Wandering Spirits Forum

More Research Shows Your Gut Bacteria Impacts Your Weight

Previous research has also shown that lean people tend to have higher amounts of various healthy bacteria compared to obese people. For example, one 2011 study5 found that daily intake of a specific form of lactic acid bacteria could help prevent obesity and reduce low-level inflammation.

In this study, rats given the bacterium while in utero through adulthood put on significantly less weight than the control group, even though both groups of rats ate a similar high-calorie diet. They also had lower levels of minor inflammation, which has been associated with obesity.

Similarly, gut bacteria have also been shown to impact weight in human babies. One study6 found babies with high numbers of bifidobacteria and low numbers of Staphylococcus aureus -- which may cause low-grade inflammation in your body, contributing to obesity -- appeared to be protected from excess weight gain.

This may be one reason why breast-fed babies have a lower risk of obesity, as bifidobacteria flourish in the gut of breast-fed babies. Probiotics also appear beneficial in helping women lose weight after childbirth when taken from the first trimester through breastfeeding.