The Impact of Probiotics on Wellbeing: An Open-Label study during the Winter in Healthcare Workers

Abstract Employment within healthcare settings can place a significant strain on the general wellbeing of staff, particularly during the winter. There is a link between health and wellbeing and the composition of the gut microbiota and daily supplementation with probiotics has been shown to stabilise/modulate the gut microbiota which may help support the health and wellbeing of healthcare workers. In this exploratory, single-arm, open-label, remotely-conducted study, National Health Service employees in Wales received a daily dose of probiotic for 8 weeks over the winter season and those volunteering to take part reported their perception of quality of life including sleep quality, energy levels and mood and their physical discomforts including bloating and muscle ache at weekly intervals throughout the intervention period (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05968209 ). Compared to the start of the study, their sleep quality significantly improved by 34.2%, their energy levels by 29.2% and their overall mood by 24.3% after 8 weeks of probiotic supplementation. Their general wellbeing had significantly improved by 16%. The prevalence of bloating decreased significantly from 75% at the start of the study to 42% by the study end, and muscle aches fell from 76% to 45%. The findings indicate that the wellbeing of healthcare workers over the winter months improved whilst receiving daily probiotic supplementation. Further work is required in a placebo-controlled, randomised, double-blind study.