Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Do You Really Need That Gut Test_ | Is Gut Microbiome Testing Helpfu

28 May 2025 · 1 min

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YouTube video (May 28, 2025) by Aaron Hartman, MD discussing when gut microbiome testing is and isn’t useful. Hartman argues that many people don’t need testing to detect general inflammation or digestion problems and that basic interventions (diet, pancreatic support, digestive enzymes) should be tried first. He recommends testing when symptoms persist despite these measures, and cautions against repeated tests without sustained treatment; he states that roughly 60–70% of the microbiome is established at birth, which limits how much it shifts back from interventions without ongoing maintenance.

Chapters

Do you really need a test to tell you that you're inflamed and that you have bad bacteria in your gut? Probably not. Do you really need a test to tell you or not you're digesting your food accurately and you've got weird stuff growing in your gut? Probably not. But after you've addressed that with cleaning up your diet, some pancreas support some digestive enzymes and you're still having symptoms, that's where a gut test is hugely important. One thing I've noticed, while I see an error that a lot of individuals make, is they keep on doing the gut testing over and over and over again and the results pretty don't change. And people ask me, why is my gut not getting better? And the answer is, typically what people do is they'll do a protocol to fix, quote, unquote, their gut for six or eight weeks, feel better, then they'll stop it. And what tends to happen is your gut tends to go back to baselab your microbiome. About 60, 70% of your microbiome is set of birth.