First, an update on yesterday’s post where comment input from John Brisson and Allan Folz has motivated Karl Seddon and I to modify the Elixa Probiotic experiment.

I’ll let Karl explain:

I’m thinking I should send some more uBiome tests your way.

My main interest with the uBiome testing method is how to get the sample representative of the microbiota as a whole. Nobody really knows how representative the flora of a stool sample is of the flora of the large intestine. Many people don’t even realise that there is a significant assumption involved in the thought process here. I.e., the assumption that a stool sample will contain a microbial population that mirrors that of the large intestine. After all, uBiome is not sampling biopsies of large intestine. There is some question as to whether certain bacteria will slough off, die, and mix with the soon-to-be-poop within the large intestine as easily as other bacteria. Similarly, bacteria based deep within the mucus layers may not proliferate much within the actual food bolus that moves throughout the lumen of the large intestine (and becomes poop).