Can Akkermansia Boost GLP-1?

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Akkermansia muciniphila is a probiotic that’s often marketed as a way to increase GLP-1, improve metabolic health, and promote weight loss. And while there is some research suggesting it may have these effects, the reality is more complicated than the marketing often makes it sound.

Benefits of Akkermansia

Akkermansia and Weight Loss

When researchers look at the relationship between Akkermansia muciniphila and body weight, they consistently find that people with higher levels of Akkermansia in their gut tend to have lower body weight. Research has also found that overweight and obese children generally have lower levels of Akkermansia compared with leaner children.

However, these findings are only associations. In other words, they tell us that Akkermansia levels and body weight are related, but they don’t prove that having more Akkermansia actually causes weight loss. To answer that question, we need clinical trials that give people Akkermansia and then measure what happens.

And we do have some human trials. In one small study, overweight and obese adults received 10 billion units of Akkermansia every day for three months. The participants experienced modest weight loss, along with improvements in several metabolic markers.

Interestingly, the study compared live Akkermansia with pasteurized Akkermansia, meaning bacteria that had been heat-treated and were no longer alive. Surprisingly, the pasteurized Akkermansia actually performed better than the live bacteria when it came to reducing body weight and body fat.

This is particularly interesting because other research has also suggested that pasteurized, or non-living, Akkermansia may provide metabolic benefits. More recent research has even found that taking pasteurized Akkermansia after losing weight through dieting may slightly reduce the amount of weight people regain.

So, while the research is promising, I wouldn’t describe Akkermansia as a proven weight-loss probiotic. The human studies so far are relatively small, and the amount of weight lost has been modest.

Akkermansia and GLP-1

But what about the claim that Akkermansia can increase GLP-1 and improve metabolic health? Here, the research gets particularly interesting, but it still isn’t quite as straightforward as the marketing suggests.

Lower levels of Akkermansia have been associated with a higher risk of metabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, this relationship has even been observed in genetically identical twins, suggesting that differences in gut bacteria may play a role beyond genetics alone.

Animal studies, particularly those involving mice, also suggest that Akkermansia can have beneficial effects on gut health and metabolism. However, results from animal studies don’t always translate into meaningful benefits in humans, so the human clinical trials are ultimately more important.

One of the more interesting human studies looked at pasteurized Akkermansia taken for four months. Participants experienced a stronger GLP-1 response after completing an oral glucose tolerance test. That sounds impressive, but there’s an important distinction here.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that Akkermansia simply increased your baseline GLP-1 levels throughout the day. Instead, it appeared to help the body produce a stronger GLP-1 response after glucose was consumed. That’s a different effect from simply having chronically elevated GLP-1 levels.

And when researchers looked at the more meaningful clinical outcome—whole-body insulin sensitivity—they did not find a significant improvement across the overall study population.

Another clinical trial gave Akkermansia to overweight or obese individuals with type 2 diabetes. Overall, the researchers found no significant improvement compared with placebo in either body weight or blood sugar. There were, however, some smaller benefits among participants who started the study with particularly low levels of Akkermansia.

So, while Akkermansia may influence GLP-1 and other aspects of metabolism, we still don’t have strong evidence that taking an Akkermansia supplement produces the kind of powerful GLP-1 or weight-loss effects that you might expect from the marketing.

What Is Akkermansia muciniphila?

Akkermansia muciniphila is a type of bacteria that naturally lives in the human digestive tract. In healthy adults, it typically makes up around 3 to 5 percent of the gut microbiome.

What makes Akkermansia particularly interesting is its ability to break down mucin, a substance that makes up much of the protective mucus lining of our intestines. Akkermansia uses this mucus as an energy source, helping support the normal turnover of the gut’s mucus layer.

That process may also benefit other members of the gut microbiome. As Akkermansia breaks down mucin, it can release nutrients and compounds that other beneficial bacteria can use, potentially helping support a healthy and diverse gut ecosystem.

Akkermansia also produces compounds known as short-chain fatty acids, or SCFAs. These substances are important for maintaining a healthy gut and are also produced when our gut bacteria ferment dietary fiber from foods such as fruits, vegetables, beans, and other plant-based foods.

SCFAs provide energy to the cells lining the intestine and may have anti-inflammatory effects. As a result, they may help maintain the integrity of the intestinal lining and support the gut barrier, which acts as an important protective boundary between the contents of your digestive tract and the rest of your body.

SCFAs may also influence metabolism by interacting with hormones and other signaling pathways involved in appetite and energy regulation. This includes hormones such as leptin and ghrelin, which play important roles in hunger and fullness.

So, in theory, having more beneficial gut bacteria that produce SCFAs could potentially influence appetite and help regulate food intake. But again, there’s an important difference between a biological mechanism that makes sense and a clinically meaningful effect in humans. We still need more research to determine whether increasing Akkermansia levels actually translates into significant improvements in appetite, weight loss, or metabolic health.

Dr. Brian’s Verdict

So, how do we put all of this together? Does Akkermansia muciniphila actually increase GLP-1 and help you lose weight? There’s no question that Akkermansia is an interesting gut bacterium. People with lower levels tend to have a higher risk of obesity and metabolic problems, and some research suggests that supplementation may be more beneficial for people who start out with unusually low Akkermansia levels.

But that doesn’t mean taking an Akkermansia supplement will automatically produce major health benefits. If your Akkermansia levels are already within a normal range, there may simply be less room for supplementation to make a meaningful difference.

When it comes to weight loss, the effects appear to be fairly modest. Akkermansia may help you lose a small amount of weight and could potentially make it easier to maintain weight loss after dieting. However, if you’re taking it specifically because you expect significant weight loss, you’re probably going to be disappointed.

The same basic story applies to GLP-1. Some marketing makes the connection between Akkermansia and GLP-1 sound much more impressive than the research actually shows. Akkermansia has been shown to produce a small increase in GLP-1 after a glucose tolerance test, but that’s very different from directly and substantially increasing GLP-1 activity the way medications such as Ozempic or Mounjaro do.

And even if Akkermansia produces a small increase in GLP-1 after eating, that doesn’t necessarily translate into a meaningful health benefit. So far, studies haven’t consistently shown that this increase leads to improvements in more important outcomes, such as insulin sensitivity.

Should You Take Akkermansia?

Perhaps the biggest challenge for anyone interested in Akkermansia for weight loss or metabolic health is simply getting enough of it. The human studies that have found benefits have generally used relatively high doses, often starting around 10 billion units per day and sometimes going considerably higher. The problem is that many Akkermansia supplements provide far less than this, with some containing less than 1 billion units per day.

There’s also another important detail to consider. Research so far suggests that pasteurized Akkermansia—essentially a non-living form of the bacterium, sometimes referred to as a postbiotic—may actually be more promising than live Akkermansia probiotics.

That means you need to pay attention not only to the amount of Akkermansia in a product, but also to how that amount is measured. With live bacteria, you’ll typically see CFU, or colony-forming units. This measures living bacteria that are capable of reproducing.

CFU doesn’t really make sense for pasteurized Akkermansia because the bacteria are no longer alive. Instead, these products may use measurements such as TFU, or total fluorescent units, which estimate the total amount of bacterial material present. You may also see AFU, or active fluorescent units, which attempt to identify bacterial material considered biologically or metabolically active.

The problem is that AFU can be more difficult to interpret because its meaning can vary depending on the specific testing method used. For that reason, when comparing pasteurized Akkermansia supplements, a clearly defined TFU may be easier to interpret than AFU.

But even if you find an Akkermansia supplement that provides an adequate dose, there’s still a bigger question: Is Akkermansia actually the best probiotic for weight loss or metabolic health?

The research is certainly interesting, but Akkermansia isn’t the only probiotic with human research behind it. Certain strains of Lactobacillus gasseri and Lactobacillus rhamnosus have also shown potential benefits for body weight and metabolic health.

Interestingly, these probiotics have already gone through their own period of hype. At one point, certain Lactobacillus strains were heavily promoted as the next big thing for weight loss, much like Akkermansia is today. But as more research accumulated, the excitement eventually died down and the limitations became clearer.

These probiotics may provide small supportive effects on body weight, but they aren’t the game changers that marketing sometimes makes them out to be. And when the actual benefit is relatively small, you have to ask yourself whether paying a premium for a highly specialized probiotic like Akkermansia is really worth it.

Top supplement choices

Akkermansia – 2 to 4 caps / day
L. gasseri (BNR17) – 1 cap / day
L. gasseri (generic) – 1 cap / day

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Citations

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