Fixing Gut Dysbiosis: From Detection to Restoration

When your stomach hurts every single day, it can make you feel miserable and tired. You might notice that your tummy blows up like a pregnant woman after eating, or you might find yourself rushing to the toilet without warning. These annoying problems are often a clear sign that the tiny living world inside your stomach has become unbalanced and needs your help to get back to normal.

Fixing gut dysbiosis means using an advanced stool test to identify microbiome imbalances, and then adjusting your diet to support beneficial bacteria and normal gut function.

• What does gut dysbiosis mean? It is a scientific term used to describe an imbalance in the microbes in your gut.

• How do I know if I have bad bacteria in my stomach? An advanced stool test can analyse DNA in your sample to identify gut microbiome patterns that may be linked to your symptoms.

• Can I fix an unbalanced stomach? Yes, by eating the right healthy foods and fibres, you can grow more good bacteria and improve gut balance over time.

Gut dysbiosis is an imbalance in your digestive system where harmful bacteria and pathogens outnumber the beneficial bacteria, which significantly reduces your overall microbial diversity and causes a wide range of problems like painful stomach issues, constant bloating, and ongoing tiredness.

Inside your gut, there is a large community of tiny microbes. In a healthy body, many different microbes work together to help maintain balance. Microbial diversity means having a wide range of different types of microbes.

When dysbiosis happens, this balance is disrupted. Some microbes may increase while others decrease, which can affect how the gut functions. In some people, this may be linked to symptoms such as bloating, digestive discomfort, and low energy.

Gut dysbiosis is primarily caused by prolonged antibiotic use, diets high in ultra-processed foods and refined sugars, chronic stress, and environmental toxins that severely deplete your beneficial microbial diversity and allow dangerous pathogens to take over your stomach and intestines.

Your stomach is very sensitive to how you live your life. Several everyday things can accidentally wipe out your good bacteria.

• Antibiotics: These medicines are great for killing dangerous infections, but they also wipe out the good bacteria in your stomach at the same time.

• Poor Diet: Eating too much sugar and fast food feeds the bad bacteria, helping them grow stronger.

• Stress: Being worried or stressed all the time changes the chemicals in your stomach, making it a difficult place for good bugs to survive.

According to researchers, a poor diet is one of the fastest ways to lose your healthy bacteria, with changes happening in just a few days following dramatic shifts [1].

Pathogens like the yeast Candida albicans and the bacteria Helicobacter pylori affect the gut by damaging the protective stomach lining and creating harmful toxins that lead to daily pain, severe swelling, and long term digestion problems if they are not treated properly.

Pathogens are microbes that can cause illness. Two microbes found during gut testing are:

• Candida albicans: This is a type of yeast that can also be found normally in the body. In some situations, it can overgrow and may be linked to symptoms such as intense sugar cravings, tiredness and oral thrush, which can cause creamy white patches in the mouth or on the tongue. 

• Helicobacter pylori: This is a type of bacterium that can live in the lining of the stomach. In some cases it is linked to stomach inflammation and ulcers.

If you think either of these may be affecting your digestive health, proper testing can help identify whether they are present.

A comprehensive stool test shows dysbiosis by examining the DNA of your microbes to see exactly which good bacteria are missing from your system and which harmful pathogens are taking over your stomach, giving you a clear map to fix the problem.

You cannot fix what you cannot see. The Vivere gut health test looks at a tiny sample of your stool using highly advanced science. It reads the genetic code of everything living in your digestive tract.

This test does not just guess. It gives you a detailed report showing your level of microbial diversity. It spots the pathogenic, dysbiotic, inflammatory bacteria and highlights the good bacteria you are missing. Once you have this map, you are ready to start rebuilding.

You restore microbial diversity and improve the gut by eating a wide variety of whole foods, managing your daily stress levels, and using personalised nutrition data to feed your good bacteria so they can multiply and crowd out the bad bacteria.

Restoring your microbiome takes time and patience. It is like planting a new garden.

• Eat more fibre: Good bacteria love to eat fibre from vegetables, beans, and whole grains.

• Eat different colours: Try to eat 30 different types of whole foods every week. Different foods feed different types of good bacteria, which builds up your microbial diversity.

• Follow your data: Use your Vivere test results to see exactly which foods your specific body needs to nourish.

When your good bacteria break down fibre, they produce health booster molecules called postbiotics.

Postbiotics are healthy compounds and vitamins created by gut bacteria after they break down plant fibre, and they may help support normal inflammation levels, energy production, and the strength of the gut lining.

You might have heard of probiotics (live bacteria) and prebiotics (the fibre they feed on). Postbiotics are the compounds produced as a result of that process.

When gut bacteria digest fibre, they release these postbiotic compounds. These substances can help support gut health, the gut lining, and overall well-being [2].

It depends on how unbalanced your stomach is. For some people, eating the right foods can make them feel better in just a few weeks. For others, it might take a few months to see the significant changes.

No, you do not have to stop forever. However, while you are healing your stomach, cutting down on sugar is very important because sugar is the favourite food of bad pathogens like Candida albicans.

Yes. Drinking plenty of water helps your digestive system move smoothly and creates a healthy environment where your good bacteria can thrive and function at their best.

“Gut dysbiosis may contribute to a range of digestive symptoms, and in many cases it can be improved with the right support. A comprehensive stool test can provide useful information about microbiome patterns, helping us move away from guesswork and towards a more personalised approach. We can then focus on restoration through nutrition. By using a personalised plan to support beneficial microbes, we aim to improve microbial diversity and encourage the production of helpful postbiotic compounds. This approach is designed to support better digestive balance and overall gut health.”

[1] David LA, Maurice CF, Carmody RN, Gootenberg DB, Button JE, Wolfe BE, Ling AV, Devlin AS, Varma Y, Fischbach MA, Biddinger SB, Dutton RJ, Turnbaugh PJ. Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome. Nature. 2014 Jan 23;505(7484):559-63. doi: 10.1038/nature12820. Epub 2013 Dec 11. PMID: 24336217; PMCID: PMC3957428.

 [2] Wegh CAM, Geerlings SY, Knol J, Roeselers G, Belzer C. Postbiotics and Their Potential Applications in Early Life Nutrition and Beyond. Int J Mol Sci. 2019 Sep 20;20(19):4673. doi: 10.3390/ijms20194673. PMID: 31547172; PMCID: PMC6801921.