Cheng, Xinxin, Wang, Wenkuan, Xu, Tingting et al. · Scientific reports · 2025 · DOI
This study looked at the bacteria living in the gut of people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people, and found that ME/CFS patients have fewer types of bacteria and lower levels of helpful compounds called short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) that bacteria produce. The study found that people with ME/CFS who eat more fiber have higher levels of these beneficial compounds, suggesting diet may help restore some of the bacterial imbalances seen in ME/CFS.
This study provides biological evidence that ME/CFS involves measurable alterations in gut bacterial composition and metabolism, potentially opening avenues for microbiome-targeted therapeutic interventions. The finding that dietary fiber correlates with improved bacterial metabolites offers patients a potentially modifiable lifestyle factor that may help ameliorate symptom severity.
This study does not prove that gut dysbiosis causes ME/CFS, only that an association exists—the dysbiosis could be a consequence of the illness rather than a cause. It also does not establish that increasing fiber intake will clinically improve ME/CFS symptoms in individual patients, only that it correlates with improved SCFA levels. The cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal relationships or determine whether interventions targeting these metabolites would reduce fatigue.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Cheng, Xinxin, Wang, Wenkuan, Xu, Tingting, Wang, Yanjie, Zhen, Xina, Man, Wenxuan, et al. (2025). Alterations in gut microbiota and associated metabolites in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.. Scientific reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27564-y
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cheng-2025-alterations-gut,
author = {Cheng, Xinxin and Wang, Wenkuan and Xu, Tingting and Wang, Yanjie and Zhen, Xina and Man, Wenxuan and Gao, Shuo and Yin, Yonghui},
title = {Alterations in gut microbiota and associated metabolites in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Scientific reports},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1038/s41598-025-27564-y},
note = {PubMed: 41387992},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2025-alterations-gut},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2025-alterations-gut
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