Qures explains why generic probiotics don’t work and how a personalized stool test and meal plan can restore your gut’s natural balance.
Interest in the gut microbiome has skyrocketed over the past decade. Ever since Hippocrates famously claimed that “all disease begins in the gut,” we’ve been fascinated by the idea of improving gut performance. There are now countless tests, supplements, and probiotic products that promise to improve gut health, some made from dried and powdered stool extracts.
Although our ability to analyze the microbiome has advanced dramatically, our ability to treat and improve the microbiome has not kept pace. This is why my message is simple. Stop taking probiotics, at least until you know what your unique gut microbiome needs.
Why are you taking probiotics?
Are you taking probiotics because you have intestinal pain, because a friend of yours is taking probiotics, or simply because advertising says they are beneficial?
Whatever the reason, pause. Until you truly understand what your gut microbiome needs, probiotic supplementation will have little effect and may even be harmful to your progress.
The gut microbiome differs from person to person. Even identical twins have different microbiomes, as demonstrated by Professor Tim Spector’s extensive research. What works for one person may not be of benefit to another.
My journey into gut research
I started getting serious about my gut health about 10 years ago. I was interested in probiotics and prebiotics. This theory was appealing, even if scientific understanding was still in its infancy.
I created my own product range and offered it to health and nutrition professionals. Early results were promising, with sales increasing, but the benefits did not persist over time. Some users even got worse.
This allowed us to investigate further. We found that while these products were effective in the short term, the gut did not benefit from continuous external supplementation with probiotic strains. These microorganisms do not remain in the intestines and are quickly flushed out.
The intestines didn’t need these foreign organisms anymore. It needed support from the beneficial bacteria already living there, most of which arrive naturally between birth and three years of age.
This realization began several years of research and ultimately led to the development of our advanced stool test and protocol, Q-BIOME®.
Understanding stool testing
A stool test analyzes a small stool sample to identify bacteria, viruses, fungi, and other components that may affect your health.
Doctors often perform stool tests to check for early signs of more serious conditions such as inflammation, infection, irritable bowel syndrome, and even colon cancer.
However, most doctors have no specialized training in diet or the gut microbiome. As a result, their tests primarily focus on chemical markers rather than gut bacteria or diet-related insights.
To truly understand your gut health, you need a specialized stool microbiome analysis. This identifies not only which microorganisms are present, but also their relative abundance, especially among commensal bacteria.
What are commensal bacteria?
Commensal bacteria are microorganisms that live harmlessly in or on the human body and often provide significant benefits. There are thousands of these species living in our intestines. They affect digestion, metabolism, immunity, mood, and overall health.
Although there are several microbiomes throughout the body, including oral, vaginal, skin, and organ-specific, the gut microbiome is the most complex and diverse.
Problems with most commercial tests
Although the science of microbiome analysis is evolving, most commercially available tests provide very limited information.
To keep costs low, only a small number of common bacteria have been reported. However, a list of fewer than 100 species cannot provide a meaningful explanation for chronic intestinal symptoms.
Conditions like IBS are primarily descriptive terms, not explanations. In reality, most intestinal problems fall into the broad category of dysbiosis, which refers to an imbalance in the intestinal ecosystem.
And because everyone’s gut microbiome is different, two people with the same diagnosis can have completely different microbial imbalances.
The most advanced stool analysis method today is shotgun metagenomic sequencing. Using this technology, QURES can identify up to 10,000 individual species or strains of bacteria, viruses, and fungi, far more than standard tests.
What you get from a stool test
People get stool tests because they need answers and relief from symptoms. A worthwhile test should not only help you find out what microorganisms are present, but also help you understand why you feel the way you do. This requires expert interpretation.
We realized early on that even though we had developed great analytical techniques, there were very few experts who could interpret the data for everyday users.
This led us to create a complete support system, a protocol designed to guide individuals back from dysbiosis to reproductive health and better general health. This formed the basis of the Q-BIOME® approach.
Commensal bacteria: why are they important?
Humans rely on commensal bacteria for essential biological functions that our bodies cannot perform on their own.
These microorganisms help digest fiber, produce vitamins, regulate immunity, maintain the intestinal barrier, influence metabolic health, and even influence mood and brain function.
Too little or too much of certain bacteria can disrupt these functions and cause symptoms of dysbiosis.
A quality stool analysis should reveal which bacteria are present, their numbers, and how their balance relates to your health history.
With this information, a trained professional can explain your symptoms and design a dietary protocol to move your gut toward rebiosis.
The QURES approach uses only food and nutritional supplements, no pharmaceuticals. Because food is the most direct and natural way to influence bacterial balance.
QURES Q-BIOME® Protocol
The goal of the Q-BIOME® protocol is to rebalance the gut by altering the abundance of key bacterial groups.
In practice, this means increasing beneficial species that are too few, stabilizing those that are present in adequate amounts, reducing excess species, and eliminating harmful pathogens.
You will receive a stool test kit and a detailed health questionnaire. After you return your sample, the lab will perform a complete microbiome analysis. The results will then be reviewed by our experts and a 30-minute consultation will be arranged.
This session will discuss any imbalances identified, how they relate to your symptoms, and what dietary changes you may need to make.
You will receive a personalized diet plan within a few days. Then, source the recommended foods and supplements for yourself and follow a plan to support your path to rebiosis. We do not sell food or supplements.
General timeline
Most customers receive their test results within 21 business days after the sample arrives at the lab. It usually takes at least 6 weeks to achieve rebiosis after starting the diet, but it can take longer for some people.
Your future gut health and overall well-being largely depends on how you treat your body and what you feed your microbiome. The saying, “You are what you eat” is only half true. More precisely, you are something that bacteria can absorb and use to stay healthy.
Who benefited?
Our protocols have helped a wide variety of people, including professional athletes, performers, immunocompromised individuals, chronically ill patients, infants as young as two months old, and people managing mental health conditions and disabilities.
Many of us put a lot of stress on our guts, even unintentionally, through diet, lifestyle, illness, or long-term pressure, so the potential for improvement is huge.
Over the next 12 months, we will be launching two additional gut microbiome analysis tests, oral microbiome and vaginal microbiome, further expanding the understanding and support we can provide.
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