ArticleNature metabolism2025
Human gut microbial aromatic amino acid and related metabolites prevent obesity through intestinal immune control.
Article in Nature metabolism, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 44 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
44 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Efficacy of probiotic supplementation for body weight management in overweight and obese adults: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials predominantly from East Asia.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Gut microbiome-based interventions for the management of obesity in children and adolescents aged up to 19 years.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025Pooled it
- Machine learning identifies microbiome and clinical predictors of sustained weight loss following prolonged fasting.Genome medicine · 2026Trial
- Microbiome-based therapeutics forGut microbes · 2026Review
- Article
- Effects of phenylalanine supplementation on meat fatty acid composition, gut microbiota, and pork volatile organic compound profile in finishing pigs.Journal of animal science and biotechnology · 2026Article
- Article
- Phenylalanine primes renal tubular redox vulnerability and calcium oxalate crystal retention through a PPARδ-CPT1A fatty-acid oxidation axis.Redox biology · 2026Article
- Microbiota-derived 4-HPAA alleviates Crohn's disease by stabilizing SIRT1 and reprogramming macrophage immunometabolism.Apoptosis : an international journal on programmed cell death · 2026Article
- Microbiota-Mediator-Host Signaling Networks in Metabolic Syndrome: From Mechanistic Insights to Therapeutic Targeting.Microorganisms · 2026Review
- Sanhua Tea Alleviates Obesity Symptoms by Improving Blood Lipid Levels, Gut Microbiota, and Liver Metabolome in Mice.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Microbiota-Derived Metabolites in the Epigenetic Regulation of Redox Homeostasis.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Integrating host-microbiota metabolic networks: how aromatic amino acids shape immune homeostasis and affect disease progression.Cellular & molecular immunology · 2026Review
- The microbiome regulates host metabolic health and diseases through microbial enzymes.Nature reviews. Gastroenterology & hepatology · 2026Review
- Branched-Chain and Aromatic Amino Acids Mark Early Metabolic Shifts in Adults with Varying Adiposity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- A microbial metabolite reduces alcohol-induced inflammation via dual modulation of NF-κB and Interferon pathway.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The microbiota-gut-brain axis: novel mechanisms and therapeutic frontiers in obesity and type 2 diabetes.NPJ biofilms and microbiomes · 2026Review
- From diet to hypothalamic dysfunction: Neuroanatomical and hormonal integration of the microbiota-hypothalamus-adipose tissue axis.Reviews in endocrine & metabolic disorders · 2026Review
- Decoding the gut microbiota metabolite-matrix metalloproteinase-3 axis in breast cancer: a multi-omics and network pharmacology study.Molecular diversity · 2026Article
- The Gut-Pancreas Axis in Type 1 Diabetes: Emerging Insights into Microbiota and Immune Interactions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
15 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Obesity affects millions of people in the world. The gut microbiome influences body fat accumulation, but the mechanisms remain to be investigated. Here, we show an association between microbial aromatic amino acid metabolites in serum and body fat accumulation in a large Chinese longitudinal cohort. We next identify that 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (4HPAA) and its analogues effectively protect male mice from high-fat-diet-induced obesity. These metabolites act on intestinal mucosa to regulate the immune response and control lipid uptake, which protects against obesity. We further demonstrate that T cells and B cells are not vital for 4HPAA-mediated obesity prevention, and innate lymphoid cells have antagonistic roles. Together, these findings reveal specific microbial metabolites as pivotal molecules to prohibit obesity through immune control, establishing mechanisms of host modulation by gut microbial metabolites.
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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.