Table 2 Redundancy analysis with both forward and reverse selection was performed to select the most important parameters that explain variation in the community matrices. The initial set of variables considered are as follows (with those selected in the final PERMANOVA models in bold case): status (Control; Anaemic), Mother’s HB, Miscarriage, Socio-economic status (Lower Middle Class; Middle Class; Upper Class), Weight, Diet, Demographic region (Rural; Urban). Here df, SS, and F are Degree of Freedom, Sum of Squared Errors, and F Statistic, respectively.

From: Gut microbial ecology and function of a Pakistani cohort with Iron deficiency Anemia