Cheese Diet with Resveratrol is Effective in Correcting Stress Disorders

11:52, June 30, 2023

Consumption of the fortified product reduces anxiety and increases dopamine levels

Scientists from the Ural Federal University, Chelyabinsk State University and the Institute of Experimental Medicine (St. Petersburg) have for the first time proved and demonstrated the effectiveness of a cheese diet against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reports TASS. The research was conducted with the help of new functional foods with biologically active substances - cheese with resveratrol. The development of cheese with resveratrol was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project № 20-66-47017).

"We developed a technology to extract resveratrol from plant material, Fallopia baldschanica (Baldjuan highlander). During the research, it became clear that the best form of resveratrol assimilation was in dairy products. We developed technologies to produce cheeses fortified with vitamin D, resveratrol and piperine with probiotic properties. Colleagues at the N.N. Petrov National Medical Research Center for Oncology obtained data on better bioavailability of resveratrol in capsules. Based on this information, we developed rennet cheese, which colleagues at Chelyabinsk State University tested on animals," explains project co-author Elena Kovaleva, head of the Laboratory of Biotransformation Technologies and Food Chemistry at UrFU.

Olga Tseilikman, Dean of the Faculty of Fundamental Medicine at Chelyabinsk State University, noted that the use of a cheese (with resveratrol) diet had a positive effect on laboratory white rats with post-traumatic stress disorder syndrome.

"PTSD is a serious mental disorder that develops in people who have experienced a life-threatening event. The problem of prevention and treatment of PTSD is one of the most pressing tasks not only for medicine, but for civilization as a whole. The main obstacle to the effective treatment of PTSD is the low efficiency of modern drugs. For the first time in Russia, and perhaps in the world, scientists of the Faculty of Basic Medicine of Chelyabinsk State University in cooperation with researchers of the Ural Federal University and scientists of the Institute of Experimental Medicine have demonstrated the effectiveness of correction of this syndrome by cheese diet," Dean Tseilikman said.

She said animals subjected to experimental PTSD were fed a diet of hard, ripe cheese for 14 days. Another group of similar PTSD rats were kept on a normal diet.

"It was clearly found that rats kept on a normal diet showed increased anxiety. The concentrations of dopamine and serotonin were significantly reduced under stress in the parts of the brain where long-term memory is formed, namely the hippocampus. Cheese consumption, on the other hand, reduced the manifestation of anxiety and increased the concentration of dopamine. In addition, cheese consumption led to an increase in the activity of genes responsible for the production of neurotrophins, i.e. protein plasticity factors of neurons," explains Olga Tseilikman.

She added that PTSD in humans can lead to both behavioral disorders and complications in the cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, and immune systems. Currently, there are only attempts to treat PTSD with psychotherapy alone.

Reference

Nutrition is a factor that determines proper development, health and ability to work. According to the World Health Organization, 60-70% of human health depends on nutrition, the rest is a matter of genetics, ecology and heredity. Currently, there is a lack of nutrients and biologically active substances in modern food, unbalanced diet and poor quality of food products. Scientists are working to create foods enriched with biologically active substances. Such products are called functional foods because they are designed to maintain and improve health and reduce the risk of disease due to the presence of functional ingredients.

The news article was translated by UrFU International Marketing Office. 
info.international@urfu.ru, +7 (343) 375-45-19