Research

Mixed

Baseline microbiota composition, specifically higher abundance of Alistipes, Pseudoflavonifractor, and oxidative phosphorylation pathways, predicts successful long-term weight loss maintenance (>10% loss).

Before starting a weight-loss program, your gut bacteria might predict how well you will do. If you have higher levels of Alistipes and Pseudoflavonifractor, you are more likely to maintain your weight loss. While you cannot change your baseline bacteria instantly, knowing this can help tailor your expectations and support.

GoodQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Participants, who succeeded in losing their weight consistently over the two years, had at baseline a microbiota enriched in Alistipes, Pseudoflavonifractor and enzymes of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway compared to patients who were less successful in weight reduction.
Sandrine Louis et al. · PLoS ONE · 2016

Why this rating

Longitudinal study with robust sequencing, but small sample size limits generalizability.

Source

Characterization of the Gut Microbial Community of Obese Patients Following a Weight-Loss Intervention Using Whole Metagenome Shotgun Sequencing

Sandrine Louis et al. · PLoS ONE · 2016

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0149564

cohort · n=16Cited 271×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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