Probiotics, “good” bacteria, can help you lose weight and have been shown to increase weight loss after gastric bypass. In both of these studies, probiotics were given in the form of supplements. In the first study people (who had not had weight loss surgery) were put on a low fat and calorie diet and given 100 million colonies of the probiotic Lactobacillus rhamnosus. The women taking the supplement lost twice as much as the control group (for some reason probiotics didn’t have the same impact for men). In the study with post gastric bypass patients, 2.4 billion colonies of Lactobacillus were given daily. Those taking the probiotics lost 70% of excess weight compared to 66% of excess weight for those who didn’t take the supplements. These aren’t huge differences in weight loss, but for those working to reach a healthy weight, every pound counts. Although yogurt and other fermented dairy products contain probiotics, supplements are needed to provide this higher level of colonies.
