Inside the Science Behind Daily Microbiome Nutrition — and What It Means for Your Gut
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (Dr. B), Gastroenterologist & Co-Founder, 38TERA
10 min read
Hey friends — Dr. B here.
I need to share something with you that I’ve been genuinely fired up about. We just completed a landmark 15-day microbiome study on Daily Microbiome Nutrition ( DMN), and the results surpassed what I was hoping for. In just over two weeks, DMN increased production of all three major short-chain fatty acids, reduced toxic gut byproducts, shifted the microbiome toward a healthier composition — including more Akkermansia muciniphila and Bifidobacterium — and dialed down key markers of inflammation. These aren’t vague, hand-wavy claims. These are measurable, mechanistically grounded outcomes from a validated scientific model. And today, I want to walk you through exactly what we measured, why we measured it, and what it means for your health.
If you’ve been following my work, you know I don’t get excited about supplements lightly. The bar has to be high. The science has to be real. So let’s get into it.
Why This Study Matters More Than You Think
Here’s the uncomfortable truth about most gut health products: they don’t have real science behind them. Fancy packaging, influencer endorsements, ingredient lists that sound impressive — but when you look for actual data showing the finished product does what it claims? Crickets.
At 38TERA®, we’re serious about having the best gut health supplements. That’s why we partnered with ProDigest from Belgium, the globally recognized leader in advanced gut modeling. They operate the M-SHIME® platform — the Mucosal Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem — which is one of the most sophisticated and well-validated in vitro systems available to study the gut microbiome. This isn’t a petri dish. It’s a dynamic model of the human colon that replicates conditions in both the luminal (gut content) and mucosal (gut lining) environments of the colon.
The study used real gut microbiota from healthy adult donors. We tested two dose levels: a standard once-daily dose of 5.6 g and a higher twice-daily dose of 11.2 g, over a full 15-day treatment period. Basically what that means is using a colon simulator with a human microbiome, we fed it either a single dose or a double dose of DMN every day for 15 days.
What We Measured — and Why Each Marker Matters
Let me break down the key endpoints of this study and explain why each one was chosen. Because when you understand the markers, you understand the story the data is telling.
1. Short-Chain Fatty Acids: The Currency of a Healthy Gut
If there’s one thing I want everyone to understand about gut health, it’s this: short-chain fatty acids are the currency of a healthy microbiome. They’re produced when your gut bacteria ferment prebiotic substrates — things like fiber and resistant starch — and they are absolutely essential for gut barrier integrity, immune regulation, and metabolic balance (Tan et al., Adv Immunol, 2014).
Each SCFA has a distinct role. Acetate is the most abundant and fuels colonocytes while helping regulate glucose and lipid metabolism. Propionate modulates cholesterol and inflammatory signaling. And butyrate — the superstar — is the primary energy source for the cells lining your colon and is essential for maintaining tight junctions and immune tolerance (Louis & Flint, Environ Microbiol, 2017).
In our study, once-daily DMN at 5.6 g/day produced a rapid and sequential rise in all three SCFAs. Acetate increased by 12% within the first 3 days. Propionate rose 28% by Day 8. And butyrate climbed 22% by Day 11. That staggered pattern isn’t random — it reflects the microbial cross-feeding hierarchy, where acetate and lactate are converted into butyrate by specialized bacteria. It tells us the microbiome isn’t just reacting to DMN. It’s reorganizing around it.
Here’s the best part. You notice that the SCFA levels kept rising, yet the dose of DMN stayed constant throughout the study. That means the microbiome was becoming more efficient — adapting its fermentation machinery to extract more value from the substrates over time. That’s not a one-time boost. That’s metabolic retraining. And the efficiencies that you get for DMN you would likely also get from the fiber and resistant starch in your diet. Basically, you just leveled up your gut microbiome and SCFA production.
2. Ammonium: A Marker of Gut Toxicity
When your gut microbes don’t have enough fiber to ferment, they start fermenting protein — and in doing so they start releasing toxic byproducts. One of the main ones is ammonium (NH₄⁺), which has been associated with irritation of the intestinal lining and inflammation. Elevated ammonium is a marker of a dysbiotic gut microbiome that dominates in low-fiber, high protein, ultra-processed diets (Kovacs et al., Int J Mol Sci, 2025).
DMN reduced ammonium levels by approximately 11% by Day 5, peaking at a 23% reduction over the course of the study. Think of it as reducing the pollution in your gut environment. When you give your microbes the substrates they actually need, they stop breaking down protein into harmful waste and start producing the beneficial metabolites your body craves.
But once again there’s a bigger story here. The drop in ammonium and concurrent rise in SCFAs signal two things: 1 - you have flipped the gut microbiome from protein fermentation to fiber fermentation, which is where you want to be; and 2 - your gut is emerging from dysbiosis, replacing the inflammatory bacteria with anti-inflammatory ones.
3. Microbial Composition: Who’s Growing and Who’s Shrinking
Microbiome composition matters — a lot. We tracked changes using shallow shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and what we saw was a coordinated remodeling that unfolded in stages.
First, the troublemakers retreated. By Day 8, Bilophila wadsworthia— an inflammatory bacterium that produces hydrogen sulfide — had declined markedly. This is a species you do not want in your gut. B. wadsworthia compromises the gut barrier and has been implicated in ulcerative colitis and colorectal inflammation (Natividad et al., Nat Commun, 2018). We were happy to see it go. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out!
Then the good guys flourished. By Day 15, Bifidobacterium species were consistently elevated, including B. adolescentis and B. pseudocatenulatum . These are foundational organisms for SCFA production — while contributing to immune modulation and pathogen exclusion (O'Callaghan & van Sinderen, Front Microbiol, 2016). When Bifidobacteria are thriving, your gut is fermenting the good stuff.
And then there's the result that stopped me in my tracks: Akkermansia muciniphila.
If you follow the microbiome literature — even casually — you know this name. Akkermansia is arguably the single most important species in gut science right now. This bacterium is a gatekeeper of gut barrier integrity, consistently linked to reduced intestinal permeability, improved metabolic regulation, and lower inflammatory tone (Mo et al., Gut Pathog, 2024; Pellegrino et al., Nutrients, 2023). Its abundance is recognized not just as a biomarker, but as a keystone indicator of microbiome resilience. A. muciniphila is increasingly regarded as a sentinel species of a well-functioning gut ecosystem. What that means is that increasing your Akkermansia levels is more than just increasing that one species. It’s indicative of broader healing throughout the gut.
This is why everyone is looking for a way to get more Akkermansia. And here you have it… Both doses of DMN increased the growth of native Akkermansia.
4. Inflammatory Markers: TNF-α and IL-10
Here’s where the rubber meets the road. Microbiome changes don’t mean much if they don’t translate into shifts in host biology. So we looked at inflammatory signaling.
DMN reduced TNF-α by 17% — one of the most important pro-inflammatory cytokines in the body. Overexpression of TNF-α is implicated in IBD, rheumatoid arthritis, and a host of chronic inflammatory conditions — it’s literally the target of super expensive drugs like infliximab and adalimumab (Friedrich et al., Immunity, 2019).
At the same time, IL-10 — a key anti-inflammatory cytokine that you want more of — increased by 15%. These anti-inflammatory shifts were consistent across donors, particularly at the higher dose, reflecting a robust immunomodulatory effect.
Taken together, these cytokine shifts tell us that DMN is shifting the immune conversation system from inflammation to healing.
The Dose-Response Story: What Happens When You Double It
For those who need more aggressive support — maybe you’re recovering from antibiotics, dealing with IBS or IBD, or have a gut that’s been through the wringer — we also tested twice-daily DMN at 11.2 g/day, which is twice a day dosing. The results showed a clear dose-response effect across nearly every endpoint.
At the higher dose, acetate rose by 44%, propionate by 56%, and butyrate surged by 130% by Day 15. Let that sink in — a 130% increase in butyrate. The kinetics also shifted: propionate and butyrate production kicked in earlier, with significant rises by Days 3 and 5 respectively. Ammonium reduction peaked at 24%. And on the immune side, TNF-α and MCP-1 both dropped further while IL-10 rose with high consistency across all five donors.
This is why we developed the 15-Day DMN Recharge — a short-term, intensive protocol designed to rapidly recalibrate a disrupted microbiome before stepping back down to the standard daily dose. Think of it like a metabolic reset for your gut.
What This All Means for You
Let me bring this home. The core problems plaguing the modern microbiome are well documented: insufficient SCFA production, excess toxic byproducts, imbalanced microbial composition, and chronic low-grade inflammation. Most people simply aren’t getting the diversity and quantity of prebiotics their gut microbes need to function properly.
This 15-day study showed that DMN directly addresses these problems. More SCFAs. Less ammonium. More Akkermansia and Bifidobacterium. Reduced pro-inflammatory signaling. Enhanced anti-inflammatory tone. And it does all of this with a once-daily, FODMAP Friendly Certified, NSF Certified for Sport® formula that contains clinically validated doses of its core ingredients — Solnul® resistant potato starch at 3.5 g and Actazin® green kiwifruit powder at 600 mg — at the exact doses proven effective in human clinical trials (Bush et al., Nutrients , 2023; Ansell et al., Nutr Res, 2015; Shu et al., Nutrients, 2023).
This isn’t theoretical. This is a real product, tested in a validated model, with mechanistic data that maps directly to the outcomes we care about in clinical practice. And it’s just the beginning.
The Bottom Line
I formulated DMN because I saw a gap — millions of people struggling with gut issues, chronic inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction, and a supplement market that wasn’t giving them real solutions. This study validates the approach. A multi-modal prebiotic strategy that delivers fiber, resistant starch, and polyphenols from seven complementary plant-based sources can measurably recondition the gut microbiome in just 15 days.
Whether you’re looking to maintain a healthy gut, recover from a disruption, or support your immune system from within, DMN was built for this moment. The science is in. The microbiome is listening. And now, we know how to feed it.
To your health,
Dr. B
Dr. Will Bulsiewicz (Dr. B), Gastroenterologist & Founder, 38TERA
10 min read
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