The effects of probiotic use and physical activity on body composition, nutrition, gastrointestinal symptoms and depression in overweight and obese women

This study aims to compare the effects of physical activity program and probiotics use on body composition, nutrition, gastrointestinal symptoms and depression in overweight and obese women, and the changes in the post-intervention follow-up period. Thirty-nine overweight and obese women (age range: 19-65 years) with low physical activity levels participated in the study. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the Probiotic, Physical activity, and Control groups. In the probiotic and physical activity groups, 4 weeks were comducted as an intervention and the next 2 weeks as a follow-up period. During the four-week intervention period, the Probiotic group used 1 vial of 4x〖10〗^9 cfu Bacillus clausii (in 1 vial of 5 ml) once a day, while the Physical activity group did moderate-paced walking for a total of 150 minutes, at least 3 days a week. The control group maintained their usual nutritional and physical activity levels. Body composition, food intake levels, gastrointestinal symptoms, eating behavior and depression levels of the participants were evaluated four times in total before the intervention, in the second week, immediately after the completion of the intervention and two weeks later. Body composition was determined by bioelectrical impedance method, and other variables were determined using appropriate forms, inventories and scales. Two-way analysis of variance for repeated measures and Friedman analysis of variance were used in data analysis. Probiotic and physical activity interventions similarly decreased hip circumference throughout the intervention (p<0.05). The depression scores decreased similarly in both of the intervention groups at the 4th and 6th weeks compared to the baseline (p<0.05). Neither physical activity nor probiotic intervention resulted in any significant change in total energy intake, carbohydrate (g), protein (g) or fat (g) consumption (p>0.05). The contribution of carbohydrates to total energy intake (%) increased significantly in the 2nd week of the intervention compared to the baseline level and decreased in the 4th week compared to the 2nd week (p<0.05). There was no significant difference between the groups in the contribution of proteins (%) and fats (%) to total energy intake (p>0.5). As a result, participation in moderate-intensity physical activity and probiotic use for 4 weeks decreased hip circumference and depression scores similarly while did not affect body composition, eating behavior, food intake, or gastrointestinal symptoms.