5. Conclusions and Future Directions
cognitive decline
DISEASE MODEL
These findings provide hypothesis-generating evidence that beta-glucan may be beneficial for several affective and physical states in ME/CFS. For example, its positive effect on cognitive function and gut microbiome could be extended and applied in a disease model of cognitive decline. Since information is lacking on the effects on non-GI symptoms in ME/CFS of dietary fibers in general, and of beta-glucan in particular, these results provide potentially useful data for the design of controlled studies required to confirm these observations.This study provides the first evidence that beta-glucan administration improves indices of cognition function with major beneficial effects all along the gut microbiota–immune–brain axis. Our data suggest that the consumption of 1 g of beta-glucan is an easily implementable nutritional strategy for alleviating the detrimental features of gut–brain dysregulation and for preventing cognitive decline in ME/CFS.