Probiotics are an essential part of a healthy diet and bring with them a host of health benefits. However are there any benefits of probiotics for weight loss? Is there an existing link between probiotics and weight loss and is it an effective means to burn fat? Can you obtain the required amount of prebiotics from the diet alone or should you consider taking a supplement to facilitate weight loss? These are some of the questions we will look to address in this article.
Probiotics are live bacteria and yeasts that are considered good for you and especially your digestive tract. This is because probiotics help promote the growth of useful bacteria that are considered good bacteria in your body. When the number of good bacteria increases, this resultantly prevents the growth and function of bad bacteria. It is the bad bacteria that is responsible for an imbalanced gut and the host of health problems that an imbalanced gut brings with it.
Probiotics have a host of health benefits including treating common conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, infectious diarrhoea and can be great for your skin, your urinary and vaginal health and helps prevent allergies and cold. For a better understanding of the various health benefits of probiotics, we recommend that you read our article on, ‘Is Taking a Probiotics Good For You? Health Benefits of Probiotics.’
With all the health benefits probiotics bring to the table, is there an actual link between probiotics and weight loss? Does ensuring that your body gets a sufficient amount of probiotics ensure that you lose weight?
Can You Lose Weight With Probiotics?
There is a link between weight and gut bacteria. The more balanced of a gut that you have and the more good bacteria you have in your gut, the more likely you are to absorb essential nutrients at a more effective rate. This enables the better management of weight and can support weight loss.
In studies conducted, supplementation with synbiotics using strains of Lactobacillus gasseri have noted weight reduction. A study conducted on eating yoghurt with Lactobacillus fermentum or Lactobacillus amylovorus help reduce body fat by 3 to 4% in a time span of 6 weeks.
It is more likely that you would lose weight from maintaining a healthy gut. In fact, women who took probiotics on a daily basis were noted to have lost 50% more weight within a 3 month time period in comparison to those who were given a placebo pill.
Losing weight is only a part of the math. Probiotics actually prevent you from gaining weight. This can be a valuable property when you are trying to fight obesity and lose weight. Groups of people who took probiotics noticed less weight gain from fat.
That being the case, there are some strains of probiotics that actually lead to weight gain, not weight loss. A study actually found that the effects of probiotics on weight depend on the strain and species of the bacteria that the probiotic contains or promotes the growth of. While Lactobacillus gasseri can work to reduce weight gain, there are other strains of probiotic bacteria that can actually promote weight gain.
Hence, if you are looking to lose weight and rely on probiotics, this greatly depends on the type of probiotic that you take. This may be difficult to do when you are trying to source probiotics from a diet; however, it is not an impossible thing to do.
Do Probiotics Help With Metabolism?
Probiotics help in regulating a person’s metabolism. Ensuring that you have a good source of probiotics could enable you to better manage your weight through the help of a better supported metabolic system.
Probiotics are known to be useful in boosting metabolism which resultantly helps you burn more fat and lose weight. This is because probiotics maintain a healthy gut which in essence enables the better absorption of nutrients. The more effectively you absorb nutrients in your body, the more likely you are able to harness the value of these nutrients to give your body the energy it needs.
With the effective absorption of nutrients in the gut, the metabolism of the person is improved, since essential nutrients are absorbed into the body as opposed to being lost in the gut.
When it comes to metabolism, probiotics have a tangible effect. Ensuring that you intake sufficient probiotics on a daily basis will mean that you have a stronger metabolism, able to burn the food that you eat at a more efficient rate and store less fat. It will also mean that your body is more effective at burning fat during exercise. This is why various studies have noted that taking probiotics do help promote weight loss.
Do Probiotics Shrink Your Belly?
Probiotics help reduce bloating and gas in your gut. This resultantly means that it helps you shrink your belly. Bloating is caused by the overabundance of bad bacteria in your gut. Probiotics help fight the bad bacteria in your gut, thereby reducing bloating. It also works to burn more belly fat, by promoting the metabolic system. The probiotic Lactobacillus family can actually help burn belly fat in particular.
As mentioned above, a study conducted on eating yoghurt with Lactobacillus fermentum or Lactobacillus amylovorus help reduce body fat by 3 to 4% in a time span of 6 weeks. This is targeted fat burning in the gut which is difficult to attain.
Combining a good exercise routine with a healthy intake of probiotics will for certain help you burn that belly and shrink it. Further to the fact that you may notice a smaller belly from day one due to less bloating, over time, you may notice that you are burning belly fat a little at a time.
Various studies have proved that probiotics actually work really well in burning belly fat. Studies have noted a 4.6 % to 3.3 % decrease in abdominal fat in participants who took probiotics as a part of the study.
Benefits of Probiotics for Weight Loss
Probiotics help reduce the number of calories that you absorb from food. They impact and control your appetite, preventing you from snacking and overeating and helps to reduce fat storage. They also work to reduce inflammation which is a leading cause behind obesity.
One of the most striking benefits of probiotics is the effectiveness of probiotics in controlling appetite. Probiotics in your system enable a healthy gut which in essence means that you have better control of your appetite. Probiotics fight away bad bacteria which means you are not feeding the bad bacteria in your gut. An imbalanced gut can make you hungry on a more frequent basis and can lead to both overeating and snacking. This can be disastrous when you are trying to lose weight.
Probiotics balance the gut and this enables the better absorption of nutrients. The more essential nutrients that are absorbed in the gut, the stronger your metabolism will be.
They also work to prevent the storage of fat. This means you are more likely to burn more fat as opposed to accumulating it in different parts of your body. Probiotics help prevent the excessive absorption of fat in the gut, which enables you to simply excrete the excess fat through faeces.
Prebiotics work to prevent the easy digestion of fat. This prevents the excessive storage of fat in the body. Instead, probiotics help boost metabolism which leads to burning more fat. This means you don’t digest and absorb fat but rather burn the already stored fat for energy. It is a win-win situation.
It is the combination of these three factors through which probiotics aid weight loss. First, they help control your appetite, which means you will eat less. Secondly, they prevent the absorption of fat in the gut, which means you are less likely to store fat in various parts of your body. Third, they enable the boosting of your metabolism which then leads to more stored fat burning, thereby weight loss.
Hence, when you are considering the various benefits of probiotics for weight loss, ensuring that you get a good amount of probiotics on a daily basis could bravely help you with your weight-loss ambitions.
Probiotics for Weight Loss and the Diet
Probiotics help with weight loss, however, the strain of bacteria in the probiotic determine whether it helps you lose weight or gain weight. When it comes to your diet, there are certain things that you can eat that will provide your body with the probiotic strains that will help weight loss. These include tempeh, miso, kimchi, pickles and yoghurt.
Sourcing probiotics from your diet alone is not difficult. There are plenty of healthy sources of probiotics that you can choose from. For an extensive list of probiotic sources, we recommend that you read this article. Click here.
The common dosage for adults ranges from 5 billion to 10 billion colony-forming units per day. Since it is difficult to understand how much probiotics are being attained from the diet, many people opt for supplements to ensure that their probiotic requirements are met.
That being the case, if you include a valuable probiotic source such as yoghurt in your diet, you wouldn’t need a supplement and can easily source the necessary probiotics from diet alone. It is up to you whether you feel confident enough to say that you are eating enough probiotic food.
However, if you are looking to lose weight, you may benefit from taking a probiotic supplement.
Should I Take Probiotics Supplements for Weight Loss?
It can become difficult to understand how much probiotics you are getting from your diet alone. For this reason, many people opt to take a probiotic supplement, especially when they are trying to lose weight. There is nothing wrong with taking a probiotic supplement. A probiotic supplement can be a great way to ensure that you maintain a healthy gut and reap all the health benefits of probiotics, including weight loss.
The link between probiotics and weight loss has already been clearly established. As mentioned earlier, it is the species and strains of probiotic bacteria which are responsible for weight loss. Some strains promote weight loss while others promote weight gain.
Hence when you are trying to lose weight, you want to ensure that you are taking probiotics that promote the growth of the correct strains to help with weight loss. There are probiotic supplements that are designed specifically for this. Thus, if you are looking to probiotics for weight loss, you would benefit from taking a supplement on a daily basis to ensure that you are getting a sufficient dose of the correct strains to notice the results of weight loss.
What is the Downside of Taking Probiotic Supplements?
Too many probiotics can lead to bloating, gas and nausea. People who have a weak immune system or those who have been suffering from a serious illness may experience dangerous side effects of taking too many probiotics. Hence, in such circumstances, it is best to consult a health care professional first.
In general, for the most part, probiotics supplements are generally considered healthy. However, if you have recently had surgery or are undergoing some sort of illness or health complication, taking probiotic supplements could further impact your condition. This is why it is recommended to first consult a healthcare professional first.
Other than that, the general public who do take probiotic supplements, may experience gas and bloating for the first few days or weeks. This is because your gut is getting used to the new bacteria and is working to fight away the bad bacteria. It is the act of balancing your gut that is causing excessive gas and bloating. These symptoms do go away after some time and should not be a reason to worry.
Apart from gas and bloating, you may also experience allergic reactions to the probiotics. If you experience an allergic reaction, you should stop taking the probiotic supplement and consult a healthcare professional prior to starting again.
Should I Take Probiotic Supplements in the Morning or at Night?
Probiotics work best on an empty stomach. This is because it enables good bacteria to reach the gut before the food starts coming in. This way, they are more prepared to not only fight the bad bacteria but enable effective absorption of nutrients in the gut. Hence, the best time to take a prebiotic supplement would be in the morning before breakfast. You can also take it at night before bed.
When you are taking a probiotic supplement at night, you may want to ensure that you leave plenty of time between dinner (last meal) and taking the supplement. Usually, a 2 to 3-hour gap would suffice. This enables the probiotics to get through your stomach acid as fast as possible. It makes it easier for the probiotic bacteria to move through the stomach unobstructed.
Hence both morning and night are fine for taking probiotic supplements. What you should try ensuring doing is taking it on an empty stomach. For this reason, it may become more effective as the first thing that you take in the morning before breakfast.
Though some probiotic manufacturers actually recommend taking the probiotic supplement on an empty stomach, others recommend taking it with food. Hence to be sure, check the exact probiotic that you are taking. It should be mentioned on the set of directions for use on the bottle.
Can You Take a Break From Probiotic Supplements?
You can take a break from probiotic supplements, however, the results of your efforts will begin to disappear with time. Your gut will become imbalanced and you are more likely to gain back the weight that you lost. Stopping prebiotic supplementation will result in your gut going back to the pre-supplementation condition in a matter of one to three weeks.
In order to reap the health benefits of probiotics, you have to ensure that you continuously keep feeding the good bacteria in your gut. When you stop taking the probiotic supplement, the supply of food runs out and the good bacteria start to die out. This results in an imbalanced gut and a rising in the numbers of bad bacteria.
You can try to mitigate this effect by ensuring that you are getting a sufficient amount of probiotics from your diet. However, when it comes to the various strains, some strains may not survive probiotic sourcing from diet alone.
Hence, though you can take a break from probiotic supplementation, unless you are ready to take the risk of going back to the pre-supplementation condition, it is not something that is advisable.
Can Probiotics Help Weight Loss?
Most certainly yes. Probiotics help you control your appetite, boosts your metabolism and prevents the absorption of excess fat in the gut, all of which prevents weight gain and facilitates weight loss.
Ensuring that you get a good amount of prebiotics on a daily basis could bring with it a host of health benefits and could for certain help with your weight loss ambition. You may consider increasing the amount of probiotics obtained through your diet to observe the effects of probiotics on your health.
If you require a supplement and don’t have a week immune system or a serious illness, there is nothing wrong with taking one. In fact, taking a probiotic supplement will help ensure that you are getting the right dose of probiotics and the right strains.
All in all, probiotics are an effective ingredient in the weight-loss equation and should not be something disregarded. It could bravely help you with your weight-loss ambitions and should lead to a healthier and happier self.
We hope reading this word to word has helped you uncover the various benefits of probiotics for weight loss. We aimed to provide you with an informative and insightful article that stands to answer all, if not most, of your questions with regards to probiotics and weight loss.
Happy Living!
