Research
Mixed
The association between specific gut bacteria (e.g., Faecalibacterium, Lachnospira) and health markers is robust and independent of overall microbiome diversity, whereas associations with other bacteria (e.g., Ruminococcaceae) are largely driven by overall diversity.
Don't get bogged down in specific probiotic strains. Instead, focus on lifestyle habits (diet, exercise) that are known to support a healthy microbiome. This study suggests that these habits naturally foster beneficial bacteria like Clostridiales, which are linked to better health outcomes.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
When adjusting for diversity, all Ruminococcaceae associations became non-significant, while almost all Clostridiales associations remained significant... indicating a robust association between these microbial pathways and host factors and behaviors.
Why this rating
Advanced statistical modeling (adjusting for diversity) on a large cohort.
Source
Health and disease markers correlate with gut microbiome composition across thousands of people
Ohad Manor et al. · Nature Communications · 2020
DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-18871-1
cross_sectional · n=3409Cited 845×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Higher levels of moderate and vigorous physical activity are robustly associated with increased gut microbiome diversity, independent of major dietary factors and BMI.Good
- Higher microbiome diversity is associated with a 'health-related' cluster of host factors (e.g., higher HDL, vitamin D, physical activity) and lower abundance of certain pathogenic genera, while lower diversity is linked to a 'disease-related' cluster (e.g., high BMI, inflammation, diabetes markers).Good
Related findings · Mixed
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This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →