The Akkermansia company has announced the publication of a new randomised, placebo-controlled clinical trial in Nature Medicine demonstrating that supplementation with pasteurised Akkermansia muciniphila MucT®, the proprietary bacterial strain used in the company’s products, significantly improved weight loss maintenance in adults with overweight or obesity following an initial weight loss intervention.
The findings address one of the most persistent challenges in obesity management: preventing weight regain after successful weight loss, an issue receiving growing attention as more patients achieve significant weight reduction through dietary interventions and GLP-1 therapies.
In the double-blind, randomised controlled trial, 90 adults with overweight or obesity first underwent an eight-week low-energy diet designed to achieve at least 8% weight loss. Participants then entered a 24-week weight-maintenance phase of either daily supplementation of pasteurized Akkermansia muciniphila MucT or placebo, alongside a diet without calorie restrictions.
Participants receiving MucT regained significantly less weight during the weight-maintenance period than those receiving a placebo, regaining an average of 1.2 kg compared to 3.2 kg, respectively (P=0.012), helping them sustain more of their initial weight loss over time.
Importantly, approximately 40% of participants in the MucT group continued losing weight during the maintenance phase, compared with approximately 5% in the placebo group. No participants reported side effects associated with pasteurised Akkermansia muciniphila MucT.
The study further demonstrated that the effects of Akkermansia muciniphila MucT extended beyond weight control alone. Participants receiving MucT showed better preservation of insulin sensitivity during the maintenance period, supporting a healthier metabolic profile following weight loss.
Analysis of adipose tissue also revealed biological changes associated with metabolic function, including increased activity in pathways linked to energy metabolism alongside reduced inflammatory and immune signalling pathways. These findings suggest a shift toward a more metabolically active and less inflammatory adipose tissue state that may help counteract biological drivers of weight regain.
