The Project

Tim Spector, Lead of the British Gut project and Director of TwinsUK explains the importance of microbes for our overall well being, and how you can get your gut microbes tested and contribute to science.

British Gut

British Gut is an open source crowd funded project run by The Department of Twin Research at King’s College London in conjunction with The American Gut project. The aim is to uncover the microbial content within the guts of British individuals. This data will tell us how our lifestyle choices and diet influence our microbiome and how we can alter it to reduce disease and other health related problems. This study will produce a large-scale collection of anonymised human samples and lifestyle information for medical researchers, and provides each participant with a snapshot of their own gut microbes although does not provide any clinical interpretation. The test is not an alternative to consulting a nutritionist or health professional who may be able to perform clinical testing and offer advice.

What does it involve?

Individuals wanting to take part in the British gut can sign up here. Participants are asked to make a contribution to the project and are able to select the number of sample kits they would like to have tested. The study is focused on the gut but will also look at the bacterial communities inhabiting the mouth, skin and vagina. Within two-three weeks of contributing, you will receive a kit in the post together with detailed instructions on how to provide a sample. Once the samples have been returned and analysed you will be sent results for each sample, this is usually three to six months later. Then you will be able to see the types of bacteria identified within the sample, their proportions and the overall microbial diversity. The results will also compare your sample with those of other participants with different or similar diets and lifestyles. Although this gives a “snapshot” of your microbes, it DOES NOT provide any interpretation for you at a personal level.