Your Gut Has Trillions of Residents.
Do You Know Who They Are?
Your gut microbiome contains over 100 trillion microorganisms: bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses. When they're in balance, you feel well. When they're not, the effects reach far beyond your stomach.
Medical Director, Epicentre Walk-In Labs. Last updated March 2026.
What Is Gut Health?
Gut health is how well your digestive system and the trillions of microbes living in it, your gut microbiome, work together to break down food, absorb nutrients, support your immune system and keep harmful organisms in check.
A healthy gut holds a diverse, balanced mix of beneficial bacteria. When that balance is disturbed, a state called dysbiosis, it can show up far beyond your stomach: low energy, skin flare-ups, frequent colds, mood changes and digestive discomfort. A large part of your immune system sits in and around the gut, which is why an unbalanced microbiome affects so much of how you feel.
In South Africa gut health varies widely, shaped by diet, water quality, a high burden of gut infections and the frequent use of prescription medication. Two people with the same symptoms can have very different things going on inside, which is why the only way to know what is in your gut is to test it.
Is Your Gut Trying to Tell You Something?
Answer 8 quick questions about your symptoms. This is not a diagnosis, but it can help you decide whether gut testing is worth considering.
What Most People Get Wrong About Gut Health
Tap any card to flip it and see the truth.
Symptoms of an Unbalanced Gut
Gut problems don't always feel like stomach problems. These are the signs your microbiome may be out of balance.
The Organisms Living in Your Gut
Your gut hosts beneficial bacteria that keep you healthy, core species that can go either way, harmful pathogens, and parasites. Tap any organism to learn more.
Probiotics vs Prebiotics: What Is the Difference?
Live beneficial organisms like Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Found in yoghurt, kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, and supplements. They restore balance and support digestion, immunity, and mood.
Non-digestible fibres that feed your good bacteria. Found in garlic, onions, bananas, oats, asparagus, and leeks. Think of them as fertiliser for your gut garden.
You need both. Probiotics introduce beneficial bacteria; prebiotics help them grow and thrive. A gut test can show you which probiotic species you're low on, so you can supplement with purpose rather than guessing.
Who Is Most at Risk for Gut Problems?
Processed food diet
Diets high in sugar, refined carbs, and seed oils starve beneficial bacteria and feed harmful ones.
Recent prescription treatment
A prescribed course that clears an infection reduces beneficial bacteria along with the harmful ones. Even one course can take months to recover from.
Chronic stress
Cortisol alters gut motility, increases inflammation, and shifts the balance of your microbiome.
Over 50
Microbial diversity naturally declines with age, increasing vulnerability to infections and inflammation.
IBS, IBD, or diabetes
Pre-existing conditions both cause and worsen dysbiosis, creating a cycle that is difficult to break without testing.
Travel to endemic areas
Traveller's diarrhoea, parasites like Giardia, and pathogenic E. coli strains are common in sub-Saharan Africa.
Find Out What Is Actually in Your Gut
Epicentre uses PCR stool testing to identify specific organisms in your gut. No doctor's referral needed. Walk in or order a home collection kit.
H. Pylori Antigen Test
Gut Essentials: Beneficial
Gut Essentials: Harmful
Gut Deep Dive
How to Improve Your Gut Health
To improve your gut health, feed your beneficial bacteria with fibre and fermented foods, cut back on processed sugar, manage stress, stay hydrated and use prescription medication only when you need it. Small, consistent changes shift your microbiome within weeks. Our full guide to how to improve your gut health covers which food feeds which bacteria, and how a test tells you whether it worked.
Gut Health Terms Explained
- Gut microbiome
- The whole community of bacteria and other microbes living in your gut. Yours is different from everyone else's, and it shifts with diet, sleep, stress and medication.
- Dysbiosis
- An imbalance in that community, with too few beneficial microbes or too many harmful ones. It is linked to digestive symptoms, to inflammatory bowel disease and, through the gut-brain axis, to mood.
- Probiotic
- A live beneficial microbe, whether you take it as a supplement or eat it in yoghurt, kefir, kimchi or sauerkraut.
- Prebiotic
- Fibre you cannot digest that feeds your beneficial bacteria. Garlic, onions, bananas, oats, asparagus and leeks are all good sources.
- Stool PCR test
- A laboratory test that copies the genetic material of the organisms in a stool sample until they can be identified, so many organisms can be found from one sample.
- Butyrate
- A short-chain fatty acid your bacteria make from fibre. It feeds the cells lining your colon and lowers inflammation.
Gut Health Testing FAQs
Ready to Find Out What Is in Your Gut?
45-target PCR stool test. No doctor's referral needed. Walk in or test at home. Results in 5 to 7 days.
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