[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Struggling with digestive issues can be uncomfortable, distracting and sometimes downright painful.
Just ask Ellie Busby, a plant-based nutritionist and founder of Vojo Health. Ellie struggles with IBS, a condition that can cause a range of digestive symptoms that interfere with daily life. When she received a discount from a company that makes at home gut testing kits, she took the opportunity to see if the results could point her to a solution for her condition.
Manufacturers claim that these kits can pull back the curtain on what’s causing your symptoms. According to many company websites, analyzing the contents of your gut can put you on the path to freedom from symptoms and better overall health.
Sounds great, right? But do these kits really work? Or are there better—possibly safer—ways to fix your gut issues?
What an at-home gut health test kit can tell you
There are plenty of gut tests on the market, each claiming to provide a comprehensive look at the microbes in your gut. Some offer in-depth analyses with detailed reports and recommendations for supplements, probiotics and even dietary changes.
No matter what kit you choose, the process for testing your gut at home is pretty straightforward:
- Collect a stool sample according to the instructions
- Prepare the sample for shipment
- Send the sample back to the company
- Wait about a month to get your results (some tests take longer)
Your sample is put through DNA analysis to determine the number and types of microbes in your gut. Some companies test for bacteria and fungi; others include additional microbes like yeast. When testing is complete, you receive a final report that’s purported to reveal the reasons behind symptoms like:
- Fatigue
- Bloating
- Weight gain
- Autoimmune conditions
- Food sensitivities
- Hormonal imbalances
- Inflammation
- Metabolic disorders
However, because there’s currently very little science linking specific gut microbes to health conditions, it’s hard to know how testing companies make these correlations.
What an at home gut testing kit can tell you is what microbes, both living and dead, were present at the time you took your stool sample. This snapshot of your “gut residents” gives you an idea of the richness and diversity in your microbiome, which may be a signal of overall gut health.
Unfortunately for Busby, these relatively vague results weren’t much help. “We know so little about what should be in your gut, plus only a few known species were actually tested for,” she says.
The test did reveal a small parasite called blastocystis in Busby’s microbiome, but a lack of additional details left her without a clear answer as to whether it was actually a factor in her IBS symptoms—or whether she should seek any kind of treatment.
Are at-home gut testing kit recommendations accurate?
As Busby discovered, it isn’t always helpful just to know what’s at home in your gut. Gut health science is advancing, but researchers and doctors don’t have enough information to use your home gut test results to diagnose or cure any disease.
It’s also important to note that these tests aren’t approved by the FDA and don’t qualify as medical tests. The kits also have a few other shortcomings:
- Companies use different microbe DNA libraries, so two different tests could give two different results
- Testing a single stool sample doesn’t show the dynamic changes that go on in your gut every day
- Lack of information about the human gut microbiome can mean a lot of your results get categorized as “unknown”
- Some types of microbes in your gut may not pass into your stool sample
Potential downsides and dangers of testing your gut at home
Depending on what’s up in your gut, the unknowns in at home gut testing kit results could potentially have negative consequences for your health.
For example, your results may indicate that you’re prone to a particular condition you don’t actually have—and that may never develop. The opposite is also possible: You could have a digestive condition the test can’t detect and wind up frustrated when the suggested protocol doesn’t resolve your symptoms.
Busby’s test came with only a few recommendations, mostly for herbs that remove yeasts from the gut. “But I didn’t really have any [yeast], so I didn’t try them,” she says.
However, a more detailed list of recommendations may not have been better. Such protocols can lead you to eliminate nutritious foods from your diet to which you’re not actually allergic or sensitive, which can unnecessarily complicate your meal planning.
The supplements recommended to support these dietary changes may or may not be needed and can get expensive from month to month. (Many gut testing companies also make supplements like probiotics and will recommend their own products—sometimes on a monthly subscription basis—as part of their protocols.)
There’s also the issue of privacy. By taking one of these tests, you’re essentially sharing private health information with a business—not a healthcare provider. It’s important to know how companies use and protect this information before sending a stool sample.
Should you use an at-home gut health test kit?
If you’re plagued with persistent gut symptoms like bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation or stool changes, the first thing you should do is see your doctor. These can be signs of an infection, a functional gut disorder like Busby’s IBS or a more serious problem that you can’t reveal by testing your gut at home.
However, if you don’t mind spending the money, a gut health test can be an interesting experiment. You’ll get some insight into your microbiome and can choose whether or not to try the suggested protocol.
For Busby, the overall experience with at home gut testing kits was positive. “But it wasn’t useful enough to pay full price,” which would have been over $250 without the discount, she says. “It was more [for] entertainment value than anything else.”
Until research discovers stronger links between gut microbiome composition and medical conditions, it’s best to be cautious about how you use home gut test results.
Busby agrees. “For general IBS, I would be cautious and try some other solutions first before spending money on a stool analysis.”[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_text_separator title="Featured Products" border_width="2"][vc_row_inner equal_height="yes" content_placement="middle" gap="35"][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="156649" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1639851038194{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="Vitacost Probiotic 10-20 10 Strains"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="156651" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1639851060441{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="https://www.vitacost.com/terra-origin-healthy-gut-vegan-formula"][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width="1/3"][vc_single_image image="156650" img_size="full" alignment="center" onclick="custom_link" img_link_target="_blank" css=".vc_custom_1639851088894{padding-right: 7% !important;padding-left: 7% !important;}" link="PlantFusion Vegan Complete Probiotic"][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row]
