In February of this year, we posted an article in our column, Latest Research, regarding the connection between the gut microbiome and blood glucose levels. Research shows that instead of blood glucose response being constant for all foods across all individuals, the gut microbiome actually plays a large role in determining how the body responds to the glucose content in foods – and this response differs for each person.

These findings have opened the door to a microbial perspective on precision nutrition, which entails microbiome testing your fecal sample, and then making dietary recommendations based on your specific gut bacteria-modulated blood glucose responses to foods.

We are re-presenting this information because more and more people are taking these microbiome tests and based on the results, eliminating wide varieties of nutrient- and microbially-dense, high fiber, plant foods based on their testing results.

If you are considering microbiome-based precision nutrition as a dietary approach, keep in mind that the body, especially its metabolic functions, is a complicated and intricate system and basing what you eat on a single, non-conclusive test may not be the best approach – especially since microbiome research is in its infancy. The scientific evidence does not yet exist to use microbiome analysis to diagnose disease, food sensitivities, or to prescribe a specific nutrition regimen. One day, maybe, but not today.