ArticleNature aging2022
Toward an improved definition of a healthy microbiome for healthy aging.
Article in Nature aging, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 89 papers, 4 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
89 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Gut microbiome and bone health: update on mechanisms, clinical correlations, and possible treatment strategies.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025Pooled it
- Associations between gut microbiota and sarcopenia or its defining parameters in older adults: A systematic review.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2024Pooled it
- Microbiota-targeted interventions and clinical implications for maternal-offspring health: An umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials.Journal of global health · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The Effects of a Multidomain Lifestyle Intervention on Brain Function and Its Relation With Immunometabolic Markers and Intestinal Health in Older Adults at Risk of Cognitive Decline: Study Design and Baseline Characteristics of the HELI Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Trial
- Strawberry dietary intervention influences diversity and increases abundances of SCFA-producing bacteria in healthy elderly people.Microbiology spectrum · 2025Trial
- Ageing processes in the bonobo gut microbiome mirror human patterns.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Article
- Animal gut microbes and microbiomes in the 21st century and beyond.Science China. Life sciences · 2026Review
- A geroprotective probiotic and its functional metabolite counteract inflammaging to extend healthspan.Nature aging · 2026Article
- The Gut-Immune-Brain Axis in Aging: Integrating Immunosenescence, Inflammaging, and Neuroinflammation for Precision Medicine.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- The ageing holobiont: crosstalk between telomere dynamics, oxidative stress and the gut microbiome.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiota-Targeted Nutrition for Healthy Aging: Mechanistic Roles of Polyphenols and Dietary Fiber in Geroscience.Nutrients · 2026Review
- Gut microbiota associates with frailty in older women.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Paradigm Shift of Microbiota-gut-brain Axis During Aging: Potential Role of Probiotics to Improve Cognitive Decline.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2026Review
- The gut microbiome and ageing trajectories: mechanisms and clinical implications.Nature reviews. Endocrinology · 2026Review
- Mapping the canine gut microbiome: insights from the Dog Aging Project.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics (ISAPP) consensus statement on the definition and scope of gut health.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Article
- Boron as a Molecular Architect of Host-Microbiome Symbiosis: Implications for Dysbiosis and Aging-Related Pathologies.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Gut microbiome features associated with Bifidobacterium colonization predict personalized probiotic persistence patterns.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Urinary Microbiome Dysbiosis in Children With Congenital Uropathies at Varying Risk for Urinary Tract Infections.Kidney international reports · 2026Article
29 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
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The gut microbiome is a modifier of disease risk because it interacts with nutrition, metabolism, immunity and infection. Aging-related health loss has been correlated with transition to different microbiome states. Microbiome summary indices including alpha diversity are apparently useful to describe these states but belie taxonomic differences that determine biological importance. We analyzed 21,000 fecal microbiomes from seven data repositories, across five continents spanning participant ages 18-107 years, revealing that microbiome diversity and uniqueness correlate with aging, but not healthy aging. Among summary statistics tested, only Kendall uniqueness accurately reflects loss of the core microbiome and the abundance and ranking of disease-associated and health-associated taxa. Increased abundance of these disease-associated taxa and depletion of a coabundant subset of health-associated taxa are a generic feature of aging. These alterations are stronger correlates of unhealthy aging than most microbiome summary statistics and thus help identify better targets for therapeutic modulation of the microbiome.
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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.