Probiotic Efficacy Meta-Analysis: 12 RCTs on Weight and BMI in East Asia

Presenting a meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials evaluating probiotic supplementation for weight management in overweight and obese adults, predominantly from East Asia. It reports mean differences (MD) for outcomes including body weight, BMI, waist circumference, and body fat percentage.

Use Cases

• Analyze the effect of probiotic strain type (single vs. multi-strain) on body weight and BMI outcomes across the 12 trials.
• Compare the efficacy of high-dose (≥1×10¹⁰ CFU/day) versus lower-dose interventions on waist circumference and body fat percentage metrics.
• Investigate the combined effect of probiotic intervention plus health guidance on primary weight management outcomes versus probiotic-only regimens.
• Examine heterogeneity in results for blood lipid indicators like total cholesterol and triglycerides, which showed non-significant effects.

Strengths

• Analysis is based on 12 randomized controlled trials, a standard number for a focused meta-analysis.
• Reports specific statistical measures including mean differences (MD) and 95% confidence intervals for multiple health outcomes.
• Includes subgroup analysis exploring sources of heterogeneity such as strain type, dosage, and intervention combination.

Limitations

• The dataset is very small (24.7 KB), indicating it is a summary table or document, not the underlying trial-level data.
• Geographic focus is predominantly on East Asia, limiting generalizability to other populations.
• The underlying raw data from the 12 RCTs is not included, restricting deeper statistical re-analysis.

Provenance

Source

figshare, authored by Shuying Liu.

Collection Method

Systematic review and meta-analysis conducted using Review Manager 5.4, with trials sourced from seven electronic databases.

Time Range

Trials from database inception to August 2025.

Freshness

Last updated March 20, 2026, with literature search up to August 2025.

Geography

Predominantly East Asia.