Gut bacteria tests are BOGUS, according to major review - experts say the $200 tests are 'exploiting customers' and give 'misleading' results

At home microbiome tests are underregulated, unreliable, and probably a waste of money, according to a scathing report issued today from researchers from the University of Maryland and the US National Institute of Health. 

The report reviewed 31 testing companies offering the tool online - costing up to $500 - that promise to examine the variety and quantity of bacteria in the gut, vagina and skin, and use this information to provide answers about their health.

The tests analyze fecal samples as well as swabs from the skin and the vagina to produce an online report about a customer's microbiome and whether or not they could benefit from a pre or pro biotic.

Some companies claim their tests will provide answers to persistent acne; 'get rid of the guesswork with our easy, at-home skin microbiome test kit', while others say they can help you identify exactly which supplements will help your gut.

There are hundreds of gut bacteria tests on the market, all of which claim to be able to provide answers about our health. However, a scathing new report says many are misleading customers.

However, according to the new, damning report, these promises are not 'grounded in scientific accuracy' or 'medically relevant'. 

'At these prices, the studies authors wrote that, 'consumers may be financially exploited', and accused some companies of 'knowingly mislead consumers.'

Our gut bacteria has long been said to play a crucial role in determining a number of health outcomes by releasing chemical signals to other parts of the body.

Studies have implicated the gut flora in our risk of a host of diseases - from diabetes to depression.

More recently, researchers have suggested that the collection of microscopic bugs in other parts of the body - like the vagina and skin - can also indicate signs of poor health, and explain problems like acne and infections.

But the results of the latest study led the researchers to calling on US regulators to step in and add more stringent requirements to the tests. 

'Many of their marketing claims imply, and may lead consumers to believe, that the results are grounded in scientific accuracy and are medically relevant when that has not been substantiated,' read the report, published in the journal Science. 

As well as reviewing the validity of available tests, the University of Maryland researchers interviewed doctors who treat people with gut and vaginal conditions, microbiome researchers, and potential customers. 

Studies have suggested that the quantity and quality of our microbiome can help determine our risk of a host of diseases - from depression to asthma 

The report concludes that, not only are tests a waste of money, they could in fact be harmful for those with serious conditions like Crohn's disease and irritable bowel syndrome, who may use the tests believing they could help their symptoms.

'Many individuals who seek out these tests have serious chronic illnesses and are desperate to try anything that may mitigate their pain and suffering,' said Dr Jacques Ravel,Professor of immunology at the University of Maryland and co-author of the paper.

He added that patients may falsely believe that taking a supplement recommended by the testing companies could cure their ailments.

Some 45 percent of the 31 companies they identified selling these tests also have their own custom brand of supplements which are recommended to patients.

The report also casts doubt on the benefits of supplements that claim to improve health by altering the micriobiome. 

The authors state that tudies into the microbiome are so new and frequently shifting, which means there isn't yet a clear scientific definition of what a healthy microbiome looks like.

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The tests work by analyzing the various samples for bacterial DNA. They determine which bacteria are present and at what level based on the genetic material.

Generally, these companies determine if your biome is healthy or not by comparing it to the microbiome of someone with a chronic disease. If it is similar, you are deemed unhealthy. 

But this doesn't actually mean what the companies claim because 'there is no consensus about what constitutes a healthy human microbiome composition in any population.'

Further, the report found serious inconsistences within the labs. When they sent in the same sample to the same laboratory multiple times, it yielded different results.  

Diane Hoffman, an attorney involved with the research, wrote that the FDA must investigate the validity of these tests and their marketing claims. 

If they are to be used as diagnostics, like COVID-19 tests, then they must be regulated more stringently by the FDA and must report on their performance, Hoffman stated. 

This must be done, 'before any of these companies can claim a relationship between a test result and a person’s health, or if dietary changes and supplements can improve the microbiome and someone’s health,' she wrote.