ReviewBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2014
Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms.
Review in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 161 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
161 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 445 citations in OpenAlex.
- Roles of the gut microbiome in weight management.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2023Pooled it
- Vitamin DBMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review on the role of microbiota in the pathogenesis and treatment of eating disorders.European psychiatry : the journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists · 2020Pooled it
- The Microbiota, the Gut and the Brain in Eating and Alcohol Use Disorders: A 'Ménage à Trois'?Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2017Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Gut microbiota predicts body fat change following a low-energy diet: a PREVIEW intervention study.Genome medicine · 2022Trial
- Probiotics maintain the gut microbiome homeostasis during Indian Antarctic expedition by ship.Scientific reports · 2021Trial
- Trial
- Effects of a diet based on inulin-rich vegetables on gut health and nutritional behavior in healthy humans.The American journal of clinical nutrition · 2019Trial
- Raw meat based diet influences faecal microbiome and end products of fermentation in healthy dogs.BMC veterinary research · 2017Trial
- Update on Obesity and Its Relationship to Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease and Associated Risk Factors.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Humans as an extended phenotype of their microbiota.Theory in biosciences = Theorie in den Biowissenschaften · 2026Article
- Gut microbiota as potential mediator linking dietary preferences and aging phenotypes.Biogerontology · 2026Article
- Metagenomic profiling of bacterial and fungal microbiota and putative pathogens of southern greater gliders (Petauroides volans).Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Characterising the gut microbiome of six Australian marsupials reveals captivity constrains microbiome.Animal microbiome · 2026Article
- Interactions between taste and oral microbiome: mechanisms and implications for oral and systemic diseases.Journal of oral microbiology · 2026Review
- Clinical and biological significance of the relationship between gut microbiota and liver disease.World journal of hepatology · 2025Review
- The role of enteroendocrine cells, hormones, and gut microbiota in anorexia nervosa: a complex interplay of the microbiome-gut-brain axis.Molecular biology reports · 2025Review
- You are what your fungus eats: diet shapes the microbial garden of a fungus-growing ant.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2025Article
- Complex carbohydrate utilization by gut bacteria modulates host food consumption.Nature communications · 2025Article
101 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Microbes in the gastrointestinal tract are under selective pressure to manipulate host eating behavior to increase their fitness, sometimes at the expense of host fitness. Microbes may do this through two potential strategies: (i) generating cravings for foods that they specialize on or foods that suppress their competitors, or (ii) inducing dysphoria until we eat foods that enhance their fitness. We review several potential mechanisms for microbial control over eating behavior including microbial influence on reward and satiety pathways, production of toxins that alter mood, changes to receptors including taste receptors, and hijacking of the vagus nerve, the neural axis between the gut and the brain. We also review the evidence for alternative explanations for cravings and unhealthy eating behavior. Because microbiota are easily manipulatable by prebiotics, probiotics, antibiotics, fecal transplants, and dietary changes, altering our microbiota offers a tractable approach to otherwise intractable problems of obesity and unhealthy eating.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.