In recent years, mainstream consumers have become well acquainted with the health benefits of probiotics thanks to the growing number of foods and beverages containing the good-for-you microorganisms. While improved immune function and intestinal regularity are the more popular reasons for one to reach for a probiotic supplement, Danish company Chr. Hansen is researching another beneficial facet of probiotics: weight control.

Approaching weight management from a completely new angle, Chr. Hansen and the University of Copenhagen are collaborating on an ongoing weight management research project dubbed “ProSat.” The objective is to investigate how probiotics may be able to help consumers maintain a healthy weight balance.

Citing a British analysis of 57 studies recently published in The Lancet (Whitlock 2009), which concluded that even moderate obesity cuts life expectancy by about three years, the aim of Chr. Hansen’s research is to develop scientifically documented probiotic solutions suitable for food and nutraceutical applications which will trigger the consumer’s feeling of fullness. In this way, according to the company, food intake is likely to be reduced, thereby contributing to a healthy weight balance. The target population is slightly overweight to standard weight individuals who want to maintain a healthy weight balance.

“With excess body weight a growing problem around the world, weight management is indisputably a major health issue today. This project will significantly improve our understanding of the bacterial intestinal flora’s importance in individual weight management,” said professor Arne Vernon Astrup, MD, DMSc, an internationally acclaimed nutrition and obesity academic who co-represents the University of Copenhagen in the project.

“Initial results in a previous research project indicate that specific probiotic derivates do have an interesting satiety effect,” explained Dr. Astrup. “It is much too early to draw any conclusions but if this project demonstrates a link between probiotics and satiety, consumers around the world will have a groundbreaking new, documented means to help them maintain a healthy weight balance.”

“This project makes use of a unique and sophisticated animal model to study satiety parameters,” commented professor Jens Juul Holst, DMSc, an international academic expert on gastro-intestinal hormones. “One possible mechanism of action for satiating probiotics is that they may cause a release of satiety inducing hormones from the gut. We are studying this directly in surviving segments of the small intestine from pigs, which resemble humans very much in this respect.”

ProSat represents a new and previously unexplored area of potential probiotic benefit. While the research is still in its early stages, Chr. Hansen’s Benedicte Flambard, director innovation, Health & Nutrition Division, said the company is proceeding with a strong focus on securing strong scientific documentation and intellectual property rights. “Our findings show that only very few bacteria can do the job and we have been fortunate to find one exceptionally effective strain on production of satiety hormones,” he said. “Afterward, it is a matter of combining our core competence in product formulation to design promising product prototypes for the food and dietary supplement industries.”

In an effort to test the market appeal of the concept, a few select international food and dietary supplement producers have been invited to follow the ProSat developments, and according to Chr. Hansen’s Lars Bredmose, marketing director, Probiotic Cultures, and Sune Schmoelker, director, Commercial Development, Health & Nutrition Division, the initial feedback from the industry players justifies the project team’s high expectations. “We have market confirmation from some of the world’s leading weight management experts in the commercial environment. We’re still at an early stage in the process but we do believe that this could be big. If the research continues to produce positive results we expect to be able to market the first probiotic satiety solutions within a couple of years from now,” Mr. Bredmose said.

When contacted by Nutraceuticals World, a representative for Chr. Hansen declined to comment on the state of its research, saying that although the project is “on track” the company would prefer to reserve comment for when the current phase of research has concluded, which is projected to be in Spring of 2010.

With weight management occupying a top spot in the landscape of consumer health trends, the company’s work will no doubt be something to watch.