Yoghurt drinks can prevent weight gain

Want to shed those extra kilos? Increase your daily intake of yoghurt, as scientists claim probiotic drinks can beat the bugs that cause obesity. Read on to know the details.

Want to shed those extra kilos? Increase your daily intake of yoghurt, as scientists claim probiotic drinks can beat the bugs that cause obesity.

The discovery, by scientists from Washington University in Missouri, suggests that some bacteria found in the digestive tract and thrive on junk food are responsible for weight gain. But probiotic yoghurts boost a type of bug that prefer only healhier food, in turn, helping one to remain slim, they said.

The link between bugs and weight gain was discovered when the researchers gave mice 'transplants' of bugs normally found in the human gut. A junk food binge rapidly altered the make-up of the bugs, with some types thriving and others struggling to survive, The Daily Mail reported.

To study the effect of the changes, the researchers took stomach bugs from mice fed fatty food and injected them into lean mice. These mice rapidly put on weight, despite being fed low-fat foods, according to the study published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Harvard University obesity expert Jeffrey Flier said that many factors contribute to obesity and it is important to find new ways of combating them.

"The gut microbiome (population of bacteria) seems poised to serve as such a promising new scientific platform. It is, however, important to keep this new knowledge in prospective," he said.