Scientists from Washington University, Missouri have claimed that having yoghurt every day will help in losing weight.
The study suggests that some bacteria found in the digestive tract thrive on junk food and are responsible for weight gain.
But probiotic yoghurts enhance a type of bug that prefers only healthy food, in turn, helping one to remain slim.
The Daily Mail reported that the connection between bugs and weight gain was discovered when the researchers gave mice 'transplants' of bugs normally found in the human gut. A splurge of junk food rapidly altered the structure of the bugs, with some types thriving and others struggling to survive.
To monitor the effect of the changes, the researchers took bugs from mice fed with fatty food and injected them into lean mice.
These mice rapidly put on weight, despite being on a low-fat diet.
Harvard University obesity expert Jeffrey Flier said that many factors add to obesity and it is important to find new ways of fighting them.
"The gut microbiome (population of bacteria) seems poised to serve as such a promising new scientific platform. It is, however, important to keep this new knowledge in prospective," he said