Gut Biome Testing

A couple of months ago I did a gut biome test on myself with a company called THRYVE and I was impressed with their service and learned so much from the results. If you have been curious about the contents of your gut microbiome this is a very affordable, simple, and educational option. Thryve as a company offers a space where regular people as well as scientists, academic researchers, and pharmaceutical companies alike can use this space to uncover meaningful insight that helps us learn about the microbiome.

Among the things I found most useful was the home page that showed my gut score, bacterial level, and the number of species in my sample and let me tell you I realized even with all I currently do there is plenty of room for growth. It flagged 7 different bacteria in particular that were lower than their desired levels. Those included Allistipes, Bifidobacterium, Blautia, EU bacterium,

Faecalibacterium, Lactobacillus, and Roseburia. All of these bacteria are known for different roles and while some may overlap after reading and researching them it seems the reason we have variety is because they all aid in different way as slight as it might be for a manifold of processes.

My gut score was much lower than I expected and the variety in my sample was way lower than my partner in crime for this experiment, my podcast sidekick, Nicole. But it goes to affirm how important it is to treat people as individuals and not as generalizations. Even though Nicole and I both look and feel extremely healthy our gut needs and strengths are very different.

The company does not stop there though, they offer help to balance your gut biome out. They offer personalized probiotics and lists of foods you should avoid as well as the foods you should indulge in. Explanations are offered as to why you should eat the specific foods and they are clear and easy to understand. Even if you do not know to cook these they have a number of recipes for each of the ingredients.

For me in particular I should increase the consumption of asparagus, artichokes, Anchovies, mushrooms, hazelnut oil, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, cinnamon, dandelion, among others. I will not purchase the probiotics but instead work one increasing the variety as well as the number of the ones I currently have through diet. I look forward to re-testing in several months and examining the results of my changes.