From unexplained stomach pain to real answers: how Andrea took back control of her gut health

Andrea's stomach pain has reduced significantly. Her skin is clearer. Her microbiome markers have shifted in a measurable, trackable direction, and her next steps are clear: continue with her daily probiotic to support Bifidobacterium levels, keep up the fermented foods, increase fibre and polyphenol variety, and retest in six months.

She has since recommended Alba to her sister, who recently had a baby. The reflection behind that recommendation is a personal one.

"If I had had this test when I was a baby – how would I have been today? I wasn't breastfed, and I wonder if that affected me. We could have tackled this thirty years ago."

"It's an investment rather than an expense," she says. "Because you're actually building knowledge about your own body."

Key insights from Andrea's gut tests

• Dairy sensitivity identified in test one – removal led to rapid improvement in stomach pain and skin

• Bacteroides reached optimal levels in test two following HMO introduction

• Faecalibacterium nearly doubled – linked to reduced inflammation and improved gut lining health

• Minor dips in Bifidobacterium and Akkermansia explained as normal gut competition dynamics

• Personalised fermented food recommendations went beyond generic advice – variety and rotation tailored to her specific results

The takeaway

Andrea did everything right by conventional standards: saw doctors, took medications, had investigations, tried therapy. None of it found the root cause. It wasn't until she had data on her own gut, and someone to help her read it, that the pieces finally clicked.

"Traditional medicine is so engraved in our culture," she says. "This feels like going back to the root of the problem and fixing it from there."