Fig. 4

Coordinated effects of VLCD-induced weight loss on the plasma metabolome and the fecal microbiome. a VLCD-induced weight loss is associated with changes in both selected fecal bacterial taxa and levels of plasma β-hydroxybutyrate. b Spearman correlation heat map for bacterial taxa (rows) versus plasma metabolites (columns) changing with weight loss at p-value < 0.1. Red denotes positive correlation (p < 0.1), dark red denotes strongly positive correlation (p < 0.05), blue denotes negative correlation (p < 0.1) while dark blue denotes strongly negative correlation (p < 0.05). c Spearman correlation bubble plot of total fecal microbiota versus selected plasma metabolite pathways