A meta-analysis of gut microbiome research in malnourished African populations: a natural language processing approach

Clinical Snapshot

Key Findings

• P Value: Not reported

• Effect Size: Not specified in abstract

• Primary Outcome: Gut microbiome composition in malnourished children

• Nnt Or Sensitivity: Elevated Pseudomonadota levels consistently associated with severe acute malnutrition

• Confidence Interval: Not provided

Clinical Application

Limited immediate clinical application due to research-stage findings and need for further validation Limited direct relevance to Australian practice but may inform care of refugee and immigrant populations from affected regions, and contribute to global health understanding Malnourished children in sub-Saharan Africa and other low- and middle-income countries

Abstract

Malnutrition still affects millions of children in Africa. Changes in the gut microbiome have been implicated in malnutrition, but there has been inconsistent nomenclature of microbes. This meta-analysis reviews the microbiome literature using natural language processing (NLP) methods. We searched PubMed for gut microbiome studies of undernourished children living in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The primary analysis focused on continental coverage and study characteristics of microbiome research in sub-Saharan Africa (ss-Africa). We also used an NLP tool for normalizing primary data from full-text publications in ss-Africa compared with other LMICs, and between diseased and healthy children. We identified 16 studies. Most studies were conducted in Malawi and characterized the faecal microbiome using 16S rRNA sequencing. For comparison, 18 studies conducted in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Peru were included. With this, we identified frequently reported microbes that were distinctly identified in ss-Africa and highlighted possible signatures of an undernourished faecal microbiome across the globe. The consistent associations between elevated Pseudomonadota levels and severe acute malnutrition provide new insights into host-microbiome interactions in African contexts. However, the overlap between taxa associated with healthy and stunting underscores the need for further research to better inform potential targeted interventions in Africa. This article is part of the theme issue 'Biological, biomedical and environmental drivers of stunting'.

References

1. 1.Mweetwa, M. N., Kelly, P., & Posma, J. (2026). A meta-analysis of gut microbiome research in malnourished African populations: a natural language processing approach. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 381(1900), 20250038. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2025.0038