SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition, Psychology and Brain Health
This article is part of the Research TopicBrain Health Across the Lifespan: Nutritional Interventions and Physical Exercise for Healthy AgingView all 8 articles
Prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics and maternal mental health during pregnancy and postpartum period: A systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health Faculty of Medicine, University of Granada, Granada, Spain
- 2Instituto de Investigacion Biosanitaria de Granada, Granada, Spain
- 3Consorcio Centro de Investigacion Biomedica en Red, Madrid, Spain
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Background: Depression and anxiety are common during pregnancy and postpartum, affecting both mothers’ and offspring health. Emerging research suggests gut microbiota may influence these conditions, providing a potential non-pharmacological approach for primary prevention, particularly in women without a prior mental health diagnosis. Aim: To assess the effect of prebiotics, probiotics, and synbiotics as dietary interventions targeting gut microbiota for preventing mental health disorders during pregnancy and postpartum in women without diagnosed mental health disorders. Methods: The protocol was prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42024576678). A comprehensive search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), Scopus, and Web of Science from inception to March 2025, without language restriction. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving pregnant or early postpartum women without a diagnosed mental health disorder, evaluating prebiotics, probiotics, or synbiotics and reporting maternal mental health outcomes, were included. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool. Results: Of the 1,401 records identified, four RCTs (n = 1,342 women) met the inclusion criteria. All RCTs evaluated probiotics interventions, none assessed prebiotics or synbiotics. Of four, two RCTs using Lactobacillus rhamnosus HN001, Limosilactobacillus reuteri PBS072 and Bifidobacterium breve reported small but significant reductions in depressive symptoms (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, MD= −1.2; 95% CI (−2.3, −0.1)) and anxiety symptoms (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-6: MD = −1.0; 95% CI (−1.9, −0.2); p < 0.05)) during pregnancy. One RCT showed significantly lower depressive scores in the intervention group at day 45 (mean 9.0 ± 4.8 vs. 12.1 ± 5.9; p < 0.001) and day 90 (7.0 ± 3.3 vs. 10.8 ± 6.2; p < 0.001) of postpartum compared to placebo. No pooled analyses were conducted due to heterogeneity. Risk of bias was moderate in three RCTs and high in one, primarily due to selective outcome reporting. Conclusions: Evidence on the effect of probiotics for preventing maternal mental health disorders during pregnancy and postpartum is limited. There were no data on prebiotics or synbiotics. Strain specific probiotic effectiveness studies, as well as studies on prebiotics and synbiotics are required in the future.
Keywords: Anxiety disorder, Depressive Disorder, microbiota, Postpartum, Pregnancy
Received: 27 Dec 2025; Accepted: 23 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Martín-Peláez, Martín-delosReyes and CANO-IBÁÑEZ. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Luis Miguel Martín-delosReyes
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