Research is revealing some amazing abilities of Akkermansia muciniphila, a bacterium residing in the gut of most people. The bacteria influence if the body will increase or decrease belly fat and if if will gain or lose weight. Can Akkermansia help us lose weight? Read on for the fascinating answer.
How bacteria control weight
Let’s imagine that you’re trying to lose weight but without success. You have seriously tried several promising diets, but alas! nothing seems to work, you still can’t lose weight. Feeling frustrated, you are ready to give up.
But then you’re offered something weird—a specific strain of bacteria called A. muciniphila. They even call it the “a weight loss bacteria!” Well, you have nothing to lose anyway, so you accept the offer and start consuming the bacteria daily.
And now things start to move! Akkermansia enters the digestive tract causing the gut environment to change. Signals of this rapid change are sent to the brain via the vagus nerve and through communication with other bacteria throughout the body. All of this triggers a remarkable chain reaction with an increased metabolism. The body gradually rids itself of excess weight, lowers inflammation, and strengthens the immune system. After only a few months your ideal weight is reached and you feel more fit and radiant than ever before. And all of this just because of a microscopic bacterium. Absolutely amazing!
“Is this really be possible?” you might ask. According to science, such a scenario might become a reality.
- Bacteria controlling body weight do exist!
In a paper dated May 13, 2013, researchers at the University of Louvain, Belgium concluded that the probiotic bacteria Akkermansia muciniphila has the amazing ability to promote weight loss in humans.
How Akkermansia controls obesity
In healthy individuals, this particular species of probiotic bacteria, Akkermansia muciniphila, make up 3-5% among hundreds of other gut bacteria. Almost all humans have it—from infants to elderly ones. However, in obese people, the level of A. muciniphila drops sharply for some reason.
This raises the intriguing question: How would an obese body react if we were to add the A. muciniphila to his or her diet? Could one single bacteria strain promote significant weight loss? The answer seems to be yes as certain bacteria and weight control go hand in hand.
A. muciniphila is a bacterium with amazing properties. It helps to repair a disturbed metabolism, which is associated with obesity. It lowers inflammation and help reverse type-2 diabetes. We already knew that the digestive tract is involved with many health problems, but no one really understood why and how. However, this research might prove tremendously helpful to understand what could be done about it.
Can we expect to see probiotic supplements designed for weight loss, to treat inflammation and diabetes? Quite possible. Are there any akkermansia muciniphila supplements available now? Not that I know about. Sorry!
- I know of no supplement containing Akkermansia at this time!
But I assume they are working on it. However, you can do something almost equally effective to promote the growth of Akkermansia. What?
Support your existing colony of A. muciniphila
The researchers in Belgium concluded that adding prebiotic fiber, such as oligofructose to your diet, can help recover a failing gut colony of Akkermansia muciniphila. It is as simple as that!
- Feed your colony of good gut bacteria
How can this be done?
One of the best ways is by consuming prebiotics, or dietary fiber. Fiber feed bacteria and promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria including Akkermansia.
Psyllium seed husk is nearly 100% dietary fiber and gut bacteria love it! Psyllium husk is commonly used to relieve constipation, irritable bowel syndrome, but also weight loss. It is a simple, cost-effective way to promote the growth of the much-desired “weight loss bacterium” Akkermansia muciniphila.
Prebiotic fiber in raw foods
Many foods naturally contain dietary fiber, and if consumed daily will have an immediate effect. To enjoy full benefits of prebiotics, you need a variety of these foods on a daily basis. Choose organic products as these will not be contaminated with pesticides, fertilizers, or be genetically modified. Those things can disturb gut bacteria.
Consuming around 30 grams of fiber per day is recommended for most people. However, many don’t consume even half of that.
Foods containing fiber:
- Raw Chicory root (64%)
- Dandelion greens (24%)
- Wheat bran (5%)
- Asparagus (5%)
- Garlic (17%)
- Banana (1%)
- Onion (8%)
- Leek (12%)
- Also found in oatmeal, red wine, honey, maple syrup, legumes and other foods.
Akkermansia—very talkative!
The above-mentioned researchers stated: “This study provides substantial insight into the intricate mechanisms of bacterial (i.e., A. muciniphila) regulation of the cross-talk between the host and gut microbiota. These results also provide a rationale for the development of a treatment that uses this human mucus colonizer for the prevention or treatment of obesity and its associated metabolic disorders.”
It turns out that A. muciniphila is rather talkative. It talks to other bacteria residing in the body. It even “talks” to your body to stimulate and promote a number of body processes.
- Make sure A. muciniphila keeps talking!
If you feed and nourish your Akkermansia muciniphila colony, then they will in exchange promote your body’s metabolism, lower inflammation, deal with harmful microorganisms and help to control weight.
What to do if there is little or no Akkermansia?
A few people might not be colonized by Akkermansia, or they have very low levels. The reason for this is unknown, as is the precise effect this have on the body. If Akkermansia is completely absent in the gut, then it will probably not appear because of consuming prebiotics or probiotics. However, even if there are ever so little Akkermansia present, then an increase can be stimulated. Studies show that gut bacteria quickly respond to stimulus as for example diet changes.
What may stimulate the growth of A. muciniphila?
- Add a high-quality probiotic supplement.
- Lower intake of sugar, carbs, processed food
- Increase consumption of healthy fats, fresh vegetables.
- Mango may promote the growth of gut bacteria.
- Cranberry extract may alleviate intestinal inflammation and increase Akkermansia population.
- Consuming fermented vegetables, yoghurt, kefir, natto and other fermented foods (without sugar).
- Fish oil (or krill oil) increases the abundance of Akkermansia muciniphila in test animals, which indicates a connection.
Reference
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America
Fish oil
Cranberry extract
Mango and gut bacteria
We’re adding fermented foods to our diet. In order to gain a healthy gut and lose weight, how much of the fermented veggies should I eat in a day?
Thank you for your website!
Hello Rita.
It is always wise to start slow with a tablespoon or so. If you feel OK with this, then increase the amount you eat until you can eat a few tablespoons with each meal. In the beginning you might get mild symptoms like bloating which is normal and disappears after a few days. It shows the bacteria are working. However, there is no limit as to how much you can consume. Some people eat much more. Fermented vegetables are great for weight loss. If you want to lose weight it is usually enough with a few tablespoons to promote this.
Feeding bacteria only helps if there are some there to feed. A blogger I respect suggests that doing prebiotics to feed nonexistent gut bacteria is rather like throwing bananas in an empty zoo cage expecting an orangutan to appear.
Sure you need to feed them, but they have to be there for feeding them to do any good. I’m a gardener and thus half my diet is nonstarchy veggies by volume, not counting the starchy veggies, fruits and grains I eat. I get STUPID amounts of fiber.
But I’ve also been a T2 for over 2 decades and seriously doubt that there’s any Akkermansia in there at all at this point. Now soil bacteria, those I’ve got, as I garden, which tends to mean eating stuff while outdoors often. I have lots of lacto d00ds due to eating fermented foods regularly. I’ve done various cmmerical probiotics at various points also. But I suspect I’ve no Akkermansia at all.
Hello Jackie.
I understand your point. Nice that you can enjoy gardening and your own produce. There is no doubt that this promotes the growth of gut bacteria.
However, the studies made on gut bacteria indicate that most people have hundreds of bacteria types in their guts, including Akkermansia. The main problem is with gut imbalances and not with the complete extermination of specific bacteria. This means that many people have too many of one kind and too little of another, for example Akkermansia. So there seem to be monkeys present in the cage, they are just starved and weak.
Therefore, the main issue is of balancing the gut bacteria, not to introduce new bacteria. In fact, many studies has shown that probiotic bacteria consumed does not replace existing bacteria residing in the gut. But probiotics seem to create a suitable environment for existing bacteria to thrive. The goal with this article was to show that a simple yet very effective way to balance the gut bacteria is by introducing prebiotics in the diet. Prebiotics feed existing bacteria that can grown and and promote balance. And balance promote optimal health. Of course, there are also other ways to promote this.
I take both pro n prebiotics reguarly. A good quality is very important. Many in d market r low quality n most r damage by d acidity in our stomach. I took avance brand (bifimax) n very happy. I recommend a few friends who children are often sick with flu n cough. They are also very happy with d result.
Hi Shirley.
Thanks for your comment. I agree with you; probiotics & prebiotics is an excellent combination for effective weight loss and to boost health. Always go for high quality.
Hello sir,
I would like to know the base media composition and preparation for growing this bacteria. I have searched a lot but can not get the exact composition. Or else can I get akkermansia muciniphila bacteria from you?
Hello Adbul.
I do not distribute akkermansia muciniphila. Having my own lab would make this much easier. However, the Genome Portal reports the following on akkermansia muciniphila:
Akkermansia muciniphila gen. nov., sp. nov. (ATCC BAA-835) has been isolated as a novel strictly anaerobic, mucin-degrading bacterium from a human fecal sample. Cells of strain MucT were oval-shaped (Fig. 3a), showing a different size depending on the medium. In mucin medium, strain MucT was 640 nm in diameter and 690 nm in length and in BHI, strain MucT was 830 nm in diameter and 1μm in length. Cells stained Gram-negative. Flagella were not seen on negatively stained electron micrograph preparations. Formation of spores by the strain was never observed. In mucin medium, the organism could grow as single cells or in pairs, rarely in chains and often formed aggregates.
A. muciniphila grows between 20°C and 40°C with an optimum at 37°C. The pH optimum for growth was 6.5 with a range of 5.5 to 8. Able to grow on gastric mucin, BHI and Columbia media, and on N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and glucose when these three sugars are in the presence of 2 g/l of peptone, yeast extract, casitone and tryptone. Cellobiose, lactose, galactose, xylose, fucose, rhamnose, maltose, succinate, acetate, fumarate, butyrate, lactate, casitone, casamino acids, tryptone, peptone, yeast extract, proline, glycine, aspartate, serine, threonine, glutamate do not support growth of the strain. Capable of using mucin as carbon, energy and nitrogen source. The doubling time of the strain was approximately 1.5 hour in mucin medium. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the isolate was part of the division Verrucomicrobia. The closest described relative of strain MucT was Verrucomicrobium spinosum showing 92% sequence similarity. Remarkably, the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain MucT showed 99% similarity to three uncultured colonic bacteria.