Mapping the global research landscape on nutrition and the gut microbiota: Visualization and bibliometric analysis

BACKGROUND: Nutrition is a significant modifiable element that influences the composition of the gastrointestinal microbiota, implying the possibility of therapeutic diet methods that manipulate the composition and diversity of the microbial. AIM: To overview research papers on nutrition and gut microbiota and determines the hotspots in this field at the global level. METHODS: Scopus and Reference Citation Analysis were used to construct a bibliometric technique. It was decided to create bibliometric indicators and mapping as in most previous studies. 2012 through 2021 served as the study's timeframe. RESULTS: A total of 5378 documents from the Scopus database were selected for analysis. Of all retrieved studies, 78.52% were research papers (n = 4223), followed by reviews (n = 820; 15.25%). China ranked first with a total number of articles of 1634 (30.38%), followed by the United States in second place with a total number of articles of 1307 (24.3%). In the last decade, emerging hotspots for gut microbiota and nutrition research included "gut microbiota metabolism and interaction with dietary components", "connection between the gut microbiota and weight gain", and "the influence of high-fat diet and gut microbiota on metabolic disorders". CONCLUSION: This is the first thorough bibliometric analysis of nutrition and gut microbiota publications conducted on a global level. Investigation of the association between nutrition/diet and the gut microbiota is still in its infancy and will be expanded in the future. However, according to recent trends, the “effect of gut microbiota and high-fat diet on metabolic disorders" will be an increasing concern in the future.