We have billions of bacteria living in our gut that produce chemicals, hormones, amino acids, vitamins and other components which are utilised by the body to maintain health every second of the day and night.
Alterations to the distribution, types and ratios within the microflora in the gut, can lead to multiple health problems and produce symptoms in many different body organs. As more and more research is done it becomes clear that the state of the microbiome is the base underlying instigator and the fall guy when things are not ideal elsewhere. It’s can be a vicious circle … we need to address the microbiome as an integral part of the whole picture.
We can now perform microbiome testing of the gut to establish a clear picture of the environment of the gut, being the gut microbiome. From there we can alter your diet and treatment to re-establish balance or maintain balance.
So what is microbiome testing …. and how does the testing work?
The extended Faecal microbiology performed by Bioscreen is far more comprehensive and useful than the CDSA or other tests used by most GP’s which only looks for abnormal bacteria and parasites that should not be found in the gut.
The testing we used is a specialist test that cultures and counts the bacteria that would normally be found in the gut – but most importantly it also looks at the ration that are needed for a healthy gut microbiome.
Your body needs a variety of microbial metabolites to function effectively. When these metabolites are scarce, or alternatively, in excessive supply, body functions and processes are impacted and symptoms likely surface.
The test is an extensive investigation of the microbiome of the lower intestines/Gastrointestinal Tract, collected from a faecal sample. Microbes from your sample are grown and the presence and exact quantities of faecal bacteria, both aerobes and anaerobes, gram negative and gram positive bacteria and yeasts are identified.
If these individual sets of microbes are significantly outside the normal percentiles, representing an imbalance of the intestinal ecosystem, they can be specifically identified and then addressed. This imbalance has been evidenced in many disorders including Depresssion, Fibromyalgia, Parkinsons, Dementia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, Irritable Bowel Syndrome and inflammatory Bowel disease, as well as immune, mood and neurological disorders.
