The British Gut Project britishgut.org might be of interest? Single kits cost £75, Double £125 etc.
"British Gut is an open source crowd funded project run by The Department of Twin Research at King’s College London in conjunction with The American Gut project. The aim is to uncover the microbial content within the guts of British individuals. This data will tell us how our lifestyle choices and diet influence our microbiome and how we can alter it to reduce disease and other health related problems. This study will produce a large-scale collection of anonymised human samples and lifestyle information for medical researchers, and provides each participant with a personal bacterial profile of their own gut.
This is a unique open collaboration between the TwinsUK team at King's College London and The American Gut Project (AGP) to try to understand the bacterial diversity of the British Gut.
Many people don't realize that the bacteria that live inside us play an incredibly important role in our health. There are so many of them, that they make up 90 percent of the cells in our body and their most important jobs include "manufacturing vitamins" for us and breaking down and digesting our food. The trillions of bacteria in our gut weigh nearly 2 kg (over 4lbs). This community of bacteria can be thought of as an extra 'organ' which we call our "microbiome". We evolved together with our microbiome over millions of years.
Recent research has discovered that small changes in this finely balanced community can affect our immune system, metabolism, body weight, mood and may even cause diseases such as Crohn's disease, irritable bowel syndrome, cancer, autoimmune disease, diabetes and heart disease.
This is the first project of its kind in Europe and, with your help, we will be able to discover more about the crucial relationship between our health and our microbiome, and on a personal level, you will be able to discover the bacterial profile of your own gut".
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Mourneadventurer
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yes I picked up on it from a BBC article that Londinium had published earlier today on Fermented Food and Gut Health :).
Quite fascinating to realise upon further delving that researchers have already uncovered a family of bacteria "Christensenellaceae sp." that are always significantly present in people with healthier microbiomes and low body weight....
I am curious to learn more as this science evolves and might in turn lead to contributing to unravelling the complexity of an auto-immune thyroid response and subsequent bradycardia!
Interesting. I've had my gut microbiome as well bacteria on skin, nose, mouth and genitals, analysed by the American site 'ubiome'. I had an offer for getting the five sites done for the price of one early this year.
It turns out that I have a more diverse microbiome than most people in all sites. (That hasn't stopped me having Candida overgrowth though!)
What do you think that has encouraged your gut etc to have such a diverse microbiome in comparison to others on the American ubiome site?
The only thing I've heard on the Micrbiome Medicine Summit about candida overgrowth was to avoid Kombucha. Other fermented foods such as Kefir (can be obtained in goat, coconut or water based variety) and Sauerkraut were mentioned as being beneficial.
Hopefully you find your answer to getting your gut back into balance and get relief soon.
I have constant stomach problems has bloating pain. Can't see to get rid of it don't know why nothing seems to help. When you say gut issues what are you talking about specifically? Very interested to know. Thanks so much.
Bloating can be caused by gas given off by the wrong groups of bacteria that get the upper hand. Bacteria, yeasts, parasites thrive on what we feed them particularly sugar. If we alter our diets the bacterial balance alters accordingly. The cramping can also be caused by constipation which might indicate dehydration. Hypothyroidism also causes the gut peristalsis to slow down.
I would suggest you speak with a Functional Nutritionist/GP they might perhaps request stool tests, H Pylori (this gets the upper hand when the acidity "decreases" in our stomach), organic acid tests. The interpretation of these test results is essential to getting your gut back into harmony.
The ThyroidUK office have a list of specialists and some work on Skype which saves travel costs.
Currently I am working with a Functional Nutritionist and I am on Day 19 out of 28 of an elimination diet having removed all grains, dairy, eggs and nightshade foods. Basically I'm eating a meat and 2 veggies with bone broth soup and read every food label in sight! I've lost weight, the bloating and cramping has all but gone and background inflammation is subsiding which might have been driving the auto-immune component of my hypothyroidism.
Vitamins are made by certain pro-biotic bacteria in our guts and they need all the help and encouragement we can give them by adjusting our diets to keep them thriving and the rogue yeasts and bacteria in balance.
I have discovered this the hard way when I realised I was malabsorbing essential minerals and vitamins and the ramifications of that. I am supplementing them at the moment but would like to learn how to make my own fermented foods which do this naturally.
The journey continues!
I do hope this is of some help for both you and your sister. Don't suffer in silence.
Thanks for your reply. Got rid of gluten taking supplements and probiotics supplements also. Noticed slight improvement but still have bloating and pain. Every morning wake up nauseous with high stomach pain.
Hello Nanny23, sorry to hear you're in pain. Have you mentioned this
to your GP? Perhaps you need to check for H. pylori and an ulcer or hiatal hernia?
I've left the contact details with ThyroidUK for a Functional Nutritionist (free half hour phone consultation by phone to ascertain whether or not a nutritional intervention might be helpful) this might be able to guide you on your journey back to good health.
I've sent you contact details of the ThyroidUK website thyroiduk.org and they also hold a list of specialists including Functional Nutritionists who work on I noted that Izabella Wenz in her newsletter today commented that when she eliminated dairy her stomach issues went away. Might be worth having a look at her website and blog though probably best to do that with guidance from a functional nutritionist or GP.
I have actually joined the biome project, sent off my sample last year. My biome is also a bit more diverse than most (in spite of being gluten, lactose, egg and chicken free!!) I have also bought "The diet Myth" by Tom Spector who works on the twin project. A fascinating read. When I have time I am going to do some research on line about the different bacteria I have in my gut. We are what we eat!!!
I think I'll read The Diet Myth, like yourself I intend to dig deeper. I just want to be able to create gut harmony where I support the beneficial bacteria that produce vitamins such as B12 and Folate e.g. (Lactobacillus acidophilus, plantarium and rhamnosus (no Soy)) naturally.
When I realised that my hypothyroid stomach and gut were creating a situation where I was and still am malabsorbing key vitamins and minerals that made me pay attention. This was in turn creating other potentially serious health challenges.
I have been supplementing transdermally, sub-lingually, in a liposomal format etc to by-pass my gut which I might add didn't seem to be an issue!
Thanks for the links above I appreciate that Kai--An_264266.
I've just received back the results of a stool test and unbelievably despite supplementing high dose Lacto-bacillus etc for at least a year there were NONE in a 3 day test!!
I'm now adding fermented vegetables to salads to see if that can help. Haven't tried to make my own as yet! Of course I've been off dairy/casein for some time so that could also be significant.
I have received the kit but haven't done it yet. Such a shame you haven't received a response to your question. Perhaps the American Gut counterpart on the website would be better to contact?
I've been astonished to realise that despite supplementing Lactobacillus sp etc and other beneficial probiotics for at least the past year that NONE where present! It definitely has to be a layered systematic approach to eradicating parasites and yeasts and including pre and probiotics along with sealing the leaky gut. I'm now working with a functional nutritionist to guide me.
I do hope that you manage to manage your root cause and heal your gut.
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