The Study
Prebiotics are a non-digestible
carbohydrate that promote the growth of healthy bacteria in the gut. The role
of prebiotic supplementation in weight loss is controversial. In this
randomized trial, 42 overweight boys and girls between the ages of 7-12 were
assigned 8 grams of oligofructose-enriched inulin (a prebiotic) each day or
placebo for 16 weeks. After the intervention, a variety of measures were taken
and an all you can eat breakfast buffet was offered to the subjects.
After 16 weeks of
supplementation, there were no significant differences in the amount of food
the subjects were consuming on a daily basis. There were no significant differences
in body mass index between the two groups. When all subjects were included,
there were no significant differences in the amount of food consumed at the all
you can eat breakfast buffet. American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2017; 105:790-99.
Take Home Message
It appears that prebiotic
supplementation is not effective as a weight loss strategy. It is interesting
to note that when the analysis was restricted to just 11-12 year old subjects,
there was a significantly lower consumption of food at the breakfast buffet at
the end of the intervention for those in the prebiotic group.
However, when all of the
data was looked at together, there was no significant difference in daily
energy consumption or BMI after 16 weeks of supplementation. It will take some
more research to fully answer this question, but right now it does not look
like prebiotics will do much to aid in the weight loss process.
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