I don’t have any thoughts of having a gut microbiome test because I’m confident my gut microbiome is perfectly balanced by my robust functioning primary immune system and I have bowel movements like clockwork after every meal and my bowel movements are constantly proper consistency and texture. I resolved my high indigestion in May 2015, by changing my diet and I have had significant neurogenesis of my half damaged brain from the changes to my diet and lifestyle which proves I have made the correct changes to be in the best health of my life other than my pituitary gland is not functioning, by I know that my pituitary gland is not functioning to perfectly understand why my body functions like it does and why I can’t healthfully compensate for it in any manner. So I live with lethargy 24X7! And extremely sensitive to cold. Adult neurogenesis is I chartered science so I don’t expect success immediately but over time I will regrow my pituitary gland to resolve being lethargic 24X7! Patience is a virtue for healing and recovery from such miraculous survival of my just true love chastening by my master Jesus Christ in December of 2002! Four massive hemorrhagic strokes in eight days! December 7-15.
Wow!! That’s an incredible testament to your efforts?? I was going to ask how you knew that you had a damaged brain, but your strokes sounds serious! Is your plan to hold steady with what you are doing to restore functions in pituitary??
You’ve provided a lot to think about! Congratulations on your healing !
I only learned about my pituitary gland not functioning from my new ND. Because no one else in the Western medical system would tell me that my pituitary gland was not functioning. I know that I can’t healthfully compensate for it but I understand perfectly why my body functions like it does without my pituitary gland and why I can’t healthfully compensate for it. The damage happened in seconds over 8 days from 2002/12/07-2002/12/15, so I must patiently wait for the uncharted neurogenesis of the adult brain to heal from my natural actions!
Wow. So glad you found someone who helps! You stated that you still have lethargy 24/7 , But do you see or feel a change since you changed your diet a lot? I am assuming that you know about the genesis of brain matter from a brain scan.? or maybe I should ask if you’re ND knew what to help you after you had suffered strokes?
If I understand it correctly The Lancet article looks at microbiome testing in a clinical setting ie being used to diagnose or treat a patient. Many personalised microbiome tests like Zoe state very clearly that they are not suitable for diagnosing or treating conditions.
However, as a wellness tool to gain insight into the impact of what you eat and discover what more you can do to nudge yourself along a path of eating the foods that can improve your markers of health, microbiome tests like Zoe can be incredibly useful. I went from 85kg to 77kg over 3-4 years by trying to eat healthily on my own. Not a bad result. But my blood test results were always nudging outside the normal zone and chronic kidney disease was beckoning. Using Zoe I went from 77kg to 70kg within 3 months and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. That was two years ago and I’ve stayed consistently at that weight and a BMI of 21 ever since. I’ve changed what I eat as a result and yes the BGBGs all feature in my diet now, along with a daily dose of homemade sauerkraut and kefir. All my blood tests since then have been well within the normal zone and the risk of kidney disease has been reversed. I’ve reduced my blood pressure medication as well. Zoe helped me to understand more about the importance of the microbiome and what to eat to encourage the best health and wellness outcomes for me. It has been nothing short of life changing and I will always be grateful to them and to you for sending me my insights report. It certainly gave me a brilliant insight and way to improve my health that I hope will pay dividends for many years to come. Having said that, I know tests like Zoe aren’t for everyone but you did ask for our thoughts.
Thanks so much for sharing this, David, always happy to hear your thoughts. Really glad it was such a positive experience for you, and that you've had such a success making changes for your health, congrats! The expert consensus looked at all direct-to-consumer microbiome tests, including those aimed at wellness (e.g. those giving unique diet advice based on microbiome test results). For example, I’ve seen ads for one company that suggest that broccoli could be “bad” for you depending on your microbiome results, which is plain wrong (poor broccoli!). Having worked in this space, I see the huge interest and potential, but also how important it is to stay grounded in what the science can currently support. That said, anything that sparks lasting, positive change can be incredibly valuable - and if getting a snapshot of your gut microbes helped motivate that, I'm happy it worked well for you.
I've taken 2; one through Zoe (at home), one through my doctor. The second one (taken much later) found H-pylori bacteria that I otherwise would not have known about, so yes, I would say they can be helpful if done correctly.
Hi Tara, thanks so much for sharing this. Just to clarify (in case it’s helpful for others too), the at-home microbiome tests give you a broad picture of your gut bacteria but aren’t designed to diagnose infections like H. pylori. Spotting something like H. pylori would typically need a different kind of targeted medical test that your doctor arranged, like a stool antigen test, that can detect H. pylori accurately. Hope this helps, I know there are a lot of different tests out there!
Yes there are! In this case I requested a "gut biome test" (very untechnical language) and whatever type they ordered uncovered that. So, an interesting outcome for someone like me who wants data for targeted prevention, versus redoing my entire lifestyle!
Interesting how hat you suggest seeing a health professional like dietitian or doctor but exclude naturopath , functional medicine doctor or functional nutritionist. A doctor does not have a comprehensive understanding of nutrition needs and the function and requirements of the complex digestive system . It’s not the focus of their curriculum. The expensive stool test results has been incredible useful for my mother and I know quite a few friends who have had long standing gut issues and fatigue and pain with immense frustration and limitation to their lifestyle and daily function. The doctor was not helpful except after some visits giving a referral to a gastroenterologist. My mother was deemed all fine . Surprisingly since she has terrible loose bowels and urgency she’s 75yo and was these healthy and good weight , no diagnoses. After the stool results from a naturopath that was highly recommended it revealed very much ! ( I can’t recall the microbes name atm) it showed the microbes that increase inflammation and others . It guided treatment plan along with the test that showed her inflammatory response to various foods . With cutting down those foods ( wheat a big one & dairy but goats cheese and feta okay ) and taking PHGG and pectin and L Rhamnosus and Sarcommyces boulardi her bowel settled greatly over 2 months after 3 years of no improvement with average recommendations - like eat more fibre ( insoluble ) , no need to change your foods and keep up dairy for your bones ( dietician) , take “gastrostop” tablets to suppress symptoms
Thanks for sharing Cassandra, and I'm really glad your mum is feeling better. I recommend dietitians and doctors because they’re regulated, which helps ensure safe, evidence-based care. I totally understand why people look elsewhere when they’re not getting answers, but some private tests and supplements can overpromise. It’s a tricky space, and I try to keep things grounded in what we know works.
I did a microbiome test about 18 years ago as part of a research study. They did provide me with the breakdown of quantities of different bacteria in my gut and showed me how I compared with people of the same demographic and eating habits as me. It was definitely interesting to see. I really wish I still had those results!
That’s so cool Brittany that you did one as part of a research study, especially that long ago! And yes, that’s what I think is fun about microbiome tests, just getting a peek at who’s living there, like a microbial census, even if we can’t take any concrete advice from it (yet!).
I fixed my gut by ditching the fiber! Unless you’re a fiber addict, you don’t need fiber eating bacteria to digest the fiber.
I think this is the key: Gut microbiome most probably adjust to the types of food that one eats. This has been my experience.
If I were to eat a bunch of fiber right now, my digestive system would probably flip the hell out because I do not have the fiber eating bacteria in my intestines. However, I could slowly introduce different types of fiber eating bacteria by slowing adding a very tiny amount of fiber each day.
And until the medical community stops measuring-treating every persons digestive system as a one size fits all situation, they will continue to defraud the population with faux science.
Hi Te, if you’re not a fan of fibre... you might be on the wrong newsletter! Thanks for sharing your experience, and yes our guts can definitely respond differently in the short term depending on what we're used to eating. You're absolutely right that if you haven’t eaten much fibre for a while, suddenly eating a lot can cause digestive symptoms. That’s why a slow, gradual increase is best, so your gut microbes have time to adapt.
But just to clarify for others reading, fibre isn’t optional for long-term health. We have decades of high-quality research showing that eating enough fibre is related to a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and supports a healthy gut microbiome. And absolutely we need to consider everyone on a case-by-case basis, and find what works best for them, but that doesn't mean throwing out the large body of robust evidence on fibre. It means applying it thoughtfully.
Great post. Very informative. We have, just recently, become concerned about our gut health. There is literally millions of articles about health, navigating them has become a full time job. It’s quite overwhelming but glad I stumbled onto this one. Don’t get me started on exercise, supplements, skin care, processed foods, vaccines, etc. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Thanks so much Darla, I’m really glad it was helpful. You’re absolutely right, it can feel completely overwhelming out there. There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to health, and it’s hard to know what to trust. Gut health is a great place to start, and I’m so glad you’re here.
Very comprehensive article supporting some findings on my own research some months ago. I however sent a sample last week to a lab to analyse my microbiome. For a year now I’ve been having many gastrointestinal problems where the traditional medicine (endoscopy and colonoscopy) have not been able to explain why. A doctor diagnosed me with a histamine intolerance but after taking supplements and continuing with the same issues I feel frustrated and hopeless. The diagnose explains many things but I felt I needed more information that were precise to me. Last week I started a treatment with an alternative nutritionist. She suggested to send a sample to the lab. I hope this test helps to understand a bit. She herself has a histamine intolerance too which gave me the confidence to trust her.
If you have information on histamine disorders I’ll be happy to hear more from you. Thanks for sharing your knowledge here!
Hi Emily, I have suffered with loose stools, lack of appetite, nausea & weight loss for 3 years. I saw a Naturopath who recommended a PCR stool test & Dutch hormone test.
I used to have extremely debilitating allergies in spring. To the point that I was chewing Zyrtec, taking my asthma spray about 50 times a day and using eye drops just to function. A friend told me how it might be down to your gut flora. I was an avid diet soda drinker, and on the same day randomly listened to something that Aspartame literally kills your gut biome.
Right in the middle of allergy season when I was struggling to function, I stopped the Coke Zero and started taking an off the shelf probiotic and within 2 weeks my allergies completely stopped. I have now been allergy free for about 4 Springs.
When I told my doctor, he thought I was mad... you cannot cure allergies, something changed.
I don’t have any thoughts of having a gut microbiome test because I’m confident my gut microbiome is perfectly balanced by my robust functioning primary immune system and I have bowel movements like clockwork after every meal and my bowel movements are constantly proper consistency and texture. I resolved my high indigestion in May 2015, by changing my diet and I have had significant neurogenesis of my half damaged brain from the changes to my diet and lifestyle which proves I have made the correct changes to be in the best health of my life other than my pituitary gland is not functioning, by I know that my pituitary gland is not functioning to perfectly understand why my body functions like it does and why I can’t healthfully compensate for it in any manner. So I live with lethargy 24X7! And extremely sensitive to cold. Adult neurogenesis is I chartered science so I don’t expect success immediately but over time I will regrow my pituitary gland to resolve being lethargic 24X7! Patience is a virtue for healing and recovery from such miraculous survival of my just true love chastening by my master Jesus Christ in December of 2002! Four massive hemorrhagic strokes in eight days! December 7-15.
Thank you for sharing Keith, so glad to hear that you’ve found changes that have helped you feel better in some ways.
Wow!! That’s an incredible testament to your efforts?? I was going to ask how you knew that you had a damaged brain, but your strokes sounds serious! Is your plan to hold steady with what you are doing to restore functions in pituitary??
You’ve provided a lot to think about! Congratulations on your healing !
I only learned about my pituitary gland not functioning from my new ND. Because no one else in the Western medical system would tell me that my pituitary gland was not functioning. I know that I can’t healthfully compensate for it but I understand perfectly why my body functions like it does without my pituitary gland and why I can’t healthfully compensate for it. The damage happened in seconds over 8 days from 2002/12/07-2002/12/15, so I must patiently wait for the uncharted neurogenesis of the adult brain to heal from my natural actions!
Wow. So glad you found someone who helps! You stated that you still have lethargy 24/7 , But do you see or feel a change since you changed your diet a lot? I am assuming that you know about the genesis of brain matter from a brain scan.? or maybe I should ask if you’re ND knew what to help you after you had suffered strokes?
No, I know because of the functionality of my body that I have recovered
1- my sense of smell.
2- 115 degrees of the 120 degrees of the left side of my field of vision
3- incredible improvement in my sense of recognition and memories of songs!
Excellent progress!
I focus the changes to my diet to promote the neurogenesis of my pituitary gland to overcome the lethargy 24X7!
Yes, that is the long term plan for my health and wellbeing because living lethargic is pathetic!
If I understand it correctly The Lancet article looks at microbiome testing in a clinical setting ie being used to diagnose or treat a patient. Many personalised microbiome tests like Zoe state very clearly that they are not suitable for diagnosing or treating conditions.
However, as a wellness tool to gain insight into the impact of what you eat and discover what more you can do to nudge yourself along a path of eating the foods that can improve your markers of health, microbiome tests like Zoe can be incredibly useful. I went from 85kg to 77kg over 3-4 years by trying to eat healthily on my own. Not a bad result. But my blood test results were always nudging outside the normal zone and chronic kidney disease was beckoning. Using Zoe I went from 77kg to 70kg within 3 months and I wasn’t even trying to lose weight. That was two years ago and I’ve stayed consistently at that weight and a BMI of 21 ever since. I’ve changed what I eat as a result and yes the BGBGs all feature in my diet now, along with a daily dose of homemade sauerkraut and kefir. All my blood tests since then have been well within the normal zone and the risk of kidney disease has been reversed. I’ve reduced my blood pressure medication as well. Zoe helped me to understand more about the importance of the microbiome and what to eat to encourage the best health and wellness outcomes for me. It has been nothing short of life changing and I will always be grateful to them and to you for sending me my insights report. It certainly gave me a brilliant insight and way to improve my health that I hope will pay dividends for many years to come. Having said that, I know tests like Zoe aren’t for everyone but you did ask for our thoughts.
Thanks so much for sharing this, David, always happy to hear your thoughts. Really glad it was such a positive experience for you, and that you've had such a success making changes for your health, congrats! The expert consensus looked at all direct-to-consumer microbiome tests, including those aimed at wellness (e.g. those giving unique diet advice based on microbiome test results). For example, I’ve seen ads for one company that suggest that broccoli could be “bad” for you depending on your microbiome results, which is plain wrong (poor broccoli!). Having worked in this space, I see the huge interest and potential, but also how important it is to stay grounded in what the science can currently support. That said, anything that sparks lasting, positive change can be incredibly valuable - and if getting a snapshot of your gut microbes helped motivate that, I'm happy it worked well for you.
Take pride in maintaining a robust microbiome 🦠
Absolutely Isaac!
I've taken 2; one through Zoe (at home), one through my doctor. The second one (taken much later) found H-pylori bacteria that I otherwise would not have known about, so yes, I would say they can be helpful if done correctly.
Hi Tara, thanks so much for sharing this. Just to clarify (in case it’s helpful for others too), the at-home microbiome tests give you a broad picture of your gut bacteria but aren’t designed to diagnose infections like H. pylori. Spotting something like H. pylori would typically need a different kind of targeted medical test that your doctor arranged, like a stool antigen test, that can detect H. pylori accurately. Hope this helps, I know there are a lot of different tests out there!
Yes there are! In this case I requested a "gut biome test" (very untechnical language) and whatever type they ordered uncovered that. So, an interesting outcome for someone like me who wants data for targeted prevention, versus redoing my entire lifestyle!
Interesting! I wonder if they named it that as it's easier to understand than the more technical antigen test. Thanks so much for sharing Tara!
Interesting how hat you suggest seeing a health professional like dietitian or doctor but exclude naturopath , functional medicine doctor or functional nutritionist. A doctor does not have a comprehensive understanding of nutrition needs and the function and requirements of the complex digestive system . It’s not the focus of their curriculum. The expensive stool test results has been incredible useful for my mother and I know quite a few friends who have had long standing gut issues and fatigue and pain with immense frustration and limitation to their lifestyle and daily function. The doctor was not helpful except after some visits giving a referral to a gastroenterologist. My mother was deemed all fine . Surprisingly since she has terrible loose bowels and urgency she’s 75yo and was these healthy and good weight , no diagnoses. After the stool results from a naturopath that was highly recommended it revealed very much ! ( I can’t recall the microbes name atm) it showed the microbes that increase inflammation and others . It guided treatment plan along with the test that showed her inflammatory response to various foods . With cutting down those foods ( wheat a big one & dairy but goats cheese and feta okay ) and taking PHGG and pectin and L Rhamnosus and Sarcommyces boulardi her bowel settled greatly over 2 months after 3 years of no improvement with average recommendations - like eat more fibre ( insoluble ) , no need to change your foods and keep up dairy for your bones ( dietician) , take “gastrostop” tablets to suppress symptoms
Thanks for sharing Cassandra, and I'm really glad your mum is feeling better. I recommend dietitians and doctors because they’re regulated, which helps ensure safe, evidence-based care. I totally understand why people look elsewhere when they’re not getting answers, but some private tests and supplements can overpromise. It’s a tricky space, and I try to keep things grounded in what we know works.
I did a microbiome test about 18 years ago as part of a research study. They did provide me with the breakdown of quantities of different bacteria in my gut and showed me how I compared with people of the same demographic and eating habits as me. It was definitely interesting to see. I really wish I still had those results!
That’s so cool Brittany that you did one as part of a research study, especially that long ago! And yes, that’s what I think is fun about microbiome tests, just getting a peek at who’s living there, like a microbial census, even if we can’t take any concrete advice from it (yet!).
I fixed my gut by ditching the fiber! Unless you’re a fiber addict, you don’t need fiber eating bacteria to digest the fiber.
I think this is the key: Gut microbiome most probably adjust to the types of food that one eats. This has been my experience.
If I were to eat a bunch of fiber right now, my digestive system would probably flip the hell out because I do not have the fiber eating bacteria in my intestines. However, I could slowly introduce different types of fiber eating bacteria by slowing adding a very tiny amount of fiber each day.
And until the medical community stops measuring-treating every persons digestive system as a one size fits all situation, they will continue to defraud the population with faux science.
Hi Te, if you’re not a fan of fibre... you might be on the wrong newsletter! Thanks for sharing your experience, and yes our guts can definitely respond differently in the short term depending on what we're used to eating. You're absolutely right that if you haven’t eaten much fibre for a while, suddenly eating a lot can cause digestive symptoms. That’s why a slow, gradual increase is best, so your gut microbes have time to adapt.
But just to clarify for others reading, fibre isn’t optional for long-term health. We have decades of high-quality research showing that eating enough fibre is related to a lower risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, certain cancers, and supports a healthy gut microbiome. And absolutely we need to consider everyone on a case-by-case basis, and find what works best for them, but that doesn't mean throwing out the large body of robust evidence on fibre. It means applying it thoughtfully.
I’m sorry I was referring to this recommendation.
“Eat more fibre, like the BGBGs”
That's ok! Fibre talk is pretty much a running theme around here.
Great post. Very informative. We have, just recently, become concerned about our gut health. There is literally millions of articles about health, navigating them has become a full time job. It’s quite overwhelming but glad I stumbled onto this one. Don’t get me started on exercise, supplements, skin care, processed foods, vaccines, etc. 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯
Thanks so much Darla, I’m really glad it was helpful. You’re absolutely right, it can feel completely overwhelming out there. There’s no shortage of opinions when it comes to health, and it’s hard to know what to trust. Gut health is a great place to start, and I’m so glad you’re here.
Very comprehensive article supporting some findings on my own research some months ago. I however sent a sample last week to a lab to analyse my microbiome. For a year now I’ve been having many gastrointestinal problems where the traditional medicine (endoscopy and colonoscopy) have not been able to explain why. A doctor diagnosed me with a histamine intolerance but after taking supplements and continuing with the same issues I feel frustrated and hopeless. The diagnose explains many things but I felt I needed more information that were precise to me. Last week I started a treatment with an alternative nutritionist. She suggested to send a sample to the lab. I hope this test helps to understand a bit. She herself has a histamine intolerance too which gave me the confidence to trust her.
If you have information on histamine disorders I’ll be happy to hear more from you. Thanks for sharing your knowledge here!
Hi Emily, I have suffered with loose stools, lack of appetite, nausea & weight loss for 3 years. I saw a Naturopath who recommended a PCR stool test & Dutch hormone test.
The test was through Healthily.co.uk Nutripath.
A lot of it was good. However it did show high levels of Blastocystis hominis parasite & low lactobacillus.
I was advised by a Dr Econs at Burghwood clinic to get rid of the parasite with antibiotics.
The treatment did work but has not improved my symptoms.
My question is, is it common for high levels of parasites to be present but not cause gut issues? Thanks xx
The Test I had was called Gut Health Check (GI Map)
I used to have extremely debilitating allergies in spring. To the point that I was chewing Zyrtec, taking my asthma spray about 50 times a day and using eye drops just to function. A friend told me how it might be down to your gut flora. I was an avid diet soda drinker, and on the same day randomly listened to something that Aspartame literally kills your gut biome.
Right in the middle of allergy season when I was struggling to function, I stopped the Coke Zero and started taking an off the shelf probiotic and within 2 weeks my allergies completely stopped. I have now been allergy free for about 4 Springs.
When I told my doctor, he thought I was mad... you cannot cure allergies, something changed.
The most effective thing I did was remove ALL dairy from my diet (was already Gluten-sensitive, so none of that either).