Probiotic Linked to Weight Loss, Endocrine Changes in Overweight Women

The probiotic Lactobacillus gasseri LG08 was shown in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical study to support weight management-related outcomes in a population of overweight women. The study, published in the Journal of Functional Foods, was conducted by Wecare Probiotics and researchers from the University of Reading and Henan University of Technology.

The 105 participants were randomized to receive either 30 billion CFU/day of the probiotic or a matched placebo for 12 weeks, with anthropometric measures, body composition, metabolic and endocrine markers, sex hormones, gut microbiota profiles, and more assessed at baseline and post-intervention.

“Accumulating evidence suggests that the gut microbiota contributes to the regulation of energy balance and endocrine function via multiple, interrelated pathways,” the authors wrote. Short-chain fatty acids, for instance, activate satiety-related hormones like GLP-1 and PYY, contributing to appetite regulation. Further, microbial-induced improvements in gut barrier function can help to regulate dysfunctional leptin signaling, and certain microbes can help to influence glucose and lipid metabolism, they noted.

More specifically, compared to placebo, L. gasseri LG08 significantly reduced body weight (-6.27 kg compared to -1.65 kg in the placebo), BMI (-2.33 versus -0.6 in placebo group), and waist-to-hip ratio in a population of 105 adult women with a BMI of 25 or greater.

Further, LG-08 improved concentrations of hormones associated with satiety and metabolism, including decreases in leptin and increases in GLP-1 and PYY (all p<0.001).

LG08 also reduced estradiol and prolactin, while enriching Bifidobacterium and Parabacteroides and enriching overall microbial diversity.

“Given the limited human evidence for LG08, the present findings provide preliminary clinical support for its potential role in weight management and endocrine-related regulation in overweight women,” the authors concluded. “The observed effects appeared to be driven primarily by compositional shifts in specific taxa. At the phylum level, the LG-08 group showed a tendency toward a higher relative abundance of Actinobacterota. At the genus level, relative abundances of Bifidobacterium and Phascolarctobacterium increased in the LG08 group, and differences at the end of the intervention relative to placebo were also observed for genera such as Parabacteroides … Given the strain-specific nature of probiotic effects, the present findings for LG08 should not be generalized to all Lactobacillus gasseri strains.”