Why I Threw This Standard Functional Test In The Trash
My toxic trait is Perfectionism.
If I’m not doing it 110%, I’m not doing it sufficiently.
And I have been this way for as long as I can remember. So you’re probably not surprised to hear that my doing it 110% is no different when it comes to microbial stool testing and gut rebalancing/healing. Which is especially critical in a field that is relatively new and rapidly evolving.
But “that’s just how we’ve always done it…”
Our industry gold-standard stool tests (GI-Map, GI Effects, to name a few) are solid tests, don’t get me wrong. But they have a few issues that have gotten me extremely concerned that the way we have always done things isn’t the way to keep doing them.
First, these tests are “probe-based” tests (you science geeks may know them as qPCR, O&P microscopy, and culture/MALDI-TOF combos). They’re looking for a specific, pre-defined handful of microbes living in the colon, hoping to pick them up either by visually identifying them or amplifying them (replicating copies of the DNA) from the stool sample. I liken these probe tests to only being able to identify a few trees (let’s say apple trees) in an otherwise uncharacterized orchard.
Not only that, but there is absolutely no way for these tests to determine what specific type of apple trees they are. (To put it another way, ok, it’s an apple tree, but is it Gala? Red Delicious? Undesirable Crab Apple? These tests just group them all together as “apple.”)
This is fine if all you need to know is if there are apple trees present, and how many. Because exactly that’s what a probe test will tell you.
However. The difference between a Gala and a Crab apple in your gut’s orchard may be diarrhea. Or brain fog and depression. Or autoimmunity. Just one little gene switch in a microbe is what can produce unwanted symptoms.
My overall point is, these tests are pretty limited in scope. Because what if your issue is NOT what the probe is seeking? What if something ELSE Is contributing to symptoms, or that you should be concerned about, like an overgrowth of a microbe that is correlated with cancer or Alzheimer’s? (Your reason for running the stool test in the first place!)
This is why I think it’s so important to use a test that explores the colon’s entire orchard and can tell us about all of the various varieties of apple trees present, as well as what types of pears, peaches, and the unexpected pines, oaks, and poison ivy.
An improved approach to gut assessment and rebalancing
The testing my clients have been experiencing for the past few months now (called shotgun metagenomics and 16s sequencing) provides a wide variety of information about your large intestinal health. We can find out about the hundreds of microbes that are present, plus the molecules (“metabolites”) that they produce and how these impact the overall health of the colon.
Microbe + metabolite info is critical for not just understanding the characteristics of your orchard, but also what needs to change through diet, lifestyle, and targeted supplementation so that your orchard can be revitalized and maintain healthy trees that produce the best fruit possible. And so that your symptoms shift and health improves.
Restoring the gut’s orchard, or ecosystem, is critical for your improved health and wellness. It is only by revitalizing the ecosystem that we can change which microbes are living there, harness them for their anti-inflammatory superpowers, and allow the gut to finally heal itself. As a result, you can expect improved immune function, brain and mental health, digestion, cardiovascular health, sleep, increased vitamin production in the gut (like vitamin K, B vitamins), and loads more.
Gut revitalization is a major key to the goals you are working on with us.
If your prior gut healing protocols weren’t working or getting you the results you expected, then perhaps a different approach is in order!
Pretty sure I’ve already run my last-ever GI-Map…
With over 120 hours of certification coursework on the microbiome, shotgun sequencing, and terrain revitalization under my belt, I am convinced that this cutting-edge tool is the future direction of stool testing. And why I’ve brought it into my practice: so that you can have access as well.
So far, I am finding shotgun metagenomics and 16s sequencing to be incredibly powerful tools, much more impactful than the industry standard tests I was trained to use previously. My clients have also told me that this testing has moved them much further along in their journeys and more quickly than prior stool testing that they have used.
Click here to read more on this amazing test and how I’m using it with people like you!
Have you used shotgun sequencing yet? Interested in running a test on yourself? Let me know!