Fashionable things tend to create greater hype than what it deserves. This principle, however, does not hold true for probiotics. In order to derive more benefits, I believe that probiotics need more publicity.

The recently discovered benefit of the use of probiotics is related to weight and obesity management.

Research regarding treatment of obesity is occupying centrestage as large number of people are falling prey to such a condition.

As a nutritionist, I feel that extreme methods such as surgical intervention in the form of gastric banding must be exercised only when it is absolutely necessary and when dealing with the morbidly obese.

It is precisely for this reason that I am quite excited about the recent and very encouraging experiments on the role of probiotics in weight management. Experiments on mice have demonstrated that the microbes in the gut can play a significant role in the management of obesity. Obesity, put simply, reflects an imbalance in favour of the intake of energy – overeating — as opposed to the expenditure of energy. There is also an associated low- grade inflammation.

So to correct this situation one must try to create optimum metabolic processes in the body. This requires greater understanding of the processes of metabolism.

At the micro level, human metabolism can be calculated as the sum total of the metabolism of the millions of microbes living in the gut. This is why humans are also called ‘super-organisms’.

The naturally occurring beneficial bugs in our gut collectively contribute in improving our ability to extract and store energy from the diet. These bugs have an effect on bile salts and on cholesterol metabolism.

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