Probiotics and gut health aren’t a secret. It seems like everyone has heard about the gut-brain axis and how a healthy gut influences cognitive performance. But where common knowledge stops, the scientific literature has continued to push.
Gut health research has further expanded in implications and application. While people are still parroting fun facts about serotonin production in the gut, research is finding new connections like the gut-muscle axis and uncovering the gut’s influence on inflammatory responses.
These findings have found their way into the realm of sport science research and application.
Today, The Research Desk breaks down a 2025 review of probiotics and their ability to go beyond supporting gut health for the purposes of generalized health and support physical and mental performance through a myriad of mechanisms.
PMID: 40319213
To date, this might be one of the most extensive reviews of gut health, its direct and indirect effects on performance, probiotic modulation, and the associated mechanisms.
Gut health has been shown to have implications for both brain health and muscle function, via the gut-brain axis and gut-muscle axis, respectively. As previously stated, the former is pretty well established with studies showing that the production of multiple metabolites and compounds in the gut play pivotal roles in mood regulation, cognitive performance, appetite, and stress response.
This review makes it clear that microbiota is not a bystander in the gut-brain axis but a key player in its performance through regulating multiple communication pathways.
Similar communication pathways have also been established between the gut and muscle mass. The review dives into multiple mechanisms and concludes that the gut-muscle axis is more than a byproduct of metabolism. A mutually beneficial bidirectional relationship exists between the two organ systems.
Finally, gut health’s implications for immune and gastrointestinal function are called to light.
Probiotic consumption has been shown to positively affect gut health. This directly, and positively, affects the communication and performance of the gut-brain and gut-muscle axes. Additionally, these positive impacts on gut health help support immune and gastrointestinal function.
Vitality Take
Probiotic consumption, either through food or supplementation, has been shown to elicit a myriad of health benefits.
The most interesting point of this review is that it shows that these benefits reach well beyond health and push into sports performance.
This review specifically calls out three genera of bacteria: Lactobacillus, Veillonella, and Bifidobacterium, and specifically names relevant strains along with their demonstrated benefits for performance.
Between the three genera, consumption promoted exercise performance, reduced fatigue, inflammation modulation, immune and gastrointestinal function and improved gut-brain and gut-muscle communication. All of these changes either directly or indirectly support cognitive and physical performance.
The specific strain call out is extremely important to the future of probiotic research and application. Just like with blood biomarkers, specific strains and their concentrations can have implications for performance. Understanding these relationships will help drive better personalization of probiotic application for maximized benefits.
Vitality Application
Vitality recognizes gut health as a pillar of performance in its own right. But this review calls to light the extensive reach of this functional area. Gut health was shown to influence inflammation status, and brain chemistry functional areas and have implications for muscular strength and endurance performance.
Gut health touches almost every area of performance. Consuming probiotics, either through whole foods or supplementation, is one of the best ways to support this crucial system.
Recommendation: Supplement with at least 16 billion CFUs of probiotics that include Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species daily. For those who prefer whole foods, eat at least one serving of fermented food, like yogurt, kimchi, and kefir, daily. Following these recommendations together will help ensure adequate gut health support.
Explore the Vitality Encyclopedia to learn more about these topics.
