Probiotics May Help Obese People Lose Weight

Sometimes I think that we still have this idea lurking in the back of our minds that people who are obese are somehow happy. Just take jolly St. nick, for example. But the reality of being overweight is that most people who are severely obese are self- conscious and miserable.

Barb was a friend of my mother's. She was the nicest lady in the world and after my brother essentially cleaned out her bank account, she kind of became an adopted member of the family. She lived with my mom for a number of years.

Barb had been struggling with her weight since she was a small child. At the time she knew my mom, she weighed in at about 450 pounds. She broke a lot of chairs by just sitting on them and one time a section of the floor had to be replaced underneath her bed.

Eventually, Barb developed arthritis in her knees from all that weight and had to quit her job working in the dietary department at a local hospital. She moved out and had to reside in an assisted living home.

Barb tried everything to lose weight and sometimes she was successful, but then she would gain it all back again and then some. The bottom line is that fad and quick weight loss diets don't work. Or they don't work for very long.

A big part of the problem is that a lot of overweight people don't realize how much they actually eat. Barb was fond of saying that it must be her "metabolism" because she didn't eat that much, but still gains weight. But when you looked at what she had piled on her plate, you sometimes couldn't believe your eyes.

There are many theories about why some people are naturally heavier. Some say that it's just because they eat too much. Others say that it's genetic. In prehistoric times, those people who could put on weight in the winter survived better than those who couldn't. Some researchers believe that it's a disruption in the delicate balance that the body maintains or a deficit in brain chemicals.

We all know that bacteria in the digestive system play a key role in how we process the food that we eat. Maybe by regulating them, we could help people lose weight. According to Medical News Today:

"Specially designed probiotics can modulate the physiology of host fat cells say scientists writing in Microbiology. The findings could lead to specialised probiotics that have a role in the prevention or treatment of conditions such as obesity."

The scientists fed an engineered bacterial strain to mice and found that it significantly altered the composition of their fat cells. The bacteria is called CLA and it has been shown to result in decreased weight in animals and also inhibit the growth of colon cancer cells by 92%.

According to Dr. Stanton, who led the study: "CLA has already been shown to alleviate non-alcoholic fatty liver disease that often accompanies obesity. Therefore, increasing levels of CLA in the liver by ingestion of a probiotic strain is of therapeutic relevance," she said.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/212367.php