In a newly-published study appearing in the journal Scientific Reports, a multi-strain probiotic blend called Promagen, manufactured by Lab4P, induced significant weight loss in 70 overweight Bulgarian participants between the ages of 45 and 65 years, who were either administered the supplement daily for 9 months or were given a matching placebo.
 
“The GI microbiota is a contributor to human health and has been implicated in many metabolic processes including the digestion and absorption of nutrients and the fermentation of undigested carbohydrates into short chain fatty acids and other metabolites,” the authors of the study said. “The link between dysbiosis and obesity is well recognized, but nearly 40% of the adults worldwide are categorized as overweight.”
 
The authors of the study also indicated that previous research has suggested that age-related changes to the populations of gut bacteria in a person’s gut also tend to coincide with progressive weight gain, and that the community of research surrounding probiotics is drawing attention to the potential that gut bacteria modulation might have in the lifelong battle against obesity.
 
Following the supplementation period with the probiotic which contained proprietary strains of lactobacilli and bifidobacterial at a dose of 50 billion CFU/day, there was a significant decrease in body weight in the probiotic group, after participants were instructed not to take any other interventions.
 
While no significant changes were achieved in the placebo group, the experimental group saw an average weight reduction of 3.8%, with a 2.5% reduction in waist circumference and a 2.4% reduction in hip circumference.
 
“In our previous 6-month exploratory study assessing the impact of the Lab4P probiotic (Promagen) in free-living overweight and obese adults, weight loss was identified as a significant outcome,” the authors of the study concluded, indicating that in that previous study, there was an average loss of 1.30 kg in the treatment group. “Studies demonstrating consistent probiotic-mediated weight loss are extremely rare with existing reports limited to Asian populations, and the results are variable […] we are one of the first groups to demonstrate a consistent weight loss effect across two studies in free-living western populations.”
 
Notably, in both the present and previous study on the probiotic, the intervention spanned Christmas and New Year, a time period in which weight gains of 0.4-1.0 kg are observed in general populations – in the initial study, a placebo group gained weight during this time period, while weight was maintained in the probiotic group. In the present study, the probiotic group actually lost weight through the several-day stretch.