At-home tests of the gut's microbiome are trending, but doctors say the technology is getting ahead of medical knowledge. In many cases, there is no proven way to treat the imbalances that the tests claim to find. The companies and medical researchers say they hold great promise to one day personalize the treatment of complex gut-brain diseases. But much more clinical research and regulation is needed. The gut microbiome is complex and poorly understood. Growing evidence links changes in the gut to diseases like diabetes, liver disease, obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, but it’s often unclear whether those changes cause, or result from, illness.
