ReviewPhilosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences2023
Questioning the foundations of the gut microbiota and obesity.
Review in Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Population scale analysis reveals gut microbiome diversity and functional shifts linked to obesity.iScience · 2026Article
- The role of gut microbiome disruption in the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated kidney disease.Acta biochimica Polonica · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiota-Mediated Mechanisms of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Obesity Management.Diabetes, metabolic syndrome and obesity : targets and therapy · 2026Review
- Succinic acid-driven gut-fat axis orchestrates abdominal fat deposition in chickens via adipocyte-macrophage crosstalk.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Effects of children's microbiota on adipose and intestinal development in sex-matched mice persist into adulthood following a single fecal microbiota transplantation.Molecular metabolism · 2025Article
- Physiology of Weight Regain after Weight Loss: Latest Insights.Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Aleurone supplementation enhances the metabolic benefits of training in Standardbred mares: impacts on glucose-insulin dynamics and gut microbiome composition.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Single, but not mixed dietary fibers suppress body weight gain and adiposity in high fat-fed mice.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- The interplay between diet and the gut microbiome: implications for health and disease.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
- Feeding gut microbes to nourish the brain: unravelling the diet-microbiota-gut-brain axis.Nature metabolism · 2024Review
- Metabolic Syndrome and Psoriasis: Pivotal Roles of Chronic Inflammation and Gut Microbiota.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Delivery by cesarean section leads to heavier adult bodyweight in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster).Hormones and behavior · 2024Article
- Obesogens: a unifying theory for the global rise in obesity.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Review
- Effect of the gut microbiome, plasma metabolome, peripheral cells, and inflammatory cytokines on obesity: a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study and mediation analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2024Article
- Understanding the Gut-Brain Axis and Its Therapeutic Implications for Neurodegenerative Disorders.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Breaking down silos: the multifaceted nature of obesity and the future of weight management.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The role of the gut microbiota in determining body fatness has been a prominent area of research and has received significant public attention. Based largely on animal studies, recent attempts to translate these findings into interventions in humans have not been successful. This review will outline the key mouse research that initiated this area of study, examine whether those results warranted the initial enthusiasm and progress into human studies, and examine whether later follow-up research supported earlier conclusions. It will look at whether the absence of a gut microbiota protects germ-free mice from obesity, whether microbiota can transfer obesity into germ-free mice, the evidence for the role of immune system activation as a causal mechanism linking the gut microbiota to body weight, and consider the evidence for effects of individual bacterial species. Finally, it will examine the outcomes of randomized controlled trials of microbiota transfer in human participants that have not shown effects on body weight. With a more critical reading, early studies did not show as large an effect as first appeared and later research, including human trials, has failed to support a role of the gut microbiota in shaping body weight. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'Causes of obesity: theories, conjectures and evidence (Part II)'.
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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.