota composition, or rather microbiota activity to reveal the relationship between the gut microbiota and mental -being?
It's a long question.
I hope you, understand it.
Yeah, but it's a good one.
It's a good one.
Because what I said, we focused on the microbiota composition, at a rather, rather low resolution.
So you could, metagenomics, apply that to, to, to look at, yeah, at a higher resolution at the at the bacterial species.
But you could also use that, to look at genetic potential.
What are the differences between, , what is the differences between the genetic potential of, of the the microbiota in low anxious or high anxious subjects.
Because what I said is the signaling through the brain is often through metabolites.
So you could look for, genetic potential that, that, that, can encode those metabolites, and, and yeah, compare that between the low and the high anxious group.
Or you can even go a step further to look really at the metabolites and see whether you can find differences between the different groups.
So that would really help to, to get a better understanding in the mechanisms underlying the effects, which were shown in the, the study of, of Catherine.
Yeah.
Yeah, thanks, thanks, Arian.
Catherine, one last one for you, I think from Joey.
Why is the period of adolescence of particular importance to interventions?
Or more generally, whether there are any sensitive periods where interventions might be most effective?
Can you give a perspective on that one?
Yes, yeah, good point.
So adolescence is a developmental period where many things change at the same time.
So we have physical changes, hormonal changes, changes in our social environment, and, and this is really important, we have ongoing brain maturation that extends into the 3rd decade of life.
So it is a, a, a concern that any kind of behavioral patterns and brain network activation patterns will become hardwired for, and with detrimental effects for the individual in the longer term.
So this is one of the reasons why we focus on this period as a potential intervention period for microbiome gut brain access interventions.
It's also been shown in animals and this is a time where the gut-brain axis becomes fine-tuned.
So really an important point of where we hope that That our interventions can have good effects.
However, as we already mentioned in our presentation, there are many other points where the, where it is important to intervene, such as the prenatal period, the, the so-called early years, postnatally, and really across the lifespan, that many, changing, turning points where people feel, feel stressed or under pressure.
So, yeah, lots of opportunity for intervention.
Yeah, thanks a lot, Katherine and yeah, unfortunately you have a hard stop.
I do realize that we we have a lot of questions unanswered as I already promised we will get back to you on these ones after the webinar.
And we will also get back to you with a very short survey, I understood from, , from your organization, , and it would be nice if you can, if you can fill that one in.
But for now, I would like to, to wish you, yeah, first of all, yeah, a very, a very nice and, and pleasant day.
Stay healthy and stay safe.
Thanks a lot for listening in to our webinar, and I hope you, you've enjoyed it, and, more important.
You also learned from it, from it, from, , something from it.
So.
Yeah, I wish you actually a very nice day, and if you're close to sleep, sleep , and, and not try to relax a bit during these, during these times.
Catch up later, and, thanks again.
Bye bye.
