Probiotics Supplements Help Women – But Not Men – Lose Weight

Canadian researchers have found in a clinical study that women who took probiotics supplements in pill form lost twice as much weight as women in a non-probiotic control group. Probiotics supplements had no impact on the weight of men in the study, however, a finding that baffled the researchers. The study was conducted among 125 overweight men and women over 24 weeks. The average weight loss was 5.6 kg in women in the probiotic group and 2.6 kg in the placebo group. According to the lead researcher, probiotics may act by altering the permeability of the intestinal wall, keeping certain pro-inflammatory molecules from entering the bloodstream and causing a chain reaction that leads to glucose intolerance, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.