How Probiotics Work For Weight Loss
Research shows that changes to the gut microbiome could lead to obesity, and lifestyle changes in addition to taking probiotics can impact weight. Balanced gut microbiota help regulate weight by controlling appetite, reducing inflammation, and managing fat storage, among other issues.
While more research needs to be done on the connections between the use of probiotics and weight loss, preliminary research shows some promising results. Some studies show the effectiveness of probiotics in weight management, while other studies show no change.
Three probiotic strains have been tested for weight loss effects and have shown promise. Keep reading to learn about these probiotics studies and potential benefits.
Digestive Advantage Daily Probiotics
Image courtesy Schiff
Digestive Advantages formula is a daily supplement that contains 14 probiotics and prebiotics ingredients. It increases your bodys ability to absorb vital nutrients while destroying bad bacteria in the gut.
It reduces bloating, diarrhea, cramping, and gas caused by digestive issues like IBS and food allergies.
How To Ensure The Probiotic Will Work
To ensure your probiotic is working, make sure to follow the recommended use instructions on the packaging. Depending on the delivery mechanism, the method of taking your probiotic may differ. For example, some probiotics may need to be dissolved in a liquid, whereas others may need to be taken on an empty stomach.
Certain medications such as antibiotics can have a negative impact on the good bacteria in your gut and in your probiotic supplement, so probiotics are best taken away from other medications.
Check the product label for storage instructions to make sure your probiotic is stored properly. Improper storage can make your probiotic less likely to work.
Lastly, check the expiration date to make sure that the probiotic supplement has not expired.
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How Can Probiotics Help With Weight Loss And Gut Health
According to Dr. Gill evidence for probiotic use in weight loss is limited and mixed.
The main benefits of probiotics work to target gut health, which can speed up metabolism, calm inflamed gut that could leave you bloated and constipated.
Dr. Gill explained: Currently, much of the research on probiotics lies in gut disorders, such as IBS.
Although research is limited to date, people will often choose to take a probiotic as a type of insurance policy, almost as a preventative measure to support gut health.
Dr. Gill recommends following a plant based diet when taking the supplement. For general gut health, there are other many things we can do. Work from the inside out is my advice our gut health is central to overall health so target the gut microbiome with a nutrient-dense plant-based diet. Variety is key a hallmark feature of a healthy gut microbiome is diversity. Focus on wholegrains, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans and legumes.
But, its not just diet, there are other key things we should be paying attention to. For example, sleep. It is underrated but so important. Driven by our internal body clock, our gut microbes have their own circadian rhythm, and this changes the shape of the microbial landscape over a 24-hour period.
Also, if youre feeling mentally stressed, the gut will feel physically stressed and this can manifest as gut symptoms. This is because the gut and brain are intrinsically connected .
How Probiotics Influence Weight
Your digestive system is a busy factory of trillions of bacteria. Some of these bacteria are friendly, helping you digest food and absorb nutrientswhile others can be harmful. When your gut is functioning optimally, theres a healthy balance that helps good bacteria keep the bad ones in check.
If something throws this complex system out of balance, such as an illness, poor diet, stress, or medication, the bacteria in your gut can shift in the wrong direction.
Research shows that a change in the amount or type of bacteria in your gut can affect your health, and contribute to weight gain, increased fat storage, and sometimes make it harder to lose weight .
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How Do Probiotics Assist Your Intestine
Your physique is dwelling to an estimated 10 to 100 trillion microorganisms, most of which stay in your digestive tract, says Raphael Kellman, MD, doctor of integrative and practical medication and founding father of Kellman Wellness Heart in New York Metropolis. Collectively, they make up whats known as your intestine microbiome, which is the place anyplace from 70 to 90 % of your immune system lies.
These microorganisms embrace micro organism, and whereas that sounds ominous, not all micro organism is dangerous. There are good micro organism, and so they compete with the dangerous micro organism, says Joan Salge Blake, Ed.D., RDN, a vitamin professor at Boston College in Massachusetts and host of the award-winning podcast Spot On!. Ideally, you need extra good micro organism in your intestine in order that they overpower the dangerous micro organism to assist help a wholesome immune system and general good well being.
How Does Gut Bacteria Affect Body Weight
You may have heard the phrase gut feeling used to describe an instinctive reaction to something. And, while this may seem like an odd location to encounter emotion at first, a study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food has established strong links between your digestive system and your brain.
This relationship has been labeled the gut-brain axis, with gut bacteria able to send messages to the brain via the vagus nerve, influencing memory, mood and cognition. Research published in Nutrients has also shown gut bacterias impacts on several other organ systems, including cardiovascular, neural, immune and metabolic.
So, its clear they hold plenty of power, but how does gut bacteria affect body weight?
One study published in Nature found that, in a sample of 123 non-obese people and 169 obese individuals, those with low fecal bacteria diversity were characterized by higher fat levels, cholesterol and insulin resistance. Obese individuals among those studied with low bacterial richness were also found to gain more weight over time.
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The Link Between Probiotics And Body Weight
Although there is still uncertainty on how probiotics affect our body weight, two recent studies indicate that there is a connection. The first study, published in 2018, asks: “Is It Time to Use Probiotics to Prevent or Treat Obesity?” and goes on to examine the link between gut health and obesity or the conditions that lead up to it, including weight gain, such high blood sugar, metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance.
The authors state: “Several studies have shown that in individuals with obesity, the gut microbiota composition can be significantly different from that of lean individuals,” and they posit that your gut ” bacteria can exert a fundamental role in modulating energy metabolism,” and pose “that modifications of gut microbiota composition can be associated with increases or reductions of body weight and body mass index. Based on this evidence, manipulation of the gut microbiota with probiotics has been considered a possible method to prevent and treat obesity.”
A subsequent study in 2019 in the British Medical Journal, examined the effect of “oral intake of bacterial probiotics on 15 variables related to obesity, diabetes, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.” The analysis found that “probiotics consumption improves anthropometric parameters and BMI,” as well as improving blood sugar, chronic inflammation, and triglyceride levels in the blood, as well as liver function.
Probiotics For Males And Females
The effects of probiotics may be different in males and females.
In a 2014 study, researchers gave males and females with obesityLactobacillus rhamnosus. The results suggested that females lost weight and fat during the trial, and that they maintained the loss after study completion. The males in the study, however, did not.
A different study in people with Salmonella infection suggested that the effects of taking Lactobacillus plantarum varied according to sex. Although the study authors saw little evidence that this probiotic can treat Salmonella, they noted how males and females experienced the symptoms and clearance of the infection differently.
Scientists need to conduct more studies to establish whether or not probiotic therapy should be different depending on a persons sex.
shows that people with obesity have lower bacterial diversity.
A small 2019 study found that people following a low calorie diet for 15 weeks had changes in their gut bacteria. They also had a reduction in bacteria associated with atherosclerosis, which occurs when the arteries become clogged with plaque.
The links between weight and gut bacteria could indicate that probiotics may be able to support weight loss.
Some suggest that supplementation with synbiotics, using strains such as Lactobacillus gasseri, cause weight reduction in large independent studies. Adding certain fibers may increase these effects.
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A Look At Some Research For Probiotics And Weight Loss
Research conducted at the University of Alabama in 2015 certainly suggests a link between dysbiosis and obesity but it also suggests it may not be the underlying cause.
However, research conducted elsewhere supports the use of certain probiotic bacteria strains as a weight loss aid.
One study, which was published in The British Journal of Nutrition, examined the way Lactobacillus rhamnosus affected people who were already obese.
The women who were given the probiotic bacteria in supplement form lost more weight than women who were given a placebo.
Furthermore, the women taking the probiotic supplement continued losing weight in the weight-maintenance stage, after they stopped dieting.
Unfortunately, for reasons yet to be determined, the men involved in the study did not show the same positive response.
Sexist bacteria? Possibly, but lets not forget this is just one of many studies investigating the things probiotic bacteria can do.
An earlier study, conducted in Canada in 2013, evaluated the value of Lactobacillus fermentum and Lactobacillus amylovorus as weight loss aids.
The study ran for six weeks. During that time, the overweight individuals who took part consumed yogurts that provided the two Lactobacillus strains. This resulted in an average body fat reduction of 3-4 percent.
In a study of a slightly different nature, Japanese researchers set out to evaluate the potential of Lactobacillus gasseri as pertains to fat-loss.
How Does Gut Bacteria Affect Your Weight
Right now, we can say there is a connection between probiotics and weight loss, but its very complex. Its not as simple as saying that one type of probiotic can help you lose weight or avoid gaining weight rather, it seems your weight is affected by the overall diversity of your gut bacteria, to which probiotics contribute. A 2013 study from Denmark, for example, noted that people of a high weight with less gut diversity gained weight faster than those with more diverse gut bacteria.
Similarly, were not sure why gut bacteria has such an effect on weight. A few possibilities might be at play. For example, some probiotics influence your appetite and energy usage some from the food you eat, causing your body to pass it through feces instead some may also help reduce inflammation throughout your body, which has been linked to obesity. Summing it all up, a 2017 review found that probiotics can help you lose weight and body fat, though researchers noted that in most studies, the amount lost wasnt dramatic.
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Biotics 8 Probiotic Species
The standard dose is three capsules per day but the manufacturer suggests beginning with two capsules for the first few days to give your gut time to adjust.
The full dose provides 10 species of probiotic bacteria:
- Lactobacillus acidophilus
- Saccharomyces Boulardii
Like Probiology Gut +, Biotics 8 utilizes the fat-burning ability of Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Lactobacillus rhamnosus is another good probiotic to consume if you want to get rid of your body fat mass and lose weight. Strains from this species can be very effective in this area.
For the purposes of one study, conducted at Université Laval in Quebec, Canada the researchers recruited 125 overweight people, who then followed a 12-week weight loss diet.
As is generally the case with this type of study, some of the participants got probiotic strains from the Lactobacillus rhamnosus species, while others got a placebo.
However, although the women who got the probiotic lost significantly more weight than the women in the placebo group, Lactobacillus rhamnosus did not appear to work for men.
Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth
Probiotics can be linked to small intestine bacterial overgrowth. This is the excessive growth of bacteria in the small intestines. An abnormal high quantity of bacteria in the small intestines, caused by consuming too many probiotics or some other reason, increases food fermentation. As the food ferments, it produces gasses such as methane and hydrogen .
Continuous release of these gases over a short period may lead to bloating, abdominal pain, and nausea. In the long run, bacterial overgrowth in the intestines can lead to interstitial mucosal inflammation. This is dangerous since it can damage the villi, intestinal tract and also thin the mucus membrane .
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How You Can Introduce More Prebiotics And Probiotics Into Your Diet
If youre trying to lose weight, foods high in prebiotic fiber might already be on your radar. Try incorporating these into your diet whenever possible:
- Leafy greens and root vegetables asparagus, jerusalem artichoke, onions, garlic, leeks, Belgian endive, chicory root, and jicama
- Fruits apples, berries, tomatoes, avocado and bananas
- Grains oats, brown rice, barley
- Legumes lentils and beans
- Cocoa yes, even compounds found in cocoa beans have health benefits
Inulin and oligofructose are also increasingly common food additives. They add richness and sweetness to dressings, baked goods, dairy products and desserts. While processed foods generally should be consumed in moderation, added prebiotics in some carefully selected ones can be a good source of prebiotics.
While prebiotics help probiotics thrive in the body, including more probiotic-rich foods into your diet could also accelerate your weight loss efforts. Check out this guide to learn more about the differences between probiotics and prebiotics and how they support one another.
If these fermented foods arent part of your diet already, try:
- Dairy or non-dairy yogurt with no added sugar or artificial sweeteners
- Kombucha made from green tea
- Condiments like kimchi, pickles and sauerkraut
Foods chock full of pre- and probiotics can be the cornerstone to a healthful diet, but supplementation offers a more targeted approach, especially when you take the prebiotics at the right time.
Natures Bounty Probiotic Gx
Image courtesy Natures Bounty
Natures Bounty GX is a daily supplement that contains 8 probiotic strains. It improves the bodys ability to absorb vital nutrients while destroying bad bacteria in the gut.
GX contains prebiotics to nourish good bacteria and improve IBS symptoms like bloating gas and abdominal pain.
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What Do Probiotics Do
Your body has an entire population of bacteria in your gut, on your skin, in your mouth and various other places. This community of bacteria is collectively called your microbiome and every single persons microbiome is unique to them. Some people have a healthy microbiome, while others have a not so healthy environment in their gut. This can unfortunately impact the way your body processes food and can also make it more difficult to lose weight if the right type of bacteria isnt plentiful.
However, not all of the bacteria are probiotics. For a bacterium to be considered a probiotic, it needs to be able to be consumed without making you sick, survive in your gut after consumption and have a benefit to your body. These benefits are why probiotics have been a buzzy topic in the world of nutrition and health in recent years. Especially in the world of gut health.
Why Should You Add Probiotic Drinks To Your Diet
If youre serious about your weight loss goals, then taking probiotic drinks can be one thing that will really help you.
There are many reasons why probiotics may help you lose weight.
These microorganisms aid in digestion and may improve bowel regularity, which will allow your body to adjust itself to have fewer or smaller meals a day.
At the same time, certain probiotic strains keep your gut healthy by crowding out harmful bacteria and yeast that can cause bloating and gas.
Additionally, research has shown that these micro-hygiene building bacteria produce enzymes that break down complex carbs into simple sugars, which helps to maintain blood sugar levels in check throughout the day.
Furthermore, these bacteria can also produce acids that help to promote bone and tooth health, so that you wont feel as much pain when chewing on your food.
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Risk Of Adverse Reactions
If youre allergic and intolerant to many foods, then its wise to read the labels of any probiotic supplements you buy carefully. Some of these supplements may contain common allergens such as dairy, soy, and eggs. Such supplements should be avoided by anyone with allergies since they may trigger allergic reactions .
In the same vein, if you are allergic to yeast, consider taking bacteria-based probiotics instead of yeast-based ones .
You arent lucky either if you are lactose intolerant. For one, lactose is one of the ingredients in these supplements . You may increase bloating and flatulence if you take lactose-containing probiotics. Therefore, its best to choose lactose-free options instead.
Whats more, some probiotic supplements contain prebiotics. These are simple plant fibers that the bacteria use as food, but you cannot digest them. The most common prebiotic is lactulose . When a supplement contains both a prebiotic and a probiotic, it is referred to as a synbiotic .
Some individuals may experience flatulence and bloating when they consume synbiotics.
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