What about prebiotics?

It’s the same story for prebiotics. These non-digestible sugars— present in vegetables, whole-grain cereals, legumes, tubers, fruits, nuts, herbs, spices, etc.—nourish good bacteria allowing them to proliferate to the detriment of bad bacteria. While their benefits in combating obesity have been widely demonstrated in the laboratory, human studies have produced divergent results⁶.

Some prebiotics induced a significant reduction in weight, BMI and waist circumference in obese and overweight adults, while others had no effect⁶.

As a whole, studies show that prebiotics affect satiety⁷, but unfortunately this does not lead to weight loss⁶. Although prebiotics remains an exciting line of research, experts agree that it is still too early to recommend their use in treating obesity and excess weight⁶.