Defining The Gut Microbiome

The human microbiome consists of a wide variety of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other single-celled ‘bugs’ that live in the body. We have trillions of them and they can be helpful or harmful to our health.

The ‘gut microbiome’ is referring to the same, but we are only looking at the ‘bugs’ that exist in the gut. 

How Your Naturopathic Doctor Analyzes & Measures Your Microbiome

With current technology, we can now detect the different ‘bugs’ in your gut. These tests not only tell you the type/strains, they also tell you if you have too little or too much of certain strains. This is important because certain bugs will only cause problems when they are too high or low.

For example, overgrowths of E. Coli can cause massive spikes in inflammation. This inflammation then leads to symptoms flares like stomach pain and diarrhea. Conversely, strains like Lactobacillus should be more plentiful because they are protective!

Without testing it’s hard to known what is happening within the microbiome. There are thousands of different strains and many of them have overlapping symptoms. That’s why tests like these are so important. They allow for a better understanding of what’s going on and which bugs should be targeted in treatment.

So, What Are We Looking For?

Like mentioned earlier, there are certain ‘bugs’ that are linked to certain conditions. So, these test help identify what bugs are triggering your digestive concerns.

Your concerns can also be about the diversity of strains in your gut. For example, Ulcerative Colitis often has a reduction in diversity of species/strains. In this case, treatment would be less about ‘killing off certain strains’ and more about ‘widening the variety of ‘bugs’ in your gut’.

Guess what common medications are notorious for decreasing the diversity of your microbiome?! ANTIBIOTICS

Once you have mapped the microbiome, your therapist can make recommendations based on these results. For example, different herbal medicines will target different strains. The more information we have, the more recommendations can become more targeted and hopefully more effective!

Lastly, this isn’t the only test used for digestive concerns or diseases. Your doctor may need more tests to gain a more complete picture.

Other tests could include:

• Nutritional and anemia testing 
• Imaging to diagnose conditions like Colitis and Crohn’s.
• Stool testing
• Food sensitivity testing
• Any other test necessary to rule out or in a condition.

If you are looking for an example of a condition that is heavily related to the gut microbiome check out my blog: Colitis & The Gut Microbiome