Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25651995›Full record

ArticleMicrobial ecology in health and disease2015

Manipulating the gut microbiota to maintain health and treat disease.

Karen P Scott, Jean-Michel Antoine, Tore Midtvedt, Saskia van Hemert

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microbial ecology in health and disease, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 123 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
123citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
15.7field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

123 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 284 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Veterinary and animal science · 2026
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  12. The Role of Bacteria-Derived Hydrogen Sulfide in Multiple Axes of Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
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  15. Article
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  18. The intestine microbiota of shrimp and its impact on cultivation.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024
    Review
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  20. Review

63 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Karen P ScottRowett Institute of Nutrition and Health, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, UK.
Jean-Michel AntoineDanone Research, Cedex, France.
Tore MidtvedtDepartment of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Saskia van HemertWinclove Probiotics, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; saskiavanhemert@winclove.nl.
Karolinska Institutet · SEUniversity of Aberdeen · GBWinclove Probiotics (Netherlands) · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThe intestinal microbiota composition varies between healthy and diseased individuals for numerous diseases. Although any cause or effect relationship between the alterations in the gut microbiota and disease is not always clear, targeting the intestinal microbiota might offer new possibilities for prevention and/or treatment of disease.

objectiveHere we review some examples of manipulating the intestinal microbiota by prebiotics, probiotics, and fecal microbial transplants.

resultsPrebiotics are best known for their ability to increase the number of bifidobacteria. However, specific prebiotics could potentially also stimulate other species they can also stimulate other species associated with health, like Akkermansia muciniphila, Ruminococcus bromii, the Roseburia/Enterococcus rectale group, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Probiotics have beneficial health effects for different diseases and digestive symptoms. These effects can be due to the direct effect of the probiotic bacterium or its products itself, as well as effects of the probiotic on the resident microbiota. Probiotics can influence the microbiota composition as well as the activity of the resident microbiota. Fecal microbial transplants are a drastic intervention in the gut microbiota, aiming for total replacement of one microbiota by another. With numerous successful studies related to antibiotic-associated diarrhea and Clostridium difficile infection, the potential of fecal microbial transplants to treat other diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, and metabolic and cardiovascular disorders is under investigation.

conclusionsImproved knowledge on the specific role of gut microbiota in prevention and treatment of disease will help more targeted manipulation of the intestinal microbiota. Further studies are necessary to see the (long term) effects for health of these interventions.

Indexed as

Clostridium difficilefecal microbial transplantsinflammatory bowel diseaseirritable bowel syndromeobesityprebioticsprobiotics

Identifiers

PMID25651995
PMCPMC4315778
OpenAlexW2050376374

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.