A gut microorganism turns the dial on sugar intake

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Microbiome

Nature Microbiology volume 10, pages 270–271 (2025)Cite this article

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A Bacteroides vulgatus metabolite, pantothenate, induces secretion of the hormones GLP1 in the gut and FGF21 in the liver, which act on the hypothalamus to reduce sugar intake.

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Fig. 1: Pantothenate is a key metabolite of B. vulgatus that modulates sugar preference through the gut–liver–brain axis.

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Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Clémence Fayt, Nuria Morales-Puerto.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Metabolism and Nutrition Research Group, Louvain Drug Research Institute, UCLouvain, Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium

    Clémence Fayt, Nuria Morales-Puerto & Amandine Everard

  2. Walloon Excellence in Life Sciences and BIOtechnology (WELBIO) Department, WEL Research Institute, Wavre, Belgium

    Clémence Fayt, Nuria Morales-Puerto & Amandine Everard

Authors

  1. Clémence Fayt
  2. Nuria Morales-Puerto
  3. Amandine Everard

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Amandine Everard.

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Competing interests

A.E. is an inventor on patent applications dealing with the use of Akkermansia muciniphila and its components in the treatment of metabolic disorders. A.E. is an inventor on patent applications dealing with gut microorganisms in food reward dysregulations. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Fayt, C., Morales-Puerto, N. & Everard, A. A gut microorganism turns the dial on sugar intake. Nat Microbiol 10, 270–271 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01917-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-024-01917-1