Can probiotics help you lose weight? Here's what you need to know
Losing weight is a tedious process that takes many things into consideration. From your hormones, stress levels to your diet and fitness routine, many factors can determine your weight loss goals. In addition to that, your digestive health may also impact your body weight in many ways, which is why, many believe that probiotics can aid in the weight loss process.
Gut bacteria and body weight
Our digestive system contains several microorganisms that helps
break down the foods that cannot be digested by the body, turning them
into butyrate, a straight-chain alkyl carboxylic acid.
A human gut consists of many bacteria including bacteroidetes,
firmicutes, actinobacteria, fusobacteria, verrucomicrobia,
proteobacteria, and cyanobacteriatwo, of which bacteroidetes and
firmicutes influence much of your body weight. According to many
researches, people with obesity have more of firmicutes and less of
bacteroidetes as compared to people with a healthy weight.
That said, people who are overweight and obese have different gut bacteria composition than people who are not overweight.
How can probiotics affect body weight?
Probiotics are live microorganisms that have many health benefits.
While our body is full of different bacteria, probiotics are the good
and helpful bacteria that help in keeping our gut healthy.
It produces acetate, propionate, and butyrate, which are short-chain
fatty acids that help in influencing our appetite, inhibiting the
absorption of dietary fat and promoting the excretion of unwanted fats
with the feces.
Probiotics also regulate your appetite. It contains
appetite-reducing hormones glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) and peptide
YY (PYY) that help you burn more calories. Additionally, it can also
reduce fat storage in the body, which is often the source of weight
gain.
Do probiotics promote weight loss?
According to a 2019 systematic review and meta-analysis that
included 105 articles and 6,826 participants also found that probiotic
treatment could help cut down body fat, waist circumference, and BMI.
Probiotics are associated with the
production of short-chain fatty acid, which help decrease body fat
storage. Apart from that, it improves insulin sensitivity and also keeps
inflammation at bay. Further, probiotics are known to influence
appetite and can rev up metabolism, promoting weight loss.
Probiotics can also prevent weight gain
Beside helping you lose weight,
probiotics help in preventing unnecessary weight gain. According to a
weight loss study, taking probiotic reduced weight gain and fat gain in
people following a high calorie diet.
However, it is also important to note
that use of probiotic supplements can also lead to antibiotic resistance
and other adverse effects on health. As per National Library of
Medicine, probiotics supplements often contain high amounts of
probiotics of the same species. Therefore, taking supplements may lead
to the transfer of resistant genes to infectious pathogens.