Can Probiotics Help You Lose Weight?
Heidi Borgeraas, Ph.D., from the Vestfold Hospital Trust in Tønsberg, Norway, and colleagues examined the effects of probiotic supplementation on body weight, BMI, fat mass, and fat percentage in overweight or obese subjects. The authors conducted a meta-analysis to calculate the weighted mean difference between the intervention and control groups. Data were included for 15 studies with 957 subjects, with interventions ranging in duration from three to 12 weeks.
The researchers found that, compared with placebo, probiotic administration resulted in a significantly larger reduction in body weight (weighted mean difference, −0.60 kg [95 percent confidence interval, −1.19 to −0.01 kg]), BMI (−0.27 kg/m² [95 percent confidence interval, −0.45 to −0.08 kg/m²]), and fat percentage (−0.60 percent [95 percent confidence interval, −1.20 to −0.01 percent]). The size of the effects was small. A non-significant effect of probiotics on fat mass was seen (−0.42 kg [95 percent confidence interval, −1.08 to 0.23]).
Excerpted from medicalxpress.com
