Reading the scores properly

A good score does not mean a healthy microbiota. The scores measure the diversity of what you log in the app, nothing more: it is neither a medical analysis nor a diagnosis. A microbiota is built over months and years of regularity — not over one good week.

Eating foods you do not tolerate does no good, even if it improves the figure. If a food gives you symptoms, hide it under “Hidden foods”: it will leave the lists and the goals, and your score will stay honest without pushing you to hurt yourself.

On a fragile gut, reduce first, widen later. This app pushes toward widening — that is its whole principle. If you are in a flare (irritable bowel, IBD, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), it is the wrong moment: adding fermentable matter to an already irritated gut only worsens the symptoms. The order generally recommended — to be decided with your doctor or a dietitian — is to calm first, then reintroduce one category at a time, slowly, watching what goes down. The score will wait — and the Feeling page is there for exactly that.

The figure of 30 is not a law. It comes from a 2018 study on the American microbiota (American Gut Project): people who ate more than 30 plants a week had a more diverse microbiota than those who ate 10 or fewer. But that particular comparison covered only 85 people, volunteers more educated and wealthier than average — the authors themselves write that caution is needed before generalizing, and a study of this type cannot say whether variety causes diversity, or whether the two simply go together.

Nothing special happens at 30. It is the cut-off point chosen between the two extremes of a distribution, not a biological threshold: going from 12 to 20 plants probably counts as much as going from 28 to 30. What is solidly established is the direction — more varied plants, more fiber — not the number. Take 30 as a marker, not as a passing grade: it is adjustable in Settings, from 20 to 100.