Study Finds Dietary Counselling Increases Weight

Scanning today's Science Daily I noticed a report of a study that found that giving pregnant women probiotics decreased their weight gain very significantly. This isn't a surprise. We've learned that there are some gut bacteria that are reliably associated with obesity.

You'll find the report here:

Probiotics May Ward Off Obesity

But here's the interesting part of this study:

Central obesity - defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more or a waist circumference over 80 centimetres - was found in 25% of the women who had been given the probiotics as well as diet advice. That compared with 43% of the women who got dietary counselling alone and 40% of the women who got neither diet advice nor probiotics. The average body fat percentage in the probiotics group was 28%, compared with 29% in the diet advice only group and 30% in the third group

So what they found is that the group that ended up with the fattest subjects was the group of women who'd been given dietary advice 3% more of whom became obese than those who were left completely alone.

Though far fewer of those who got probiotics and advice ended up obese, given how much better subjects did who didn't get dietary advice, you have to wish the study had included a group of subjects were given probiotics without dietary advice. They probably would have done even better.

In case you wondered what the "dietary counselling" consisted of (though most of my readers already can guess, given the results) here it is:

Two of the groups received dietary counselling consistent with what's recommended during pregnancy for healthy weight gain and optimal foetal development. They were also given food such as spreads and salad dressings with monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, as well as fibre-enriched pasta and breakfast cereal to take home[emphasis mine].

The researchers provided the average body fat percentage of all three groups--which showed no statistically significant difference between all three groups, because it is the only statistic that gave them the kind of statistic they were looking for--one that make counseling look more effective than doing nothing. In fact, since all three groups had almost identical average body fat, and since averages are a meaningless statistic when the groups differed so significantly in terms of how many individuals were obese, this is a statistical red herring.

In conclusion, this study suggests it might be worth trying probiotics for a few months if you are having trouble losing weight. But just as important this study also tells us: If you want to become obese, go to a nutritionist who is still wedded to the discredited low fat diet religious belief and base your diet around the pasta and cereal she sends you home with. It will work.