Superfoods Probiotics Another Weapon in the Fight Against Obesity, Especially After Pregnancy

Weight gain is one of the biggest concerns for pregnant women. While you need to put on a certain amount of weight to help nourish your baby, packing on too many pounds can be dangerous. A study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in 2009 suggests that eating probiotics may help you stay within a healthy range.

What are Probiotics?
Probiotics are healthy bacteria that help to regulate the balance of bacteria in your digestive tract and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria. They also help to control inflammation. In recent years, researchers have been trying to find out if the balance of bacteria in the gut contributes to weight gain and if altering that balance can help.

Probiotics Effective at Fighting Central Obesity, the Most Dangerous Form of this Disease
In the Finnish study, pregnant women who ate probiotics during their first trimester and received dietary counselling were less likely to develop central obesity, the most dangerous form of the disease, which is also a main cause of type 2 diabetes. “The women who got the probiotics fared best. One year after childbirth, they had the lowest levels of central obesity as well as the lowest body fat percentage,” says Kirsi Laitinen, a nutritionist and senior lecturer at the University of Turku in Finland.

Central obesity refers to having a body mass index of 30 or more. It’s accompanied by significant amounts of abdominal fat and is considered especially unhealthy. The researchers found it in 25 percent of the women who took probiotics and had dietary counselling, compared with 43 percent of the women who received diet advice only, and 40 percent of women who didn’t get probiotics or counselling.

One drawback of the study was that it didn’t take into account the mothers’ pre-pregnancy weight, which might have affected how much weight they later gained. Laitinen states that more research is needed to confirm the role of probiotics in fighting obesity, and her team is continuing to follow the study participants. They will also investigate whether probiotics taken during pregnancy has any effect on their babies’ health. Expectant mothers everywhere, stay tuned.

Reference:
The European Association for the Study of Obesity press release, “Study in Pregnant Women Suggests Probiotics May Help Ward off Obesity.”

Source: Core Content Media
Type: Original article