The use of probiotics causes a significant accumulation of bacteria in the small intestine. This is known to result in disorienting brain fogginess and belly bloating.
According to a study conducted on 30 patients taking probiotics, 20 of the patients reported difficulty in concentrating, confusion, gas and bloating. On investigating further, large colonies of bacteria were found breeding in the small intestines of the patients. In addition to this, the lactobacillus bacteria were producing high levels of D-lactic acid.
D-lactic acid is considered to be temporarily toxic to brain cells, it interferes with a person’s sense of time, thinking and cognition. Some patients also had two to three times the normal amount of D-lactic acid in the blood. For some, the brain fogginess lasted for more than half an hour after eating. It became so severe that it forced the patients to quit their jobs.
The report published in the journal, Clinical and Translational Gastroenterology is the first report to have established a connection between probiotic use, high levels of D-lactic acid and bacterial overgrowth in the intestine with brain fogginess.
“What we now know is that probiotic bacteria have the unique capacity to break down sugar and produce D-lactic acid. So if you inadvertently colonize your small bowel with probiotic bacteria, then you have set the stage for potentially developing lactic acidosis and brain fogginess,” says Dr. Satish S.C. Rao, director of neurogastroenterology/motility and the Digestive Health Clinical Research Center at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
While probiotics are beneficial in certain cases, excessive and indiscriminate use can cause problems with brain fogginess and excessive bloating.
“Probiotics should be treated as a drug, not as a food supplement,” Rao says.
it has been implicated that probiotics produce D-lactic acid which is linked with brain fogginess in patients with small bowel. Short bowel syndrome causes small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and high levels of D-lactic acid. Severe liver and kidney problems are also a cause of similar problems. However, if there is a connection when the gut is intact is unknown. “This is the first inroad,” says Rao.
The brain fogginess resolved when the patients stopped taking the probiotics and took a course of antibiotics.
References
Rao, S. S., Rehman, A., Yu, S., & De Andino, N. M. (2018). Brain fogginess, gas and bloating: a link between SIBO, probiotics and metabolic acidosis. Clinical and translational gastroenterology, 9(6).