Can probiotics inhibit sugar desires?

Sugar is a mermaid song for many people. But some friendly intestinal bacteria can help you withstand its seduction. At least this is what ads for some probiotics claim.

For years, customers have been bombarded with supposed health benefits of taking probiotics: improve intestinal health, get more energy and “feel easier”. Some also claim to reduce sugar desires.

But can a daily dose of bacteria really smooth the desires for candy and cookie?

The idea is not completely there. Mice studies have found that some bacteria are missing, Lactobacillus salivarius, L. Gasseri, L. Johnsonii And Muribaculaceae, can send the animals to the sugar bendrs. And it’s not just sweets; missing mice L. Johnsonii And Muribaculaceae will also dig high fat foods. “Everything that is pleasant, rats will eat more if they lack these organisms,” says microbiologist Sarkis Mazmanian of Caltech. Returning germs to rats reduces noise.

In a recent study in Microbiology of nature, Researchers in China discovered how intestinal bacteria Vulgatus bacteroides And a molecule that produces – pantothens, aka vitamin B5 – can reduce the preference of rodents for sugar.

The researchers studied genetically engineered mice to miss the FFAR4, a sensor for some fatty acids in their intestines. For unknown reasons, the lack of this sensor causes levels of B. Vulgatus and pantothenate to go down, and these mice in the sugar. Giving bacteria and vitamin for these mice reduced sugar consumption-all thanks to a chain reaction that includes GLP-1, a protein that has become famous because semaglutides such as ozepic imitate its action in blood sugar control and weight.

Pantothenate stimulates GLP-1 production. On the other hand, GLP-1 promotes the production of a protein called FGF21. This protein does something-scientists are not yet sure what-in the hypothalamus, a center of appetite control in the brain, to reduce the desire for sugar.

B. Vulgatus Reduce sugar desires only to mice that do not have ffar4. This suggests that the bacterium or vitamin B5 can do nothing to stop sugar desires in most people because they have FFARI4 intact, says Mazmanian.

And in some cases, it can even be harmful. “There is some evidence that B. Vulgatus There is a dark side, ”he says. The body can cause intestinal inflammation in mice with certain genetic changes. While most people do not share the mutations of mice, a surplus of B. Vulgatus Can cause abdominal problems for some.

Even if animal data is suggestive, the reality is, no one knows if any bacteria that reduces sugar desires in mice will do the same for humans. It is simply not tested yet in people, and what works in the lab rats sometimes fail to keep in human studies.

Companies are not even required to test probiotics on people or prove they work, says Pieter Cohen, a Harvard Medical Medicine doctor who studies the safety of completion. Because probiotics are sold as dietary supplements, they are not subject to regulation by the US food and drug administration.

As long as they do not claim to treat diseases, Cohen says, companies can trade their products as they choose, though they need some evidence to support their claims. That evidence? Mainly animal data.

“It’s detached from any current test to the people they work,” Cohen says.

Even Mazmanian, who studies useful bacteria, has reserves for trade probiotics. “In 2025, I’m still skeptical of these claims,” ​​he says. Products that claim to reduce sugar desires do not even contain organisms that seem to satisfy the sweet mice tooth.

Even if there are a benefit to humans, each person’s unique biology, genetics and microbiomas can cause individual results to change a lot, he says. “Anydo biology we discover … will not apply to everyone.”