Overview

• A four-year follow-up of a randomized trial in 87 adolescents found sustained reductions in metabolic syndrome among those who received oral fecal microbiota transplantation compared with placebo.
• Donor-derived bacteria from the capsules were still present and thriving in recipients’ guts four years after the single treatment.
• Treated participants were on average 11 kg lighter than the placebo group at follow-up, a difference that was not statistically significant.
• The peer-reviewed results were published this week in Nature Communications by researchers at the University of Auckland’s Liggins Institute.
• The team is now isolating candidate beneficial strains with the aim of producing and trialling bespoke capsules to prevent or moderate metabolic syndrome.