ReviewNature reviews. Endocrinology2023
The gut microbiota in obesity and weight management: microbes as friends or foe?
Review in Nature reviews. Endocrinology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 188 papers.
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
188 citing papers in PubMed, 265 citations in OpenAlex.
- Baseline gut microbiome and metabolome profiles predict weight loss after a structured lifestyle intervention.Microbiome · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Grocery intervention and DNA-based assessment to improve diet quality in pediatric obesity: a pilot randomized controlled study.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2025Trial
- Effect of combined probiotics and doxycycline therapy on the gut-skin axis in rosacea.mSystems · 2024Trial
- Limosilactobacillus reuteri 6475 and Prevention of Early Postmenopausal Bone Loss: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2024Trial
- Impact of metformin and Dysosmobacter welbionis on diet-induced obesity and diabetes: from clinical observation to preclinical intervention.Diabetologia · 2024Trial
- Why probiotics fail: gut niche tension as the missing variable?Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Gut microbiome and metabolic health: mechanisms and precision interventions.Gut microbes · 2026Review
- Natural microbiota confer life-long protection against obesity via an early-life, immune-mediated effect on brown adipocytes.Gut microbes · 2026Article
- Population scale analysis reveals gut microbiome diversity and functional shifts linked to obesity.iScience · 2026Article
- Extracellular Vesicle-Encapsulated Small RNAs From Clostridium Butyricum Modulate Host Intestinal Lipid Metabolism.Journal of extracellular vesicles · 2026Article
- Weight Gain During SSRI Therapy: The Potential Role of the Gut Microbiota-A Narrative Review and Mechanistic Hypothesis.Nutrients · 2026Review
- From metabolites to membrane vesicles: Unifying gut microbial signals in obesity, t2dm, and MASLD.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2026Review
- Marine-Derived Proteins: Individual Variability in Health Effects Across Protein Structure, Host Genetics, and Gut Microbiota.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Review
- Common xenobiotics modulate gut microbial responses to low‑calorie sweeteners in vitro.Molecular systems biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Mechanistic Insights Into Wall-Breaking Selenium-Enriched Yeast Intervention on Glycolipid Homeostasis in Type 2 Diabetic Rats Through Gut Microbiota Modulation.Journal of food science · 2026Article
- The Gut Microbiome-Endocrine Axis in Obesity: Mechanisms and Therapeutics.Journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2026Review
- Synergistic Anti-Obesity Effect ofFood science & nutrition · 2026Article
128 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
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Obesity is caused by a long-term difference between energy intake and expenditure - an imbalance that is seemingly easily restored by increasing exercise and reducing caloric consumption. However, as simple as this solution appears, for many people, losing excess weight is difficult to achieve and even more difficult to maintain. The reason for this difficulty is that energy intake and expenditure, and by extension body weight, are regulated through complex hormonal, neural and metabolic mechanisms that are under the influence of many environmental factors and internal responses. Adding to this complexity, the microorganisms (microbes) that comprise the gut microbiota exert direct effects on the digestion, absorption and metabolism of food. Furthermore, the gut microbiota exerts a miscellany of protective, structural and metabolic effects both on the intestinal milieu and peripheral tissues, thus affecting body weight by modulating metabolism, appetite, bile acid metabolism, and the hormonal and immune systems. In this Review, we outline historical and recent advances in understanding how the gut microbiota is involved in regulating body weight homeostasis. We also discuss the opportunities, limitations and challenges of using gut microbiota-related approaches as a means to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.
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.