The gut-brain axis has been potentially proposed as a link between the intake of fermented dairy foods, such as cheese and yoghurt, and depression.

A newly published study in China has found that consumption of fermented dairy products appears to reduce the risk of depression. The study, published in February 2023, is entitled: Fermented dairy foods consumption and depressive symptoms: A meta-analysis of cohort studies

The study was carried out at Sichuan University by Yupeng Luo, Zhuo Li, Liya Gu and Kui Zhang and took the form of a meta-analysis on published cohort studies from 2010 to 2022.

Their meta-analysis indicated that fermented dairy foods intake may have potential beneficial effect on depression via the gut-brain axis but that eating huge quantities of those foods didn’t increase the effects.

The full paper is available to read here:

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0281346