You probably also know about the importance of eating foods that contain pre- and pro-biotics. You may have bought probiotic supplements or done regular stints of eating loads of raw natural yogurt, kekir, kombucha or kimchi – all in the effort to try to foster the “good” bacteria.

Knowledge about the gut microbiome wasn’t a “scientific thing” until next-generation sequencing technology was developed in 2005 and the birth of metagenomics research. Researchers were then able to use the tool to observe the microbiome in lab conditions (most of the bacteria which reside in the gut are anaerobic!).