Research

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Gut microbiota composition directly influences circulating levels of metabolites such as acetate, glutamine, and TMAO, which are associated with metabolic traits including insulin resistance, lipid profiles, and glucose tolerance.

Your gut bacteria produce metabolites that affect your blood lipids, glucose, and inflammation. While this paper doesn't prescribe a specific diet, it highlights that the types of bacteria in your gut are linked to metabolic health markers. Focusing on a diverse diet that supports beneficial bacteria (like those producing acetate) may support metabolic balance, though individual responses vary.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
We identified several significant relationships, particularly between gut microbiota and circulating serum metabolites. In addition, we examined the fasting plasma levels of the microbiota-dependent metabolite TMAO.
Elin Org et al. · Genome biology · 2017

Why this rating

Large cohort (n=531), well-phenotyped, multiple metabolite measurements, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Relationships between gut microbiota, plasma metabolites, and metabolic syndrome traits in the METSIM cohort

Elin Org et al. · Genome biology · 2017

DOI 10.1186/s13059-017-1194-2

cross_sectional · n=531Cited 354×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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