Medication alone won’t solve the global obesity crisis, claims the WHO’s director-general – yet, GLP-1 therapies are now recommended by the global health body to support the billion people who live with obesity.
But the weight-loss jabs are not a silver bullet: their use should be part of a comprehensive strategy that includes healthy diet and exercise, according to WHO.
Probiotic supplementation also shows promise as a weight management solution, with a combination of strains of the Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus genera the most effective according to research (see ‘sources’ below for more information).
And more recently, scientists from the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City brought to light new evidence that the gut bacterium Turicibacter can suppress weight gain and support a healthy metabolism.
How does that the bacterium work?
In short, it acts as a ‘brake’ that tells the body to not absorb too much fat.
Turicibacter produces a unique lipid – a fat molecule – that influences how the body handles fats. The lipid reduces fat absorption by deactivating genes in the gut that help absorb fatty acids; and it also lowers the level of ceramides, a type of fat that tells the body to store more fat and use less sugar for energy.
Previous research has already linked Turicibacter with obesity, having discovered that people who live with the condition have low levels of Turicibacter in their gut microbiome.
This happens because a high-fat diet almost obliterates Turicibacter from the gut, leading to a rise in ceramides and increased fat absorption and weight gain. On the other hand, the beneficial bacterium thrives through fiber-rich dies and moderate fat intake.
And even when it comes to high-fat diets, Turicibacter can be restored in the gut through supplementation – a daily dose of the probiotic is enough to restore its abundance, the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City discovered.
They also found that giving Turicibacter – or just its lipids – to mice on a high-fat diet helped them stay leaner and have better blood sugar levels.
While the trial was limited to animals, the findings demonstrate there is potential for Turicibacter to be a candidate for future obesity and metabolic disease treatments in humans. However, further research is needed to prove the concept would work in humans and not just mice, and carry out trials to determine the efficacy of such probiotic supplement and its potential application in food and beverage.
“Continuous supplementation of Turicibacter KKT8 prevents obesity and reduces host ceramides during an HFD (high-fat diet),” the study’s authors point out. “Supplemented animals gained less weight and had reduced body fat, smaller inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT), fasting glucose, and serum ceramides.”
“These results highlight that Turicibacter KKT8 supplementation can suppress adverse metabolic effects of HFD consumption, thus identifying a potential therapeutic intervention for individuals with obesity and metabolic diseases.
“Collectively, our data identify a novel bacterial-host lipid network that promotes host metabolic health and holds therapeutic promise.”
Sources:
Kendra Klag, et al, Dietary fat disrupts a commensal-host lipid network that promotes metabolic health, Cell Metabolism, 2025, ISSN 1550-4131, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2025.10.007
Torres B, Sánchez MC, Virto L, Llama-Palacios A, Ciudad MJ, Collado L. Use of probiotics in preventing and treating excess weight and obesity. A systematic review. Obes Sci Pract. 2024 Jun 19;10(3):e759.DOI: 10.1002/osp4.759. PMID: 38903852; PMCID: PMC11187407.
