Certain Probiotics Shown To Have A Significant Impact On Fat Composition

Scientists in Ireland have shown that ingesting live probiotics can have a major impact on metabolism in other parts of the body. For their study, the researchers developed a recombinant strain of the common intestinal bacterium Lactobacillus by inserting a gene from Propionibacterium acnes. The new strain (Lactobacillus paracasei) was then able to produce the fatty acid known as t10, c12 CLA, produced only by Propionibacterium. t10, c12 CLA is associated with decreased body fat in humans and can also inhibit colon cancer cell growth. When fed to mice, the CLA significantly changed the composition of the animals’ fat tissue. The researchers found that the level of t10, c12 CLA in the mice's fat tissue quadrupled when fed the recombinant probiotic Lactobacillus paracasei.