Gut microbial diversity and inferred capacity to produce short-chain fatty acids are associated with acute stress reactivity in healthy adults
PMC13054403
· 10.1016/j.ynstr.2026.100807
Gap Declaration
Details of the post-hoc power analysis still indicated adequate power to detect medium-to-large-sized effects (Supplementary Results 6). These effect sizes fall within the range typically reported in human studies linking the gut microbiota to behavioral and physiological variables. We recommend that future studies use larger and more evenly distributed participant samples and integrate relevant behavioral, microbial, and physiological markers of post-stress recovery and potential differences pertaining to biological sex. To conclude, we investigated the role of the gut microbiota in modulating acute stress in healthy adults. Higher microbial diversity was associated with higher (both cortisol and subjective) stress reactivity after acute stress.
Abstract
Acute stress triggers the release of stress hormones such as cortisol, increasing stress reactivity and aiding post-stress recovery. Rodent studies revealed that stress reactivity is modulated by the gut microbiota, and few interventional studies have provided evidence for an effect on human cortisol dynamics. However, it remains unclear whether stress reactivity is related to interindividual variations in gut microbial composition and to one's capacity to produce microbial metabolites such as short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). To close this gap, we analyzed data from 74 healthy human adults who completed the study in the laboratory and were either exposed to a well-established, standardized intervention that induced acute stress or to a non-stressful control condition (n = 35/39 per stress/…
Conclusions / Discussion
Discussion In the present study, we investigated whether individual differences in gut microbiota composition and in the inferred gut microbial capacity to produce certain SCFAs were linked to (cortisol and subjective) stress reactivity and post-stress recovery following acute stress in healthy adults. Several key findings emerged: First, higher gut microbial alpha diversity was associated with higher cortisol stress reactivity and higher levels of subjective stress across individuals. This effect was contrary to what we had expected but was consistently observed for several well-established alpha diversity metrics, highlighting a modulatory role of the gut microbiota on the physiological and psychological dimensions of stress. Surprisingly, we were unable to confirm a relationship between gut microbial alpha diversity and post-stress recovery. Second, individuals with a higher relative abundance of butyrate-producing bacteria tended to show higher cortisol stress reactivity in response to acute stress. This relationship was reversed for propionate, where a higher relative abundance of propionate-producing bacteria was tied to lower cortisol stress reactivity. Together, these resul…
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