Trial reportJournal of health, population, and nutrition2025
The effect of probiotic-fortified kefir on depression, appetite, oxidative stress, and inflammatory parameters in Iranian overweight and obese elderly: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.
Trial report in Journal of health, population, and nutrition, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The efficacy of probiotics, prebiotics, and synbiotics on anxiety, depression, and sleep: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.BMC psychiatry · 2025Pooled it
- Efficacy of Adjunct PRObiotics as Compared to the Standard Care in Moderate Unipolar Depression Among Geriatric Patients: A Randomized Double-Blind Placebo-Controlled Pilot Multi-Center Trial (PRODG).Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2026Trial
- Probiotic Bacteria in Stimulating Human Physiological Responses: Metabolic Function and Overall Health.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Microbiota-Gut-Brain Axis Disruption, Neuroinflammation, and Potential Antioxidant-Based Treatments in Metabolic Diseases.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fermentation method outweighs geographic origin in shaping kefir'sFood chemistry: X · 2026Article
- Kefir Consumption and Health Effects Based on Human Clinical Trials: An Overview of Literature.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Nutritional interventions for late-life depression: evidence, mechanisms, and clinical assessment tools.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Review
- How are kefir microbial communities and product characteristics maintained in industrial production?Current research in microbial sciences · 2026Review
- Functional Foods in Modern Nutrition Science: Mechanisms, Evidence, and Public Health Implications.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Plateau Environment, Gut Microbiota, and Depression: A Possible Concealed Connection?Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Fermented Dairy Products as Precision Modulators of Gut Microbiota and Host Health: Mechanistic Insights, Clinical Evidence, and Future Directions.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Gut microbiota as a novel target for treating anxiety and depression: from mechanisms to multimodal interventions.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
- Kefir and healthy aging: revealing thematic gaps through AI-assisted screening and semantic evidence mapping.Frontiers in aging · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIt has been shown that the microflora of the gastrointestinal tract undergoes changes in obese individuals. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of kefir fortified with two strains, Lactobacillus helveticus and Bifidobacterium longum, on depression, appetite, oxidative stress, and inflammatory parameters in overweight and obese elderly individuals.
methodsThis study was a double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled clinical trial conducted on 67 elderly men aged over 65, who were randomly divided into two groups. One group (n = 35) received one bottle (240 cc) of regular kefir as a placebo, while the intervention group (n = 32) received one bottle of probiotic-fortified kefir for eight weeks. Depression and appetite were evaluated using the Geriatric Depression Scale-15 (GDS-15) and a validated Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), respectively. Oxidative stress parameters were assessed using the standard calorimetric method, and inflammatory parameters were measured via the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method (ELISA). The differences between the two groups were compared using the independent samples T-test.
resultsThe median age of participant in both groups was 65 years. A significant difference in depression scores and the mean change between the two groups was observed after eight weeks (p = 0.001 and p = 0.042, respectively). Within-group comparison revealed a significant increase in appetite scores in both groups (p < 0.05 for both). Moreover, a significant difference in the changes in total antioxidant capacity (TAC) was noted (p = 0.009). However, no significant differences were observed in other oxidative and inflammatory parameters between the two groups (p˃0.05 for all).
conclusionsThe results demonstrated the positive impact of two specific strains of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus on improving depression in the elderly. However, when comparing the two groups, no significant effects were observed on appetite, inflammation, and oxidative stress parameters, except for TAC.
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Registered trials
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