Research

Mixed

Specific probiotic and synbiotic strains reduce body mass index (BMI), visceral fat area, and fat mass in overweight or obese adults and children.

If you are overweight, specific probiotic strains (like L. gasseri SBT2055 or L. rhamnosus with inulin) taken daily for 12-36 weeks may help reduce belly fat and BMI, especially when combined with a calorie-controlled diet. However, not all probiotics work for weight loss, so strain selection matters.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
the supplementation of selected probiotics appears to have beneficial effects on BMI, waist circumference, VFA and hip circumference in overweight or obese people... some synbiotics can reduce BMI in women, decrease fat mass and serum leptin levels
María José Sáez‐Lara et al. · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2016

Why this rating

Based on a review of multiple randomized clinical trials, but results are mixed across strains.

Source

Effects of Probiotics and Synbiotics on Obesity, Insulin Resistance Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease: A Review of Human Clinical Trials

María José Sáez‐Lara et al. · International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2016

DOI 10.3390/ijms17060928

narrative_reviewCited 326×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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