Exploring the Gut: The Role of Stool Molecular Profiles in Nutrition and Health

King's College London researchers demonstrate that stool metabolites accurately reflect recent dietary intake and corresponding microbiome response—offering a practical, noninvasive route to monitor diet–microbiome interactions.

The analysis included 2,647 participants from the TwinsUK and ZOE PREDICT1 cohorts and integrated 650 fecal metabolites with gut microbial species data and detailed dietary questionnaires. Using machine-learning models and large-scale metabolome–diet correlation analysis, the team identified more than 400 diet–metabolite associations, providing cohort-scale, data-driven evidence of widespread diet–fecal metabolite relationships.

The study mapped over 400 food–metabolite links and documented more than 2,500 microbe–metabolite connections; a focused panel of 54 metabolites was sufficient to predict adherence to dietary patterns and consumption of key food groups. The fecal metabolome therefore contains both broad molecular signals and reduced predictive subsets—these streamlined panels point to feasible simplified testing strategies for research and clinical settings.

Stool molecular profiles could be integrated as noninvasive tools for dietary assessment, monitoring adherence in intervention studies, and stratifying participants in nutrition trials. Broad adoption will require standardized sampling protocols, analytic harmonization across platforms, and prospective clinical validation across diverse populations. Immediate next steps are protocol standardization, multicohort validation, and alignment of metabolite panels with clinical endpoints to support practical deployment.