Companies like Nestle and Chr Hansen are innovating ice creams that reduce anxiety. The phrase “you can’t buy happiness, but you can buy ice cream” will really come true 🙂 

The bacterial strain Bifidobacterium longum NCC3001 (ATCC BAA-999) (it’s a mouthful yes :)) is known to help reduce emotional activity, anxiety, and stress.

It also alleviates co-morbid depressive symptoms, overall gastrointestinal symptoms and quality of life in patients with IBS.

And it is paving the way for mood-uplifting ice creams.

Multiple companies have filed patents for stress reducing ice creams and there are three companies whose research I wanted to share with you. 

• Nestle has filed a patent which uses the Bifidobacterium longum strain to reduce anxiety, stress and symptoms of IBS. 
• Morinaga Milk, a leading Japanese dairy company, is researching the use of Bifidobacterium Longum Subspecies Infantis M-63 (NITE BP-02623) to improve cognitive function and serve as a mood stabilizer. Their studies on a mouse model confirmed the compound’s effectiveness in improving motor function. (JP2021121584A)
• Chr Hansen, the world’s largest food culture and dairy enzyme producer based in Denmark, is innovating with a bifidobacterium strain. They claim that this strain can ease mental conditions like mood disorders, cognitive chronic fatigue syndrome, and anxiety. (US10022408B2)

It will be interesting to see how consumers react to these mood uplifting dairy products. Honestly, it would be hard for me to tell if it’s the bacteria doing their job, or if it’s the ice cream working its magic 🙂 Would you give mood uplifting ice creams a try?