I sent my poo to the Human Microbiome Project...what do you think of my microbes baby. :)

Hey UC Slayer - It sure is interesting to look at these and I'm sure you've already googled each and every one BUT...

Personally I think one of the issues with all these stool sample places are that they do not get into "Species" they just stop at "Genus".

Example being "Bacteriodes" which make up 45.93% of your faecal bacteria. Now there are a lot of different bacteria that fall in the Bacteriodes Genus but some recent stuff has shown certain B.Fragilis (at the Species level) may play a role (both good and bad). But these reports do not say that of the 45.93% B.Fragilis makes up 99% or something... So I don't think anyone can really do much with these other than compare to others out of general curiosity.

Or one could maybe look at your levels of Streptococcus and Staphylococcus and freak out cause we associate these with Strep and Staph Infections - But at the Species level it does not differentiate - at the Genus level they are found in lot's of us.

So until they can deliver these stool samples at "Species" and "Specific Gene Carrying Species" levels (i.e ETBF B.Fragilis) I don't think much will come about in regards to helping us or customizing treatments in regards to IBD...

Maybe someone else has a different look at it though.

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You could however maybe compare and see if you fit a "gut type". That might be interesting:

www.nature.com/news/2011/110420/full/news.2011.249.html This has been updated if you can find the real study behind it and compare your results.

Good thought. Wonder what they will say...

A question for you just popped into my mind though - I recall reading a few faecal sample papers where they suggested in many with severe IBD there is almost a complete loss or dramatic reduction of various Clostridia bacteria. They also suggested this may be in part what causes the sensitivity to food items like complex carbs and certain raw veggies as some of these bacteria break these food items down for their own food source. These pop up on your results.

So I'm just curious how you do with food like bread and raw veggies? Do these bother you or make symptoms worse by chance?

You may be on the wrong track by looking for a pesky pathogen. UC may be an autoimmune disease where, for some unknown reason, your body's immune system attacks and kills off one or more of your good bacteria, not a pesky pathogen. I was part of this same project but my graph looks considerably different than yours. I had almost 98% Firmicutes and almost no Bacteriodetes. Your sample looks somewhat normal compared with the average person, except for the bottom of the chart, where you have less yellow than normal and more blue. Personally, I would concentrate my research on those areas, particularly the reason why you have less yellow than the average person.

ucslayer: Were you taking any probiotics at the time of your sample? I was taking both VSL and Prescript Assist and I am bewildered as to why I do better taking these and yet it doesn't seem like any of the strains in my probiotics actually showed up on my chart. Still scratching my head on that one. Maybe you have higher blue because these might possibly be in a probiotic you are taking.