POMC and Anxiety: In clinical studies, selected strains of L. helveticus prevented the anxiety-like behavior and negative effects on memory induced by a Western-style diet and improved behavioral, cognitive, and biochemical aberrations caused by chronic restraint stress in rats correlated with lower plasma corticosterone, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), and IL-10 levels in plasma, restoring hippocampal serotonin and norepinephrine levels.