Fig. 2
The prospective association between BMI and gut microbiota. A The associations between baseline adiposity and follow-up gut microbes. The cross-lagged path analysis was used to estimate the difference in the abundance of gut microbes (in SD unit of the log-transformed abundance) per 1-SD difference of BMI, adjusted for age, sex, smoking status, alcohol status, education, income, physical activity, total energy intake, Bristol stool score, and time interval. B Replication of the prospective associations of BMI with microbes in the HMP cohort. Multivariable linear regression models were used to estimate the difference in the abundance of gut microbes (in SD unit of the log-transformed abundance) per 1-SD difference in BMI, adjusted for age, sex, race (white/not white), time interval, and corresponding baseline microbe abundance. The meta-analysis with a random effects model was used to integrate the results from GNHS and HMP cohorts, and the heterogeneity was assessed using I2 and Cochran-Q test