ReviewNature medicine2019
The pros, cons, and many unknowns of probiotics.
Review in Nature medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 758 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
758 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,310 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Safety of One of the Most Commonly Used Probiotic Strains: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Reported Adverse Events.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical Evidence on the Health Benefits and Safety of Probiotic Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus: A Systematic Review.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Pooled it
- Gastrointestinal microbiota alterations associated with pediatric gastroesophageal reflux disease and proton pump inhibitor exposure: a systematic review of microbiome changes, dysbiosis markers, and associated clinical outcomes.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative efficacy and safety of probiotic for respiratory tract infections in children: a network meta-analysis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Pooled it
- The efficacy of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium in patients with schizophrenia: a meta-analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- Oral probiotic Weissella cibaria improves halitosis and reduces periodontal pathogens: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.BMC oral health · 2026Trial
- Probiotic intervention not beneficial to prevent antibiotic-associated diarrhea in absence of antibiotic-induced microbiome disruption.Scientific reports · 2026Trial
- A retrospectively registered pilot randomized controlled trial of postbiotic administration during antibiotic treatment increases microbiome diversity and enriches health-associated taxa.Infection and immunity · 2026Trial
- A young child formula with Limosilactobacillus reuteri and GOS modulates gut microbiome and enhances bone and muscle development: a randomized trial.Nature communications · 2025Trial
- Probiotic-induced enrichment ofGut microbes · 2025Trial
- Evaluating the Role of Postbiotics in the Modulation of Human Oral Microbiota: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2025Trial
- Trial
- High-dose multi-strain Bacillus probiotics enhance treatment and reduce antibiotic usage in children with persistent diarrhea through immune and microbiota modulation.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Perioperative administration of CBM588 in colorectal cancer radical surgery: A single-center, randomized controlled trial.Cell reports. Medicine · 2025Trial
- Effect of Probiotics Supplementation on REM Sleep Behavior Disorder and Motor Symptoms in Parkinson's Disease: A Pilot Study.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Trial
- From gut dysbiosis to eubiosis: understanding microbiome recovery as an ecological process.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Precise probiotic therapy: Advances, bottlenecks, and the road to microbiome-informed nutrition.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Rethinking probiotics: breaking theGut microbes · 2026Review
- Short-chain fatty acid-producing commensals: Key modulators of AD neuroinflammation via the microbiota-gut-brain axis.Current research in microbial sciences · 2026Review
698 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Consumption of over-the-counter probiotics for promotion of health and well-being has increased worldwide in recent years. However, although probiotic use has been greatly popularized among the general public, there are conflicting clinical results for many probiotic strains and formulations. Emerging insights from microbiome research enable an assessment of gut colonization by probiotics, strain-level activity, interactions with the indigenous microbiome, safety and impacts on the host, and allow the association of probiotics with physiological effects and potentially useful medical indications. In this Perspective, we highlight key advances, challenges and limitations in striving toward an unbiased interpretation of the large amount of data regarding over-the-counter probiotics, and propose avenues to improve the quality of evidence, transparency, public awareness and regulation of their use.
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.