Please participate in this research study
For years, MEBO has been looking for an opportunity to find researchers that would be interested in an exploratory study of sufferers' gut microbiome in order to begin to identify which gut microbes are the culprit in producing odorous chemicals in our bodies. It has always been very expensive to get the necessary test for this, and even when one would become available, there was no research in place to compare the results with other persons who suffer from an odor condition.A member of this citizen research group from Germany, Danny Kunz donated a very interesting PowerPoint presentation for the MEBO Conference 2017, Metabolic pathway simulations on Aprocrine Bromhidrosis compared to Trimethylaminuria.
This research group also update their Body Odor Research Blog with interesting data they acquire through their research efforts.
Below are the instructions provided by him and Kat:
We are a small, citizen research group from Germany and have spent the last 1.5 years researching metabolic and genetic causes of body odour. Recently, we were approached by one of the body odour patients that we are in regular correspondence with, and were told about the following website and test provider:
uBiome (https://ubiome.comhttps://ubiome.com/)
As a San Francisco-based biotech company, uBiome offers fecal microbiome tests using genetic sequencing techniques. Some of you may have already tested your gut flora for healthy and pathogenic bacteria, especially if your body odour comes with IBS-d or IBS-c symptoms. UBiome offers the same service using a different, more modern technique.
The advantage for body odour patients in the USA is that their "smart gut" test (blue product) is currently covered by US health insurance. This makes this test FREE for all US citizens with valid health insurance! If you are uninsured, they ask you to contact their customer support to arrange for a reduced pricing scheme. If your doctor won't approve your test they also ask you to contact customer support because they can "connect you with an independet healthcare provider in [their] external clinical care network" (see website) to make sure you get the test done.
Their test is primarily aimed at people with gut conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) including ulcerative colitis, people with symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea or bloating, plus people with diabetes or obesity. As you can see, the symptoms are fairly broad. The results you get include a Diversity Score which tells you if your gut flora contains any type of especially rare bacteria, which we think is quite relevant for body odour patients!
If you are not living in the USA but still think this tests sounds interesting: Their "explorer" test (orange product) is availble globally and without a doctor's approval. It costs 89$ for a one-time purchase and also includes the "Diversity Score". They offer a variety of other, broader products (more testing sites, testing offer time, ...) but we think the cheapest option should be enough to start with. As is common in companies providing medical testing, especially without doctors involvment, they caution that their tests are not for self-diagnosis. This is done for legal reasons as only doctors are allowed to provide diagnoses.
We think this test is a really great opportunity for the body odour community to collect information about our gut bacteria for no to very little money! This is why we ask all of you for two things:
- get this test done to educate yourself and learn about your good, bad and rare bacteria!
- donate your test results to us (email to danny.kunz@gmx.de) so that we can collect and compare the results of you all. If we get the results from 10-20 tests, this will be enough to make general statements about rare bacteria in the gut flora of body odour patients and the whole community will benefit from this!
In 6 weeks it is Rare Disease Day again and the theme will be Research - again! Let's start off this year by getting 10 testers together by Rare Disease Day 2018 so that we can drive and organize our own research!
Our results will be shared with the Mebo team and the TMAU UP podcast as soon as they are available 🙂
Please be a part of this research study, if it at all within your power to do so! Each one of us can be a part of the solution our community is looking for as part of the MEBO Mission. Our most profound gratitude goes to Danny, Kat, and the rest of the citizen research group in Germany for this invaluable opportunity!

Founder and Executive Director

A Public Charity
maria.delatorre@meboresearch.com
www.meboresearch.org
www.mebo.com.br/
MEBO's Blog (English)
El Blog de MEBO (español)
MEBO Brasil - Blog (Portuguese)

2 comments:
I have recieved my kit and will be sending back to usa soon.....so there is at least one for your study!
I just sent the results of my study. I hope they are still accepting them.