Gut health expert shares 'one thing to add' to your diet to lose weight

Clinical nutritionist and gut health expert, Suzie Sawyer, has suggested that adding one thing to your diet could improve gut health and aid weight loss. She stated that incorporating probiotics into your diet can offer a range of benefits conducive to weight loss goals.

As an advisor to PrecisionBiotics, Suzie explained: "Gut health affects our total psychological and physical wellbeing – impacting everything from mood, cognition, immunity and even our weight. Mainly because of the complicated communication system known as the gut-brain axis, which also influences the gut microbiome."

She further revealed: "New research by my colleagues at PrecisionBiotics - the smart brains behind a range of targeted, and scientifically proven probiotic supplements - has discovered that a high 96% of adult Brits rightly believe that their gut health can impact their overall quality of life. Yet despite this, 44% don't think anything can be done support their gut health."

Suzie continued: "Research continues to show the importance of gut health for management of body weight. And it is probiotics, especially one rigorously studied probiotics strain – Bifidobacterium – 12 (BB-12) – which is within PrecisionBiotics Daily Good Bacteria Gut Health supplement, which has been shown to help prevent weight gain, particularly from high-fat diets."

"One study in 220 participants aged 30-65 years found that six months of a mixed probiotic containing BB-12 significantly reduced body weight by 1.34kg and also reduced BMI, waist circumference and waist-to-height ratio. A meta-analysis of 20 randomised controlled trials found that probiotic supplementation had a significant decrease in BMI by 0.73 kg/m2.", reports Surrey Live.

"The analysis also found that probiotic supplementation significantly decreased waist circumference and hip circumference. The gut microbiota and hence probiotics may impact weight loss through various mechanisms."

"Theories are that probiotics may strengthen the natural immune response; regulate the functions of endogenous microbiota; improve intestinal barrier function; modify the secretion of hormones, neurotransmitters, and inflammatory factors; and alter the metabolism of short-chain fatty acids in the gut, which can result in the release of appetite-regulating hormones."

Suzie said: "Take a strain-specific probiotic containing BB-12 - which is within PrecisionBiotics Daily Good Bacteria Gut Health supplement - for which there is an evidence-based impact on weight loss."

"Eat a healthy diet containing plenty of fruit and vegetables, including berries, greens, kiwi, and grains such as oats, with fibre-containing foods working with a probiotic to enhance gut health by promoting bacterial diversity. Don't skip meals as regularity of meals helps the establishment of a healthy gut microbiota."

Suzie further advised: "The British Dietetic Association recommends taking probiotics for at least four weeks to give them time to work; it takes time for probiotics to start to work their magic, via the gut-brain-axis, and begin to reset other body systems and biofeedback."