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.
Many also suggest that probiotics be listed under regulated drugs rather than being available at dietary supplements.
