6 Best Probiotics Supplements for Weight Loss

Your gut health, determined by the balance of probiotics and prebiotics, is crucial for weight management as it regulates your metabolism and nutrient absorption. If you have been trying to lose weight and have been eating healthy but are not seeing any weight loss, your gut health could be the issue.

In this post, we will talk about the mechanics of how gut health affects our weight and the 6 best probiotics for weight loss to help you experience that breakthrough.

Gut Health and Probiotics

Your gut health holds the key to your immune system and your overall health. It is therefore important to understand how they work and how you can start building a healthy microbiome for overall health.

Your large intestine hosts trillions of microbes with hundreds of different types of bacteria that constitute your gut microbiota. While some of these bacteria are ‘bad’ and cause diseases, many of these gut bacteria ‘good’ bacteria, called probiotics, that are crucial for a healthy gut environment.

Probiotics are involved in crucial physical functions including the production of certain vitamins such as vitamin K, improving your immunity to fight off infections, enhance nutrient absorption and triggers feelings of satiation, and regulating your metabolism.

A healthy, diverse gut microbiome that is made up of at least 90% probiotics is therefore important for weight loss and general wellbeing. However, factors such as stress, poor diet, medications (especially anti-biotics) can result in an imbalanced intestinal ecosystem that can make you prone to inflammation, weight gain, diseases and infections.

Introducing new probiotics to your system can calm down activities of bad bacteria so that your body can resume its digestion properly, recover your metabolism and nurse you back to health.

We can increase the amount of probiotics in our bodies by eating the right foods and/or taking probiotics supplements. The problem is that not all probiotics are the same and it is essential to find the correct one that will help your body.

How does probiotics help weight loss?

There are two main categories of good bacteria that are associated with: bacteroidetes and firmicutes. Both of these families of bacteria play important roles in the digestion process and affect body weight.

Several research studies have shown that people who are obese tend to have a higher ratio of Firmicutes to bacteroidetes compared to people of normal weight. One study also shows that people who took probiotics supplementation were able to lose 50% more weight compared to those who didn’t and continued to lose weight over the maintenance phase of the study.

While the exact mechanism of how probiotics affect weight loss is still to be further studied, there are several potential reasons for the connection.

• Your body produces hormones to affect whether you feel full or hungry. Probiotics may help release the satiety hormone that helps reduce appetite and burn fat and calories.
• Additionally, probiotics can help to inhibit fat absorption so that more fat is expelled from the body as waste.
• Probiotics help to boost mechanisms in the body that reduce fat storage (by increasing the protein ANGPTL4).
• Research shows that people with low bacteria diversity tend to show higher overall insulin resistance and may be at higher risk of metabolic syndrome and inflammation in the body.

Sources of probiotics

probiotics can be derived from eating foods rich in probiotics. Some of the best foods with high amounts of probiotics include:

• Fermented vegetables such as sauerkraut and kimchi
• Kefir or yogurt (these can be made from non-dairy ingredients)
• Kombucha
• Tempeh
• Apple cider vinegar
• Miso

If foods rich in probiotics are not available to you, or if you find that your diet lacks probiotics, then taking probiotic supplements will help you get your gut health back on track for weight loss.

Another benefit of taking Probiotics supplements is that they vary in the strains of bacteria and can be formulated with the right combinations of bacteria to provide a more targetted approach for weight loss.

How to choose probiotics supplements for weight loss?

There are several things to keep in mind when finding the best probiotics for weight loss.

• CFU: The very first thing you should look for is the CFU or the colony-forming units of the probiotic supplement. This represents the number of organisms in a single serving, measured in billions. Try to go for probiotics with at least 20-100 billion units.
• Strains of bacteria: Multi-strain probiotic supplements work more effectively than single strains. Look for supplements which contain at least 10-30 strains with a combination of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains. Those from the Lactobacillus family especially are found to be effective at inhibiting dietary fat absorption.
• Form: Probiotics come in many forms, including capsules, tablets, powders and liquids. To ensure the efficacy of probiotics, it is important that the bacteria are able to survive the stomach and reach the intestines. For this reason, the best form of probiotics supplements is tablets or other forms that delay the release of the probiotics into your system.
• Quality of the product: As probiotics are not regulated, do check if the supplement has been tested by an independent third-party for quality, potency and purity.
• Viability: If the label of the supplement says “viable at the time of manufacture”, don’t bother buying it because this only guarantees the bacteria are alive at when they manufactured the product. Find labels that read “viable through end of shelf life”.

6 Best Probiotics Supplements for Weight Loss

Based on the above criteria, the below are are 6 of the best probiotics supplements reviewed.

1. 1MD Complete Probiotics Platinum – Best Overall

CFU: 51 Billion

Number of Strains: 11

Why it helps weight loss:

• Complete range of probiotic bacteria, majority of which belong to the Lactobacillus family which have been associated with reduced fat storage and weight loss.
• It contains a potent amount of 51 billion CFUs so that you only need one capsule a day.
• Delayed-release capsules are specially made to resist stomach acid and ensure safe delivery to the intestinal tract.
• Contains prebiotic fibres which act as a fertilizer to boost the formation of probiotics.
• Vegan, non-GMO, gluten, soy and preservative-free.
• Potency is guaranteed until expiry.
• Strong positive reviews with users experiencing tangible improvements in weight loss, gastrointestinal issues, and other health issues.

2. Klaire Labs Ther-biotic Complete

CFU: 25 Billion

Number of Strains: 12

Why it helps weight loss:

• Ther-biotic Complete is made up of high-strength and hypoallergenic bacteria, with 12 different strains and 25 Billion CFUs.
• Its proprietary InTactic technology shields the capsules from damage in the stomach and ensures release of the probiotics in the gut for optimum efficiency.
• People suffering from allergies will be glad to know that Klaire Labs grows their probiotics on a dairy-free medium to ensure that their probiotic supplement is free of milk/casein, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, gluten, and soybeans. This supplement also contains no artificial colours, flavours, or preservatives.
• Klaire Labs states that all incoming probiotic raw materials are quarantined and checked against strict quality criteria to ensure maximum viability of the probiotics.

3. Garden of Life, Raw Probiotics Ultimate Care

CFU: 100 Billion

Number of Strains: 34

Why it helps weight loss:

• Raw Probiotics Ultimate Care contains a highly diverse blend that includes Lactobacillus acidophilus, paracasei, Brevis, and bulgaricus as well as Bifidobacterium (Bifidobacteria) lactis and longum. Lactobacillus strains have been linked to weight loss and management.
• Formulated with raw, whole foods (eg. Bulgarian yoghurt, wild kefir, fruits, vegetables) to deliver natural probiotics that will get your body’s digestive functions running smoothly.
• During the manufacturing process, the raw probiotics are never heated more than 115°F to ensure more live nutrients, enzymes and probiotic strains that will deliver the greatest targeted health benefit.
• Includes protein-digesting enzymes, probiotic-creatic vitamins and minerals to boost nutrient absorption and smooth running digestion for weight loss.
• Doesn’t require refrigeration and potency is good through expiry.
• Third-party verified for quality.

4. New Rhythm Probiotics

CFU: 50 Billion

Number of Strains: 20

Why it helps weight loss:

• Blend of 20 strains of bacteria, many of which belong to the Lactobacillus family which have been linked to weight loss and long-term weight management.
• Targeted release technology enables probiotics to survive the acidic stomach environment and reach your intestines.
• Organic prebiotics fibre included to enhance the growth of probiotics and increase the potency of supplementation.
• Positively reviewed, with tangible results seen on GI health, immunity
• Guaranteed label accuracy: GMP certified for quality, purity and consistency.
• 100% natural, vegetarian, non-GMO and gluten-free

Note: People not used to probiotics supplementation may suffer from diarrhoea in the beginning when taking the full dose. Try to cut back on dosage if so.

5. Hyperbiotics Pro 15

CFU: 5 Billion (equivalent to 75 Billion CFU of standard probiotic capsules)

Number of Strains: 15

Why it helps weight loss:

• ** 5 Billion CFU in each pearl is equivalent to 75 Billion CFU of standard probiotic capsules due to their patented manufacturing process.
• Delay release technology to ensure that probiotics are released over 8-10 hours, have 15 times more survivability and reach deep into the intestinal tract.
• People who dislike swallowing large pills will like Hyperbiotics. Its supplement is in the form of pearls, which are much smaller than normal tablets but still deliver a potent amount of CFUs into your intestines.
• Inclusion of naturally derived prebiotics to enhance colony formation of probiotics.
• Vegetarian and non-GMO. Free of common allergens including dairy, gluten, yeast, soy, sugar, iron, nuts, artificial flavours, artificial colours, or preservatives.

6. Renew Life Ultimate Flora Extra Care

CFU: 30 Billion

Number of Strains: 12

Why it helps weight loss:

• Renew Life contains a diversity of 12 strains of live cultures.
• It is shelf-stable, meaning you do not need to refrigerate it (though recommended), free from gluten, dairy and soy, and contains no artificial ingredients.
• Due to its delayed-release capsules, Renew Life ensures that the bacteria make it to your gut; This means that one capsule a day is enough.
• Most importantly, Renew Life guarantees potency until it expires.

If you like this article on the best probiotics for weight loss or have any further questions, please feel free to leave them in the comment section below!

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