--- title: Probiotics in Yogurt May Lead To Weight Loss description: A probiotic a day keeps the pounds away canonical: https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-02-06T16:10:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:19:57.802Z article:section: Health og:title: Probiotics in Yogurt May Lead To Weight Loss og:description: A probiotic a day keeps the pounds away og:url: https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a07d53ff4ff95f3/69868203e53aba575b4d1153/yogurt-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Probiotics in Yogurt May Lead To Weight Loss twitter:description: A probiotic a day keeps the pounds away twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a07d53ff4ff95f3/69868203e53aba575b4d1153/yogurt-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 6, 2014 4:10 PM UTC  The probiotics found in yogurt may lead to weight loss. The probiotics found in yogurt may lead to weight loss. Getty Images by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Feb 6, 2014 4:10 PM UTC When it comes to food, there’s good and bad bacteria. The bad stuff will make you sick to your stomach, but the good stuff could actually shrink your stomach. A [recent study](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24299712) found that women who were taking [probiotics](http://healthland.time.com/2010/11/29/study-some-benefits-of-probiotics-for-kids/)–the good bacteria found in yogurt–lost almost twice the amount of weight than women who not taking probiotics. Researchers from Universite Laval in Quebec, Canada, conducted a study of 125 obese men and women for 24 weeks. For the full 24 weeks, half of the participants took two daily pills of a probiotic_._ The rest of the participants took placebo pills.The pills contained the equivalent probiotics in one serving of yogurt. During the first 12 weeks, all the participants were put on a low-calorie diet. For the next 12 weeks, participants were put on a customized diet plan with the goal of maintaining their weight loss. After the initial 12 weeks, the women in the study who were popping the probiotic pills lost 9.7 pounds on average, whereas their female counterparts on the placebos lost on average 5.7 pounds. However, during the second 12-week period, the women who were taking probiotics continued to lose weight, with their new average landing at 11.5 pounds. The women on the placebo only maintained their initial weight loss. Researchers believe probiotics may influence the bacteria already living in our stomachs. We want good bacteria in our guts, scientists say, because it helps improve metabolism, and digestion. The probiotics had no noticeable weight impact on men, though [another recent study](http://www.salon.com/2014/02/06/these%5Fare%5Fsome%5Fballsy%5Fmice%5Fand%5Fit%5Fmay%5Fbe%5Fthe%5Fyogurt%5Fpartner/) found mice taking probiotics had bigger testes–and increased testosterone–than mice who weren’t, suggesting men too can benefit from probiotics. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/"},"headline":"Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off","datePublished":"2014-02-06T16:10:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:19:57.802Z","description":"A probiotic a day keeps the pounds away","url":"https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/","keywords":["diet","Diet & Fitness","Weight loss","yogurt","probiotics"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a07d53ff4ff95f3/69868203e53aba575b4d1153/yogurt-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7a07d53ff4ff95f3/69868203e53aba575b4d1153/yogurt-weight-loss.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off","caption":"Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/diet/","name":"diet"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5388/yogurt-helps-women-lose-weight-and-keep-it-off/","name":"Yogurt Helps Women Lose Weight and Keep It Off"}}]}] ```