Table 1. Steps of the proposed modeling procedure.

We list and briefly describe the various steps of our modeling procedure, indicating the references to the figures and subsections of the section Materials and methods.

Step and Description
1. Initialization of the multiplex network (N = 100 nodes, M = 2 layers), diets and gut profiles, and “happiness index” (γi = 0) (see Evolutionary dynamics on a social multiplex network and Feedback mechanism)
2. Evaluation of “gut similarity” (θij) and initial hierarchical clustering (see Figs 2 and 3a)
3. ISG is played and strategies are updated at each round of the game following Eq 1) (see Evolutionary dynamics on a social multiplex network and Micro-affirmations and micro-inequities)
4. Diets and gut profiles are updated based on the feedback mechanism (see Feedback mechanism and Metabolic model)
5. Simulation of the metabolic gut model (FBA) with new constraints derived from step 4 (see Metabolic model)
6. Re-clustering based on the updated value of “gut similarity” (see Metabolic model and Fig 3b–3d)
7. Steps 3-6 are repeated