S5 Ep6: 'The Microbiome Rainforest: Perimenopause, GLP-1s & Longevity' featuring Dr Julia Malkowski

So that's why presumably it's really difficult to really interpret tests and decide what probiotics people should be having in a very prescriptive kind of way.

But we are learning more about that all of the time, aren't we? So what kinds of patterns have you noticed that are useful to look out for?

Absolutely.

So in terms of explicit bacteria, I do look at the levels of lactobacillus.

And I

do look at the levels of bifidobacterium and actually acromantia, simply because these are what are called keystone bacteria.

But I don't look at them.

Excuse me, I want to add one on fecal bacteria and protein in CI.

But I do not look at these in isolation.

I also look at additional markers like microbiome diversity, which is probably if I could have one biomarker, it would be microbiome diversity.

I also look at microbiome dysbiosis.

And then what you mentioned earlier, I love what you said about the bitter food and digestion.

I also look at pancreatic elastase, look at carbohydrate digestion, look at fat stain, because that is part of the colon is what happens before.

We call it eating hygiene.

So it's how we digest our food before it makes it to the colon.

And then, of course, when we're talking about the gut microbiome, we cannot separate it from the immune system.

So fecal secretory IgA is in there, lysozyme, and then there are specific markers for IBD.

And then, of course, short-chain fatty acids.

So what we spoke about earlier with regards to connecting the gut microbiome to considerations such as cardiovascular disease or even blood pressure, that's That has largely to do with the communication between the short-chain fatty acids.

These are the products that our bacteria make in the presence of the foods and the fibers.

That's their food source.

And then as a byproduct, they create these short-chain fatty acids.

And then those short-chain fatty acids are essentially chemical messengers, and they communicate with systemic physiology.

So that's really where we get this information.

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