Fecal microbial load is a major determinant of gut microbiome variation and a confounder for disease associations
A machine-learning approach enables the quantification of microbial load (microbial cells per gram) in fecal samples based on the relative microbiome profile. The predicted microbial load emerged as a major determinant of microbiome variation, confounding various disease-microbe associations across more than 34,000 global metagenomes.