ArticleGut microbes2020
Serum metabolites reflecting gut microbiome alpha diversity predict type 2 diabetes.
Article in Gut microbes, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 80 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
80 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 125 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut-associated metabolites and diabetes pathology: a systematic review.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Pooled it
- White common bean extract remodels the gut microbiota and ameliorates type 2 diabetes and its complications: A randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2022Trial
- The Gut Microbiota during a Behavioral Weight Loss Intervention.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Supplementation of 1-Kestose Modulates the Gut Microbiota Composition to Ameliorate Glucose Metabolism in Obesity-Prone Hosts.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Magnesium and imidazole propionate.Clinical nutrition ESPEN · 2021Trial
- Imidazole propionate is increased in diabetes and associated with dietary patterns and altered microbial ecology.Nature communications · 2020Trial
- Microbiome histidine competition mediates dietary control of systemic imidazole propionate.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Causal relationship between plasma metabolites and chronic regional pain: a Mendelian randomization study.Metabolism open · 2026Article
- Mechanism of a polyherbal mixture alleviates calf diarrhea: an integrated network pharmacology, metabolomics, and microbiome study.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Navigating multi-omic integration methods for human microbiome research.Nature microbiology · 2026Review
- Multi-Organ Physiologic Deficits During Exercise Identify Clinical and Molecular Predisposition to Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction.Circulation · 2026Article
- Specific gut microbes are associated with the incidence of cardiometabolic disease in the HELIUS cohort.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- A gut microbiome-kidney-heart axis predictive of future cardiovascular diseases.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Article
- Insomnia-Related Metabolomic Profiles Reflect Antioxidant Deficits and Relate to Cognitive Decline Through a Metabolic Risk Score in HCHS/SOL.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- Identifying the Ratio of Circulating Cinnamoylglycine to Isoleucine as a Biomarker Linking Diet Quality, Microbial Metabolism, and Type 2 Diabetes Risk in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) Cohorts.The Journal of nutrition · 2026Article
- Clinical impact of altered gut microbiota and metabolite profiles on mortality in patients with candidemia: a prospective observational pilot cohort study.Annals of clinical microbiology and antimicrobials · 2026Observational
- Metabolomics in the Prediction and Early Diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: Advances and Applications.International journal of medical sciences · 2026Review
- Added sugars, gut microbiota, and host health.Gut microbes · 2025Review
- Prominent mediatory role of gut microbiome in the effect of lifestyle on host metabolic phenotypes.Gut microbes · 2025Article
20 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
15 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with reduced gut microbiome diversity, although the cause is unclear. Metabolites generated by gut microbes also appear to be causative factors in T2D. We therefore searched for serum metabolites predictive of gut microbiome diversity in 1018 females from TwinsUK with concurrent metabolomic profiling and microbiome composition. We generated a Microbial Metabolites Diversity (MMD) score of six circulating metabolites that explained over 18% of the variance in microbiome alpha diversity. Moreover, the MMD score was associated with a significantly lower odds of prevalent (OR[95%CI] = 0.22[0.07;0.70], P = .01) and incident T2D (HR[95%CI] = 0.31[0.11,0.90], P = .03). We replicated our results in 1522 individuals from the ARIC study (prevalent T2D: OR[95%CI] = 0.79[0.64,0.96], P = .02, incident T2D: HR[95%CI] = 0.87[0.79,0.95], P = .003). The MMD score mediated 28%[15%,94%] of the total effect of gut microbiome on T2D after adjusting for confounders. Metabolites predicting higher microbiome diversity included 3-phenylpropionate(hydrocinnamate), indolepropionate, cinnamoylglycine and 5-alpha-pregnan-3beta,20 alpha-diol monosulfate(2) of which indolepropionate and phenylpropionate have already been linked to lower incidence of T2D. Metabolites correlating with lower microbial diversity included glutarate and imidazole propionate, of which the latter has been implicated in insulin resistance. Our results suggest that the effect of gut microbiome diversity on T2D is largely mediated by microbial metabolites, which might be modifiable by diet.
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.