I decided to take the plunge and get my poop analyzed by uBiome. What made me finally go through with this?
Well, I’ve been messaging back and forth with Grace Liu PharmD on Twitter (@Gut_Goddess) and she sent me some goodies from her site, The Gut Institute, that she thought would be helpful in my situation.
Since this was especially kind and generous favor on her part, in return I told her I would bite the bullet and get the uBiome analysis done which she especially loves delving into.
She knows all about each and every one of the gut bugs and is able to throw out study after study specific to each of the critters (just look at her Twitter feed).
I’ve been dragging my feet on doing stool testing because I’m not convinced that any useful data can be gleaned from this at our present state of knowledge (Peter Attia agrees with this and says as much on his most recent appearance on Rhonda Patrick’s Podcast). Grace on the other hand believes otherwise.
Another thing that prevented me from wanting to get my stool tested was the prospect of collecting the sample. I had visions of having to either do my business into a cup (how would I even go about holding it?!) or even worse… having to fish chunks out of the toilet bowl after my business was done (the thought of this is still making me gag right now).
Yes, I’m a physician. Yes, I regularly do enema studies on patients. No, it still doesn’t make the idea of touching excrement any more pleasant.
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uBiome offers a one time test for $89 or a “Gut Time Lapse” for $199, which is a set of three tests at a 25% bulk discount.
As you can see, I opted for the 3 pack which would allow me to do a ‘before’ test and an ‘after’ test.
I figure I’d save the third for another experiment down the road… or maybe for the BJJ Cavewife.
What I didn’t know was that there are links floating around that will give you an additional 15% off.. If you’re thinking about doing this at all, make sure you take advantage of these discounts.
A few days after placing the order the three test kits arrived. I had to create an account on the uBiome site and then register the specific kit I was using based on a unique 9 digit code that’s affixed to the packaging.
This is what’s included in each package (Yes, I took this pic while literally sitting on the toilet):
- Prepaid return bubble mailer
- Two test tubes filled with solution
- Two long stem sealed Q-tips
- Ziplock baggy with a paper towel in it for you to seal the test tubes in before placing into the envelope
Here are the instructions for how to collect the sample provided by the uBiome site:
It’s actually pretty simple and doesn’t involve any of the stuff I was worried about. The reason there are two tubes and two Q-tips are in case you don’t get enough of a sample the first time around, or if you screw up the first collection.
My first collection went just fine, so I went ahead and collected a second sample.
It’s now in the mailbox and we’ll see just what the report tells me.
I guess it’s important to clarify that this sample I sent out, the ‘before’ sample, actually comes on the heels of 6 weeks of VSL#3 probiotic supplementation followed by 2 weeks of no probiotics.
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I should mention that the gifts Grace sent me are:
Prescript Assist I’m already familiar with and was something I had taken before when my cholesterol improved.
D-Lactate Free Probiotic Powder isn’t something I’d heard of. Apparently this powder contains:
- L. Salivarius
- L. Rhamnosus
- B. Bifidum
- B. Infantis
- B. Longum
The B. Infantis and B. Longum are both in VSL#3, but the other 3 aren’t in anything I’ve taken before.
Instead of taking Berberine as I initially planned to as the next step in my cholesterol experimentation, I’ll take a month long course of these two probiotics recommended by Grace. At the end of the 4 weeks I’ll send out my ‘after’ stool sample AND check my cholesterol.
It’ll definitely be interesting to compare the before and after uBiome test results AND to see what effect if any these probiotics will have on my LDL-P.
Again, if you’re at all considering doing a uBiome test, don’t forget to take advantage of the 15% discount, like I did.
Bjj,
Interesting. Can you please expand on why we should consider D-Lactate Free Probiotics over the VSL3. The latter has research supporting the benefit.
Thank you
Great post
I’m not BJJ but I recently found out Grace Lui doesn’t like VSL3 because of its very high Streptococcus content. Out of all the many probiotics she has tested, she really likes D-Lactate Free and Prescript Assist the best. Apparently high Strept in VSL3 can damage the gut biome and over grows and out numbers the good bacteria. Strept is related to many disease states. Strep will breach the gut and the body will mount an immune response against it by releasing anti bodies, which is not good.
Grace has mentioned this a few times, that it’s the Strepto that’s bad and that prolonged use of VSL#3 is bad…. but I haven’t been able to corroborate any of this on pubmed.
She definitely knows more about this stuff than I do, but I would have expected to be able to find some data on this.
I think I will ping her to see if she has any sources she can send me.
Can’t wait to read the follow up on this! Dr. Lui really knows her stuff. I found it surprising that she doesn’t like VSL3. Until I found out that it apparently has Streptococcus in it and Streptococcus isn’t good for the gut biome.
I can tell you that as of today… I still haven’t received my results! So they certainly are taking their 4-6 weeks worth!
Thanks for the update! I have been listening to all of the old Gut Guardian podcasts and I am learning a ton. I think I am definitely lacking Bifido by the symptoms I have. Especially due to the fact I have a hard time with Inulin. I just ordered some of her BIFIDO|MAXIMUS custom blend, PrePhage and Prescript Assist. Are you noticing anything from taking the D-Lactate Free probotic she gave you?