Jona Health Review: Microbiome Decoder for Health Conditions

See, there’s nothing like starting your day by pooping on a little paper hammock attached to your toilet seat and then repeatedly poking it with a cotton ball. This was more of a mental hurdle than a practical one, though, as collection and disposal (flush the hammock down when you’re done) was easy enough. Then you swirl the stick around in a solution, cap it, and send it away. Twenty days later, I received an email that I had the results.

On the website, your results are divided into several sections: Summary (with tabs for Brain Health, GI Health, Metabolic Health, Skin Health, and Physical Performance), Action Plan (with tabs for Maximum Impact, Diet, Lifestyle, and Probiotics), and the Organisms page, which shows you what each organism was found in the sample and its relative sample. Mine held some surprises.

On the positive side, my microbiome diversity came in at 4.19, which is above average (the normal range is 2.80-3.99, as measured by Shannon index), which it says is a sign of a healthy microbiome, and it found no pathogens or parasites. It says I digest lactose well (thankfully). It hasn’t found any association with depression, celiac disease, IBS, ulcerative colitis, leaky gut, high blood pressure, eczema, or a bunch of other things that I’m grateful not to have. Some of it was actually a little confusing, to be honest, since I’ve struggled with insomnia my whole life, but it didn’t find any connection there, or to fatigue, and I’m definitely a tired man.

As far as the associations it found, some things I suspected, others were a complete surprise. Under brain health, I had a moderate association for stress and a low association for ADHD, neither of which shocked me. There was a “very low” association for prediabetes under metabolic health, which I actually expected to be unfortunately higher. I have had a moderate relationship with osteoarthritis, which refers to my family history.