{
  "abstract": "Background/objectives\n\nFunctional gastrointestinal discomfort is highly prevalent and affects up to 40% of the global population and remains challenging to manage due to its multifactorial nature. Usual interventions include dietary and lifestyle modifications, such as targeted phytochemical-based interventions. This multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial investigated the efficacy and exploratory microbiome-related effects of a standardized wild thyme extract (WThE) administered for 8 weeks on gastrointestinal symptoms, health-related quality of life, and fecal microbiome dynamics in adults without diagnosed organic gastrointestinal disease who reported gastrointestinal discomfort.Methods\n\nA total of 178 adults without diagnosed organic gastrointestinal disease and with persistent gastrointestinal discomfort were randomized to WThE (n = 90) or placebo (n = 88); 131 participants had observed week-8 outcome data.Results\n\nThe analysis showed a greater reduction in overall gastrointestinal symptom burden with WThE than placebo, measured by the GSRS total score, with the largest exploratory domain-level differences observed in indigestion, constipation, and diarrhea-related symptoms. Improvements were also observed in health-related quality of life. At the microbiome level, no significant between-group differences were detected in α- or β-diversity; however, taxon-level analyses identified specific changes in fecal microbial composition, and predicted functional profiling suggested associated pathway-level differences. Moreover, the extract was well tolerated, with no product-related adverse events reported during the 8-week intervention.Conclusions\n\nOverall, WThE reduced self-reported gastrointestinal symptom burden and improved selected quality-of-life outcomes in adults with persistent gastrointestinal discomfort, supporting Thymus serpyllum as a safe and well-tolerated botanical intervention linked to favorable modulation of the fecal microbiome and enhanced gastrointestinal function.Clinicaltrials\n\ngov no: NCT06639126.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Centro de Salud \"Salvador Caballero\", Distrito Granada-Metropolitano, 18012 Granada, Spain.",
    "Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), 18012 Granada, Spain.",
    "Servicio Microbiología, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, 18016 Granada, Spain.",
    "Department of Pharmacology, Center for Biomedical Research (CIBM), University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain.",
    "Servicio Digestivo, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, 18014 Granada, Spain.",
    "Centro de Salud Las Gabias, Distrito Granada-Metropolitano, 18012 Granada, Spain.",
    "Department of Internal Medicine, Santa Ana Hospital, 18600 Motril, Spain.",
    "CIBER de Enfermedades Infecciosas (CIBER-Infecc), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain.",
    "Servicio Farmacia Hospitalaria, Hospital Universitario Clínico San Cecilio, 18016 Granada, Spain.",
    "School of Pharmacy, Pharmacognosy and Phytotherapy, University College London (UCL), London WC1N 1AX, UK.",
    "Dr. Ivo Pischel Consulting, 53547 Rossbach, Germany.",
    "Finzelberg GmbH & Co. KG, 56626 Andernach, Germany.",
    "MartinBauer Nutraceuticals, 10040 Rivalta di Torino, Italy.",
    "CIBER de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBER-EHD), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28029 Madrid, Spain."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 20,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Raquel López-Zambrano"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jorge García-García",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0925-9441"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Laura López-Escánez"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Teresa Vezza"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Luckman Gbati",
      "orcid": "0009-0009-9301-632X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Rafael Palacios-López"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        5
      ],
      "name": "Benita Martin-Castaño"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Gonzalo Vargas-Castillo",
      "orcid": "0009-0006-9512-439X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Margarita Martínez-Zaldivar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Antonio M Caballero-Mateos",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3425-7758"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        2,
        7
      ],
      "name": "Federico García",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7611-781X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Eduardo Redondo-Cerezo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        4
      ],
      "name": "Raúl Fernández García",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8750-8664"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Emilio Fernández-Varón",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8253-6252"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Rocío Morón",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4461-2247"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Ivo Pischel"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        11,
        12
      ],
      "name": "Cynthia G Suarez",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9568-6556"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alba Rodríguez-Nogales",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1927-0628"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3
      ],
      "name": "María Elena Rodríguez-Cabezas",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-9085-8147"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1,
        3,
        13
      ],
      "name": "Julio Gálvez",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6876-3782"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9sv3j6afq5c03.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3390/medsci14060611",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13707104",
  "id": "9sv3j6afq5c03",
  "issns": [
    "2076-3271"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42930530",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2715|Gastrointestinal motility and disorders"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214611668",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13707104?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13707104",
  "pmid": "42930530",
  "published": "2026-09-28",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9sv3j6afq5c03.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42930530",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42930530"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2715|Gastrointestinal motility and disorders",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Thymus serpyllum Extract Improves Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Modulates Fecal Gut Microbiome Composition in a Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.",
  "title_text": "Thymus serpyllum Extract Improves Gastrointestinal Symptoms and Modulates Fecal Gut Microbiome Composition in a Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:22:01Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9sv3j6afq5c03",
  "venue": "Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland)",
  "versions": []
}