{"id":1114,"date":"2020-07-27T11:41:33","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T18:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/wordpress\/?p=1114"},"modified":"2025-08-01T11:19:36","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T18:19:36","slug":"precision-probiotics-tailor-good-bacteria-to-your-gut-microbiome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/?p=1114","title":{"rendered":"Precision Probiotics Tailor Good Bacteria To Your Gut Microbiome"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #999999;\"><a style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/hngry\/precision-probiotics-tailor-good-bacteria-to-your-gut-microbiome-3dc9f0743d92\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">To live long, healthy lives, research suggests looking towards the gut microbiome to ward off chronic diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, or type 2 diabetes.<\/span><\/a> The three-pound garden of microflora housed in our guts contain both good and bad bacteria. When the bad bacteria start to take over from high sugar and starch found in western diets, pain medications, stress, and antibiotics, many doctors recommend taking probiotics to fix the imbalance. Today, probiotic foods and supplements are nearly a $50bn global market <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grandviewresearch.com\/press-release\/global-probiotics-market\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">projected to grow to $77bn in the next five years<\/a>. But just how effective are they?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rob Knight: How our microbes make us who we are\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i-icXZ2tMRM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p id=\"2a6f\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph od oe ix tl b of og oh oi oj ok ol om go on oo op gr oq or os gu ot ou ov ow hq bk\" data-selectable-paragraph=\"\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">If you take an off-the-shelf probiotic, there\u2019s <strong class=\"tl iy\">just a 15% chance<\/strong> that they\u2019ll make it past your gastric system into your small intestine, where it can effectively colonize the gut with good bacteria. At least that\u2019s what <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/sungenomics.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Sun Genomics<\/a>, a three-year-old startup that designs and manufactures personalized probiotics based on an individual\u2019s gut DNA, has discovered in its research of various store-bought capsules. But that\u2019s only half the battle. Other studies have drawn similar conclusions, adding that similar to diet, there\u2019s no one-size fits all approach to probiotics. In 2018, Weizmann scientists Eran Elinav and Eran Segal <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"https:\/\/wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il\/life-sciences\/inside-look-probiotics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">published a study<\/a> which found that probiotics \u201cshould not be universally given to the public as a \u2018one size fits all\u2019 supplement,\u201d writes Elinav. \u201c<strong class=\"tl iy\">Instead, they could be tailored to each individual and their particular needs<\/strong>.\u201d The team\u2019s earlier research had similarly discovered that each individual\u2019s gut composition is highly correlated with blood glucose responses to various foods. Their conclusion makes sense in light of the fact that humans share 99.9% of the same DNA but only 10% of the same microbes. Over the past few years, the cost of sequencing the tens of trillions of human gut bacteria has dropped exponentially, opening the door for a whole range of personalized healthcare startups. There\u2019s just one last barrier to conquer \u2014 the microbiome tests all rely on stool samples.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"4c19\" class=\"pw-post-body-paragraph od oe ix tl b of og oh oi oj ok ol om go on oo op gr oq or os gu ot ou ov ow hq bk\" data-selectable-paragraph=\"\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">\u201c20 years ago when the first physician asked someone to pee in a cup, that physician was crazy,\u201d said Sun Genomics COO Neal Gidvani. \u201c<strong class=\"tl iy\">We believe that a stool sample has infinite more data than a pee cup<\/strong>. Individuals should start analyzing their microbiome at birth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-selectable-paragraph=\"\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">Last month, the San Diego-based startup announced an $8.65mm Series A financing for its Flor\u00e9 product which offers a full suite of both gut microbiome tests and a three-month subscription regimen of what it calls \u201cprecision probiotics.\u201d This term implies that each probiotic\u2019s strain and species selection, along with its concentration, is uniquely tailored to each individual customer. Pills are taken once a day before breakfast and there\u2019s an initial seven-day prime formula regimen to acclimate one\u2019s gut. Each capsule contains a mix of both prebiotic and probiotic strains. The startup\u2019s vertically-integrated approach to personalized nutrition is unique in that the majority of microbiome-focused companies either fall in the bucket of providing at-home testing or functional probiotics that claim to have certain benefits. Few companies do both. For example, <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/daytwo.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Day Two<\/a>, <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/viome.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Viome<\/a>, and <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/psomagen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Psomagen<\/a> are microbiome testing kits that can make high-level recommendations about supplements to take and foods to eat while companies like <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"https:\/\/pendulumlife.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Pendulum<\/a>, <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/seed.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Seed<\/a>, and <a class=\"ag ho\" style=\"color: #999999;\" href=\"http:\/\/wearejetson.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener ugc nofollow\">Jetson<\/a> formulate various probiotics aimed at lowering glucose, boosting immunity, and maintaining cardiovascular health.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-selectable-paragraph=\"\"><span style=\"color: #999999;\">For $297, the company will ship you a microbiome test to send back, followed by an in-depth report containing macronutrient dietary recommendations and a custom bamboo-etched container of probiotics with your name on it. To ensure a successful outcome, it sends a followup test after six weeks. It can then make any necessary adjustments to the formula before a customer decides to renew her three-month probiotic subscription. While it is mostly focused on consumers with a microbial imbalance known as dysbiosis found in patients suffering from abdominal pain, bloating, or leaky guts, the startup claims it can improve overall wellness like energy and mobility in healthier customers who are curious.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To live long, healthy lives, research suggests looking towards the gut microbiome to ward off chronic diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, or type 2 diabetes. The three-pound<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1114"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1581,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1114\/revisions\/1581"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}