Should You Use Probiotics For Weight Loss?

By now you’ve probably heard about all the attention probiotics are getting for helping with weight loss.

One day there was virtually no connection between the two and then BAM!– now everyone is talking about it.

So what happened exactly?

As it turns out, a professional study that links probiotic use with weight loss was recently published in the British Journal of Nutrition.

The study was led by Professor Angelo Tremblay at the Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada.

We actually reviewed the research and can say with confidence…

For those looking to lose weight, the findings are nothing short of astonishing!

Dramatic I know, but here’s how the study went down…

The study was conducted on 125 overweight men and women.

They were instructed to follow a weight loss diet for 12 weeks followed by another 12 weeks of a “weight maintenance” diet.

Half of these 125 people we were given 2 pills a day that contained probiotics from the Lactobacillus Rhamnosus family.  The other unfortunate half were given a placebo.

So after these 24 weeks, what were the results?

In the first 12 weeks, the women in the group receiving the probiotics lost 4.4 kg (9.7 pounds) versus just a 2.6 (5.73 pounds) kg loss for the placebo group.

That’s a big difference but there’s more…

During the additional 12-week maintenance period, the probiotic group continued to lose weight!

The total weight loss of this group rose to 5.2 kg (11.4 pounds) per person, which is about twice what the placebo group lost.

So what exactly does all this mean?

It appears that combining probiotics with a better diet results in pretty substantial weight loss.

The researcher who led the study, Professor Angelo Tremblay also noticed a drop in leptin (an appetite-regulating hormone) and a lower concentration of Lachnospiraceaue (an intenstinal bacteria realted to obesity).

So that’s how it seems to work.

The only negative or downside the researchers noticed was these effects only seemed to occur in the women in the study.

That doesn’t mean men can’t use probiotics for weight loss.  It just means they may need a bigger dose or perhaps use a different strain of probiotic.

So for men looking to lose weight with probiotics, more research is clearly needed.

Despite that caveat, this study could have huge implications for those looking to lose weight.

It appears that simply adding probiotics to any regimen of healthy eating and exercise may enhance the weight loss process.  And help keep the weight off.

That’s welcome news to anyone who has struggled with shedding those few extra pounds!