Resumen
ANTECEDENTES: El microbiota intestinal ha sido ampliamente estudiada por su relación con la salud mental; sin embargo, existe una limitada sistematización de la evidencia empírica que examine su asociación con los indicadores de bienestar subjetivo desde una perspectiva integradora del eje intestino–cerebro. OBJETIVO: Sintetizar la evidencia científica disponible sobre la relación entre el microbiota intestinal y el bienestar subjetivo mediante una revisión sistemática cualitativa. MÉTODO: Se realizó una revisión sistemática de enfoque cualitativo en las bases de datos Scopus, PubMed y SciELO. Se incluyeron 18 estudios publicados entre 2019 y 2025, los cuales fueron analizados mediante un análisis temático con apoyo del software Atlas.ti, identificando patrones narrativos y coincidencias conceptuales entre los estudios. RESULTADOS: El análisis permitió identificar cuatro ejes temáticos: (1) la asociación entre la microbiota intestinal y el bienestar subjetivo; (2) el rol de los factores protectores y de riesgo, como los factores ambientales, los estilos de vida y la exposición al estrés, en la modulación de la microbiota; (3) la relación entre la disbiosis intestinal y los problemas de salud mental vinculados a la desregulación neuroquímica; y (4) las intervenciones centradas en la educación alimentaria, las dietas con restricción calórica saludable y el uso de probióticos, prebióticos y psicobióticos. CONCLUSIÓN: Los hallazgos evidencian asociaciones consistentes entre el microbiota intestinal y el bienestar subjetivo, así como la relevancia de diversos factores contextuales y conductuales que se relacionan con su equilibrio y con los indicadores de bienestar.
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