It’s been suggested that the microbiome may impact body fat gain and obesity risk through various potential mechanisms, including calorie extraction from food, inflammatory signaling, and lipid oxidation pathways.[1] However, available evidence indicates the microbiome may not actually be an important (or, at the very least, modifiable) determinant of body weight in humans.
Several clinical trials have examined whether a process called a fecal microbiota transplant (FMT) can impact body weight. With FMT, the microbiota of a healthy (or, in this case, lower body weight) individual is transferred into the gut of another individual with the intention of colonizing their microbiome with the donor’s microbes. In most cases, these trials have found FMT does not result in weight loss.[2][3][4][5] Oral probiotics, meanwhile, have been shown to result in weight loss, but the effect seems too small to matter — in one meta-analysis of 15 randomized controlled trials, probiotics led to an average weight loss of only 0.6 kg (1.3 pounds).[6]
References
- ^Aoun A, Darwish F, Hamod NThe Influence of the Gut Microbiome on Obesity in Adults and the Role of Probiotics, Prebiotics, and Synbiotics for Weight Loss.Prev Nutr Food Sci.(2020-Jun-30)
- ^Ruud S Kootte, Evgeni Levin, Jarkko Salojärvi, Loek P Smits, Annick V Hartstra, Shanti D Udayappan, Gerben Hermes, Kristien E Bouter, Annefleur M Koopen, Jens J Holst, Filip K Knop, Ellen E Blaak, Jing Zhao, Hauke Smidt, Amy C Harms, Thomas Hankemeijer, Jacques J G H M Bergman, Hans A Romijn, Frank G Schaap, Steven W M Olde Damink, Mariette T Ackermans, Geesje M Dallinga-Thie, Erwin Zoetendal, Willem M de Vos, Mireille J Serlie, Erik S G Stroes, Albert K Groen, Max NieuwdorpImprovement of Insulin Sensitivity after Lean Donor Feces in Metabolic Syndrome Is Driven by Baseline Intestinal Microbiota CompositionCell Metab.(2017 Oct 3)
- ^Allegretti JR, Kassam Z, Mullish BH, Chiang A, Carrellas M, Hurtado J, Marchesi JR, McDonald JAK, Pechlivanis A, Barker GF, Miguéns Blanco J, Garcia-Perez I, Wong WF, Gerardin Y, Silverstein M, Kennedy K, Thompson CEffects of Fecal Microbiota Transplantation With Oral Capsules in Obese Patients.Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol.(2020-04)
- ^Yu EW, Gao L, Stastka P, Cheney MC, Mahabamunuge J, Torres Soto M, Ford CB, Bryant JA, Henn MR, Hohmann ELFecal microbiota transplantation for the improvement of metabolism in obesity: The FMT-TRIM double-blind placebo-controlled pilot trial.PLoS Med.(2020-03)
- ^Karen S W Leong, Thilini N Jayasinghe, Brooke C Wilson, José G B Derraik, Benjamin B Albert, Valentina Chiavaroli, Darren M Svirskis, Kathryn L Beck, Cathryn A Conlon, Yannan Jiang, William Schierding, Tommi Vatanen, David J Holland, Justin M O'Sullivan, Wayne S CutfieldEffects of Fecal Microbiome Transfer in Adolescents With Obesity: The Gut Bugs Randomized Controlled TrialJAMA Netw Open.(2020 Dec 1)
- ^Borgeraas H, Johnson LK, Skattebu J, Hertel JK, Hjelmesaeth JEffects of probiotics on body weight, body mass index, fat mass and fat percentage in subjects with overweight or obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trialsObes Rev.(2018 Feb)