Dive Brief:
- Probiotics may offer consumers yet another benefit in addition to gut and mental health improvements: weight loss, according to recent studies and research reviews.
- The average weight loss per person in many of these studies was minimal.
- With the current obesity epidemic in the U.S., even a modest amount of weight loss could impact overall public health.
Dive Insight:
These studies may show that probiotics are associated with weight loss, but manufacturers should still tread carefully when considering citing the claims these studies made. That's particularly true for any advertising or packaging, which is often the subject of mislabeling lawsuits and class actions.
The results of various weight loss-related diets align across a spectrum of success rates. They often depend on a number of variables that may have nothing to do with the products or ingredients specifically associated with potential weight loss.
Probiotics may be more suitable for weight loss for people with certain genetics or environmental factors in their everyday lives. Until researchers can more readily assure probiotics' effectiveness for consumers across the board, manufacturers may not want to make any resounding weight loss-related claims about their products.