"For a few hundred dollars you can put your poo in an envelope and post it off to a laboratory. In return you'll get a report (sometimes generated by AI) outlining your food sensitivities, metabolic fitness, and what pathogens or fungi you're harbouring. These at-home gut microbiome tests or GI mapping kits are frequently promoted by influencers as a way to hack your health and take control through analysing some of the trillions of organisms that live in your digestive tract."
"Prof Rupert Leong, a gastroenterologist and microbiome researcher based at Macquarie university hospital, is increasingly seeing patients alarmed by gut microbiome reports they don't understand. Leong said depending on what is being analysed, gut microbiome testing can be very powerful and accurate in detecting microbial markers. But interpreting what those markers mean for an individual remains a major challenge, and different labs vary in their methodology, leading to differing results."
"We are still in the infancy of understanding how to interpret them, he said. If a gut microbiome test is ordered by a specialist doctor or accredited dietitian with a clear clinical reason, sent to a reputable lab, and interpreted by someone trained to make sense of the results, it can be genuinely helpful. Leong recently saw a patient with inflammatory bowel disease and rectal bleeding who had already undergone standard medical tests."
At-home gut microbiome tests provide reports on food sensitivities, metabolic fitness, and pathogens by analysing stool samples, sometimes using AI. These GI mapping kits are popular among influencers and consumers seeking to 'hack' health through microbiome data. Testing can accurately detect microbial markers depending on methods, but interpretation of those markers for individuals remains immature and inconsistent across laboratories. Tests ordered with clear clinical reasons and interpreted by specialists can guide diagnosis and treatment in selected cases, such as inflammatory bowel disease. For most consumers, results can be confusing, and a mix of organisms may have different effects between individuals.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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