Evidence shows that gut microbes are key factors involved in regulating energy homeostasis, metabolic inflammation, lipid metabolism, and glucose metabolism. Researchers conducted a study to evaluate the impact of S boulardii on obesity and associated metabolic features including fat mass development, hepatic steatosis, and low-grade inflammation in obese mice. S. boulardii was administer orally each day to leptin-resistance obese and type 2 diabetic (T2D) mice for 4 weeks. S. boulardii treated mice exhibited reduced body weight, fat mass, hepatic steatosis and inflammatory tone. These effects on host metabolism were associated with local effects in the intestine. S. boulardii increased cecum weight and cecum tissue weight but also induced dramatic changes in the gut microbial composition at the phylum, family, and genus levels. These changes may also be correlated with the host metabolism response. Researchers concluded that their study demonstrated for the first time that S. boulardii may act as a beneficial treatment in the context of obesity and T2D.
Everard A, et al. 2014. Saccharomyces boulardii Administration Changes Gut Microbiota and Reduces Hepatic Steatosis, Low-Grade Inflammation, and Fat Mass in Obese and Type 2 Diabetic db/db Mice. mBio 5(3):e01011-14. doi:10.1128/mBio.010011-14. Published 10 June 2014.