Yassin, Lidya K, Skrabulyte-Barbulescu, Jurga, Alshamsi, Shamsa H et al. · Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2025 · DOI
Your gut bacteria communicate with your brain through multiple pathways, and when this communication breaks down (called dysbiosis), it may contribute to several conditions including ME/CFS, depression, and neurological diseases. This review found that people with these conditions often have fewer types of bacteria, lower levels of beneficial short-chain fatty acids, and more inflammatory bacteria. Treatment approaches like dietary changes, probiotics, and fecal microbiota transplantation show promise in helping restore this gut-brain communication and reduce symptoms.
ME/CFS is explicitly included in this comprehensive review of gut-brain axis dysfunction, positioning dysbiosis as a potentially modifiable factor in disease pathogenesis. The identification of shared mechanisms across CFS and other neurological conditions may illuminate common therapeutic targets. For ME/CFS patients, this review suggests that microbiota-directed interventions warrant investigation as adjunctive or primary treatment approaches.
This review does not prove that dysbiosis causes ME/CFS—it identifies correlations and proposed mechanisms across multiple disorders. It does not establish the clinical efficacy of specific interventions (probiotics, FMT, etc.) in ME/CFS populations, as most evidence is drawn from other conditions. The review does not determine whether dysbiosis is a primary driver or secondary consequence of ME/CFS pathology.
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 →
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