According to the energy balance theory , we gain weight because we eat more and move less. This theory describes, but does not explain, what happens in our body when we implement strategies to reduce weight and does not give importance to how the control and regulation mechanisms present in our body work. For example, the sensation of hunger and the sensation of satiety, or the ability to vary our caloric expenditure or how our intestinal microbiota influences it.
The composition of the intestinal microbiota varies from person to person, and is influenced by factors such as diet, lifestyle, age and genetics. Notable patterns and differences have been found in the composition between healthy and sick people. Specifically, intestinal dysbiosis in patients with obesity presents an increase in the proportion of Firmicutes and a decrease in Bacteroidetes.
In recent years, several studies have shown that the intestinal microbiota, previously known as intestinal flora, plays a fundamental role in the regulation of body weight and obesity.
Probivos Lean offers a patented probiotic and active ingredient formula, especially the Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis B420® strain, which has been one of the most scientifically studied species and is considered to be useful as an adjuvant in the treatment of various metabolic disorders. Bifidobacterium lactis B420 is one of the few probiotics clinically proven to control fat and support metabolic health.
In this article we present a clinical case in which supplementation with Probivos Lean is used as part of a comprehensive and multidisciplinary weight reduction strategy.
Case documentation: Antonio Espejo with nutritional plan and Probivos Lean.
On August 17, 2023, I received a patient for consultation thanks to a doctor's recommendation. The patient named Antonio Espejo informed me that he intended to undergo bariatric surgery in 3 months, so the doctor recommended that he come with me to carry out a diet plan and achieve a weight loss of 25 to 30 kg to be able to perform the surgery (gastric bypass). The challenge for me at that time was enormous, since his initial diagnosis was complicated, he weighed 151 kg, muscle mass of 29.4%, subcutaneous fat above 45% and visceral fat of 41 points. In these cases, both subcutaneous fat (fat found under the skin) and visceral fat (fat that covers the internal organs) must go down at the same rate as the weight, trying to preserve the greatest amount of muscle mass to facilitate the surgical intervention.
As soon as we finished the first consultation, I started the nutritional treatment. I prescribed a normocaloric diet (a diet with the calories that she had to consume) of 2,100 Kcal. In the first week, she surprisingly lost 6.3 kg. It should be noted that even though it might seem like a lot of Kcal for a weight loss treatment, for her body it was what was most convenient because she consumed a greater amount of Kcal in one or two meals a day, and by prescribing the nutritional plan of 2,100 kcal in 5 meals, I tried to interrupt the energy storage cycle.
Every week I was decreasing 100 Kcal in his plan and in the first month he had already lost 19 Kg! Only something was not going so well, and that was his visceral fat, because in one month and with 19 kg less he had only managed to lose 2.5 points from 41 to 38.5. Meanwhile, the muscle had increased from 29.4% to 30.4% (without exercise) and the subcutaneous fat had decreased from 45% to 40.9%. We were only 2 months away from surgery and I had to speed up the process. It was then that I saw the launch of a new product from the Matter brand, called Provibos Lean . It should be noted that I had already worked on my patients with other products from the brand and I was surprised by the effects and benefits it had brought to various types of patients I had treated (diabetes, hypertension, cancer and kidney disease, to name a few).
I researched that these probiotics contained the strains Bifidobacterium lactis B420TM, it is one of the few probiotics clinically proven to control fat and support metabolic health. Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM® has been safely investigated in over 330 scientific studies, including over 60 human clinical trials as a single strain and in combination with other probiotics.
L. acidophilus NCFM® has several benefits such as: promoting general intestinal comfort, helps relieve occasional constipation, helps maintain a healthy immune system, regulates cholesterol and triglyceride levels, improves insulin sensitivity, among others.
Seeing the scientific support, the benefits it promised, and the good experiences I had had with my patients using the brand's products, I prescribed them to use them for the remaining 2 months along with the adjustments to the diet plan, and the results surprised me: she managed to lose 16.65 kg more! Not only that, her percentage of subcutaneous fat dropped from 40.9% to 38.1%, muscle mass from 30.4% to 31.5%, and her visceral fat from 38.5 to 30 points!
Antonio arrived at his surgery weighing 35.65 kg, he went from weighing 151 kg to 115.35 kg in just 3 months, thanks to his great adherence to the eating plan and supplementation with Probivos Lean. After his surgery, we continued with the protocol to lose weight to our goal of 95 kg, I added the Zincox supplement from Matter to the treatment, as I thought it was convenient to supplement with Zinc since it is a precursor to the testosterone hormone and could help us increase muscle mass a little, decrease cortisol and thereby lose more fat. We finished the treatment in February of this year 2024, and his diagnosis is totally new.
Today Antonio is a completely renewed person, he weighs 90.4 kg, his subcutaneous fat is 30.4%, his muscle mass is 34.5% and his visceral fat is 20 points. In summary I can say that the general treatment was a complete success:
- Weight loss: 60.6 Kg
- Decrease in subcutaneous fat: 15.5%
- Increase in muscle mass: 5.1% (without physical activity)
- Visceral fat reduction: 21 points
In conclusion, the establishment of a comprehensive and multidisciplinary plan that includes dietary modifications and supplementation with Probivos Lean can be considered as another tool in the therapeutic arsenal for weight loss; although this case may not be representative, it allows us to explore the possibilities of implementing probiotic supplementation in practice in synergy with other medical-dietary strategies to help more patients lose weight.
References:
- Andreasen, AS, Larsen, N., Pedersen-Skovsgaard, T., Berg, RM, Møller, K., Svendsen, KD, ... & Pedersen, BK (2010). Effects of Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM on insulin sensitivity and the systemic inflammatory response in human subjects. British journal of nutrition, 104(12), 1831-1838.
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