Probiotic supplement may slash BMI and body weight, improve heart health: RCT
Ildong Bioscience Co.’s B. lactis IDCC 4301, branded as B. lactis Fit, was also associated with improvements in serum triglyceride levels, according to findings published in Food & Function.
"In this trial, we found that 12-week B. lactis IDCC 4301 supplementation had anti-obesity effects in obese women," wrote scientists from Kyung Hee University, Ildong Bioscience, and Dongguk University. "The total fat mass of the probiotics group decreased 2.6 times and the trunk fat mass decreased 7 times compared to those in the placebo group."
"The difference in total fat mass change between groups among postmenopausal women was 38% greater than that of all women," they added.
The study was funded by Ildong Bioscience Co., Ltd.
Gut microbiota and obesity
The link between the gut microbiota and obesity was first reported in 2006 by Jeffrey Gordon and his group at Washington University in St. Louis, who found that microbial populations in the gut are different between obese and lean people, and that when the obese people lost weight their microflora reverted back to that observed in a lean person. This suggested that obesity has a microbial component (Nature, Vol. 444, pp. 1022-1023, 1027-1031).
A 2013 paper in Science (Vol. 341, Issue 6150), also led by Professor Gordon, found that transplanting gut bacteria from obese humans into germ-free mice leads to greater weight gain and fat accumulation than mice that were given bacteria from the guts of lean humans.
The findings showed that weight and fat gain is influenced by communities of microbes in the gut and their effect on the physical and metabolic traits of the host, leading to metabolic changes in the rodents that are associated with obesity in humans.
This has led many research groups to explore if probiotics may help manage weight. A probiotic is defined as a “live microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the host” – FAO/WHO.
The new study focused B. lactis IDCC 4301, a probiotic strain originally isolated from the feces of breastfed infants. The strain was named as a finalist in the Weight Management Ingredient of the Year category in the 2023 NutraIngredients-Asia Awards.
Study details
Ninety-nine obese women with an average age of 53.5 were recruited to participate in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-arm study. The women were randomly assigned to received either at least five billion CFUs per day of B. lactis Fit or placebo for 12 weeks.
Results showed that total fat levels decreased by 0.45 kg in the probiotic group, compared to only 0.16 kg in the placebo group. The difference was statistically significant.
Additional analysis revealed that changes in total fat mass change were even greater for postmenopausal women.
Statistically significant decreases were also reported for trunk fat (0.22 kg decrease in the probiotic group compared to 0.03 for placebo) and serum triglyceride concentration (15 mg.dL−1 decrease for the probiotic versus a 13 mg.dL−1 increase for placebo).
BMI decreased from 26.6 to 26.4 kg.m−2 in the probiotic group over 12 weeks, but no changes were observed in the placebo group.
“B. lactis IDCC 4301 (B. lactis Fit) may be associated with body fat loss through changes in metabolic health parameters, such as serum triglyceride and adipokine levels,” the researchers concluded.
Source: Food & Function
2024, Volume 15, Pages 8448-8458, doi: 10.1039/D4FO00535J
“Bifidobacterium lactis IDCC 4301 (B. lactis Fit™) supplementation effects on body fat, serum triglyceride, and adipokine ratio in obese women: a randomized clinical trial”
Authors: M. Lee et al.
