Anxiety, or worry, is experienced by just about everyone at some point. Some people have anxiety disorders, which are more serious conditions, but it’s safe to say that most people experience at least occasional anxiety. That’s why a new study on omega-3s found in fish oil is so exciting. It’s the first study to look at the effects of fish oil on anxiety in a healthy population—meaning, in people who don’t already have an anxiety disorder. It’s already known that fish oil can be helpful for those people. But what about people who only experience anxiety here and there?

The researchers took a group of medical students and gave them omega-3 supplements for three months. The supplements contained 2,085 mg of EPA and 348 mg of DHA. Another group got a placebo. After three months, the group taking the fish oil showed a 20 percent reduction in anxiety scores and a 14 percent reduction in the production of the inflammatory marker interleukin-6 (IL-6) over the placebo group.

IL-6 is an inflammatory cytokine. Depression and anxiety are both known to involve the production of inflammatory cytokines. This is one of the gut-brain connections, actually, since the inflammation can originate in the gut. Omega-3s were able to reduce these inflammatory compounds, highlighting just one way they may be helping mood disorders like depression and anxiety.

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Probiotics are well known for their beneficial effects on the gut. But these beneficial bacteria have far-reaching effects that you wouldn’t think had anything to do with the digestive tract. One of the main reasons for this is due to the fact that over 70% of the immune system resides in the gut, in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT). These beneficial gut bacteria “communicate,” in a sense, with the immune system. When there is a healthy balance of good bacteria, the immune system responds properly. When there is an imbalance, the immune system might miss the message altogether. Then the sniffles begin.

A recent study found that daily consumption of the probiotic strains Lactobacillus plantarum and Lactobacillus paracasei helped protect study participants against the common cold, as well as reduced symptoms for those who contracted colds. Just more proof that the gut is connected to other systems of the body. Our gut health is truly at the heart of our total-body health. So next time you reach for a tissue, reach for some probiotics, too.

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