Common myths about gut health

Marketers sell all kinds of tests and supplements to fix your gut health. But is any of this actually worth spending money on? SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST: The gut microbiome is getting a lot of attention in wellness circles and on social media. These are the trillions of microbes that populate our intestines. Scientists know they influence our health in many important ways, and there's a lot of hype out there about how to fix or optimize your microbiome. NPR health correspondent Will Stone is here to help us sort out what we need to know. Hi, Will. WILL STONE, BYLINE: Hey there. PFEIFFER: Could you first tell us, how do we know if we actually have a healthy microbiome? STONE: Yeah, it can actually be tough to know, and that's because scientists are still figuring out how to even define what is healthy. There's no straightforward metric like there is for cholesterol or blood pressure. That said, we do have clues. So remember, your microbiome is this vast ecosystem inside of you. So you can look at the diversity of organisms in there, or you can look at how resilient it is in the face of disruption. Does it bounce back well? And there are certain groups of bacteria associated with better health. But researchers emphasize, it's not as simple as good versus bad microbes, though if you look online, it can be framed that way, and you can even buy a special gut microbiome test to suss that out. PFEIFFER: Right. …