Weight Control, Glucose Sensitivity, and the other Benefits of B. Lactis B420

As the research on probiotics continues to mushroom, some very compelling applications are being shown that would not have previously been attributed to the microbiome.  

Along those lines, then, there's some very interesting research surrounding a new probiotic strain called, Bifidobacterium Lactis B420.  

Now, before we examine the research on this strain, let's first note that medical science is beginning to make a connection between body weight and gut microbiota.  This was first discovered by accident with fecal implant patients.  Doctors began to notice that recipients of fecal implants would take on the characteristics of the donor in terms of body composition.  So a study was done on mice to try to reproduce this, and indeed they found the same thing in the laboratory.  A fecal sample was taken from an obese person and implanted into a mouse, and the mouse gained weight. 

So enter, then, the research on B. Lactis B420. 

Before we look at the research specific to body weight, let’s first look at the various other benefits of this impressive strain on other health paramters.

Experimental research has indicated that:

• B420 increased tight junction integrity of epithelial cells, and therefore protected gut epithelial cells from the harmful effects of pathogenic microbes.
• B420 protected against NSAID-induced GI side effects in a rat model by reducing an NSAID-induced inrease in stomach permeability
• B420 reduced mucosal dysbiosis, bacterial translocation, expression of major pro-inflammatory cytokines in various tissues, and improved glucose metabolism in mice fed a high fat diet (HFD).
• In HFD-fed mice, B420 modulated gut microbiota and improved glucose intolerance.  Further, the combination prevented the impairment of intestinal immunity due to metabolic abnormalities induded by the HFD.
• In a mouse model of diabetes, B420 enhanced concentrations of ileum GLP-1, a protein involved in both insulin secretion and satiety signaling.
• In an obese mouse model, increases in body weight and fat mass in mice fed with HFD for 12 weeks were significantly reduced if the mice were co-administered B420.  
• In a diabetes mouse model, mice receiving both HFD and B420 had decreased fat mass compared with mice receiving only HFD.  B420 also improved glucose metabolism in this mouse model.

So this is already a very impressive list of benefits even without the benefits of weight control.  But now let’s turn our attention to that aspect, which is human data.

The goal here was to determine if the B420 could make a change in the incremental body weight that many people experience over time as they age.  The untreated group of overweight individuals gained 3.1% of bodyweight in six months.  The overweight group receiving 10 billion units per day of the B420 probiotic strain, however, did not gain any extra body weight in that same period of time, and they observed no dietary or lifestyle changes.  All they did was add the probiotic.  The probiotic group also showed a slight decrease in waist circumference of 2.4%, AND they ate less, showing improved satiety with the use of the probiotic strain. 

Another very positive benefit was the improvement in short chain fatty acids over that period of time, a huge benefit to gut health. 

Now, as we know, many people tend to gain weight as they age, some a little, and some a lot.  It’s too early to tell if the B420 can legitimately be called a weight LOSS probiotic, but it can certainly be called a weight CONTROL probiotic.  With that in mind, remember that those in the study didn’t change anything about their lifestyles.  So it could be, perhaps, that if this probiotic strain was added to a weight loss plan, it may amplify the effects of the other weight loss efforts….maybe.  Again, there’s not enough information to go on yet to verify that statement, but I think it’s a fairly good assumption that this could be the case. 

I’ll close by saying that weight gain with age is multi-factorial, and can be attributed to shifts in hormones and other factors.  However, we cannot and should not rule out the changes in the microbiome that occur with age as well.  And weight issues aside, there are enough other benefits with this remarkable strain that it should be considered for use with leaky gut and autoimmune patients, those with gut dysbiosis, and even glucose and insulin intolerance. 

References available upon request

Managing Inflammation, Part 4: Autoimmunity

In my final installment of the inflammation series, the last but certainly not least issue we need to consider is that of the autoimmune connection with inflammation and how it occurs.

Autoimmunity leading to chronic and systemic inflammation can be multi-faceted, but perhaps the most important connection to consider is that of its origin in the gut.

Unbeknownst to many, the gut appears to be the command center for many important biological processes not related specifically to digestion. For example, approximately 70% of the body’s serotonin is made in the GI, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70% of the body’s immune defenses are concentrated in the Gut-Associated Lymphoid Tissue (GALT). When there are problems with immune compromise it can often be linked to gut health.

As it relates to autoimmunity, here’s a simplistic understanding of how it happens.

The gut mucosa is a filtering system of sorts, allowing through very small digested particles, such as amino acids from digested proteins. It can be likened to a screen door which is porous but allows through only the tiniest particles. However, because of disruptions in gut flora through dietary insults and damage to the mucosa itself because of toxins and various pharmaceuticals, particularly antiobiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs, the mucosa becomes more like chicken-wire, allowing through very large undigested particles, such as intact proteins.

An intact protein is not supposed to be wandering around in systemic circulation, so even though proteins are necessary in the diet, the immune system doesn’t recognize an intact protein as friendly like it does individual amino acids. Thus, an intact protein will mobilize the body’s immune defenses. The immune system sends out antibodies to attach themselves to the foreign protein, just like it would any bacteria or virus. And then the killer cells identify the targeted substances and blast away until it is destroyed.

However, intact proteins present a unique problem. Sometimes they can resemble other proteins that are part of the body, such as proteins that make up the synovial membranes of the joints. In the case of autoimmunity, the immune system is so busy carrying out its search-and-destroy mission on undigested proteins that it will target anything with a similar shape. So it gets confused and targets host tissue. Thus the term, antigenic mimicry.

It is well established in the scientific literature that certain conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis have an autoimmune connection linked to intestinal permeability, or leaky gut syndrome. So one important step in modifying the immune system and cooling inflammation is to heal the gut mucosa with probiotics first and foremost to inoculate the gut with friendly and healing bacteria, but also with other supportive and nutritive substances like L-glutamine. Together, these approaches can begin the process of healing a leaky gut mucosa and turning off the –over activated immune system.

Deficiencies of certain substances, most notably vitamin D, zinc, and selenium, have also been linked to a malfunctioning immune system that doesn’t know when to shut down.

Several pilot trials have been performed on these substances in patients with autoimmune conditions at the Functional Medicine Research Center to determine the efficacy of specific supplementation in patients with conditions such as Rheumatoid Arthritis. A combination of probiotics with featuring B. Lactis and the NCFM strain of acidophilus; a formula containing reduced iso-alpha acid from hops, vitamin D3, and zinc; an anti-inflammatory medical food, and high potency EPA and DHA from fish oil was used in these patients with remarkable success. I have attached graphs depicting the results of these studies below, and you can also click here to access the paper one of these trials.

'MSQ' scores below represent the Multiple Symptoms Questionnaire results