ReviewCureus2026
Use of Fecal Sampling for Assessing Probiotic Effects on the Gut Microbiome: A Focused Narrative Review.
Review in Cureus, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
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
Most clinical studies investigating the effects of probiotics on the gut microbiota rely on fecal samples, which are generally assumed to reflect the gut microbial environment. However, growing evidence indicates that fecal samples do not always accurately represent the gastrointestinal microbiota, particularly the mucosa-adherent microbiome. This focused narrative review examines the limitations of fecal sampling in probiotic research while acknowledging contexts where this approach remains informative. It also discusses methodological strategies that may improve the reliability of microbiome studies, including multi-day sample collection, optimized DNA extraction incorporating bead beating, quantitative microbiome profiling, and ingestible capsule-based sampling. Together, these approaches may provide a more comprehensive assessment of the gut microbiome and improve our understanding of how probiotics influence microbial communities throughout the gastrointestinal tract.
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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.