The link between the gut microbiome and obesity was first reported in 2006 by Jeffrey Gordon and his group at Washington University in St. Louis. They found that the microbial populations in the gut differed between obese and lean people. Body weight and fat gain are influenced by the gut microbial community and its effects on host physical and metabolic properties, leading to obesity-related metabolic changes in humans. Probiotics can effectively improve obesity caused by high-fat diets, and the application of probiotics to treat obesity has become a research hotspot.
Some probiotics have weight-loss effects. Reports indicate that after 12 weeks of daily supplementation with 20 billion CFU of probiotic strains, the body fat mass and body fat percentage of sub-obese adults were significantly reduced by 0.6 kg and 0.7% respectively. This study shows that the composition of the gut microbiota varies depending on the condition of obese subjects and therefore could be considered a therapeutic target for obesity.
Probiotics are a class of live microorganisms proven to be beneficial to the host and are identified by genus, species, subspecies, and strain because the clinical effects of probiotics are directly related to the specific strains. For example, the Heheduofu probiotic strain Lactobacillus rhamnosus PB-LR76 is mainly related to women's personal care and immune function, while Lactobacillus plantarum N-1 is effective in preventing kidney stones, improving prostatic hyperplasia, lowering cholesterol, and maintaining intestinal bacteria. There is a significant effect on group balance. Therefore, whether probiotics can reduce weight is directly related to the specific strain and needs to be looked at based on the clinical effect of the specific strain.
