Christian Roghi
15.04.2025

Is the microbiome just a trend or the future of health? Welcome to the first article of the Bold Column.

In today’s health landscape, the spotlight is on AI, wearables, and personalised medicine. Everyone is looking for the next big thing, the shiny new tool that will revolutionise healthcare. But here’s the twist. The revolution may already be inside us.

The microbiome, the vast community of microbes living in and on our bodies, isn’t just a scientific breakthrough. It’s more like a new operating system for human health. Think of it as la base de tout, the foundation beneath everything from our metabolism to our mood. And yet, most companies treat it like a niche, a wellness add-on, a probiotic here or a gut cleanse there. In truth, the microbiome should be front and centre in how we think about health in the 21st century.

The microbiome as an operating system
Let’s be clear, the microbiome is not a trend. It’s a biological infrastructure. It touches nearly every system in the body, from our immune function to our digestion, inflammation or our cognition, even how we respond to medication. You could say it’s the middleware between what we eat, how we live and how our bodies behave.

What’s fascinating is how interconnected it is. You tweak the gut and the brain responds. You change your diet and the microbiome shifts in hours. This isn’t speculation. It’s backed by an avalanche of peer-reviewed research. For example, scientists have found links between microbial imbalances and conditions like depression, anxiety, type 2 diabetes and even Parkinson’s disease or Alzheimer’s. The gut isn’t just the second brain, it’s the control tower.

Still, despite all this complexity and potential, most of the public conversation remains surface-level. Many people still think “microbiome” means “take a probiotic.” It’s like seeing the word “cloud” and thinking only of the weather.

Why doesn’t the market get it?
There’s a kind of cognitive dissonance in the industry. On one side, research journals are lighting up with groundbreaking findings. On the other, the market is flooded with oversimplified, commodified products. It’s dommage, really — a missed opportunity so far.

Most companies are stuck in old models. Supplement brands want to sell capsules. Pharmaceutical companies are hesitant to invest in something they cannot easily patent. Healthcare systems aren’t built to measure or monitor microbiome data, so they ignore it. The result is fragmentation or innovation without integration.

Part of the problem is legacy thinking. Western medicine is still largely reductionist. Diagnose, prescribe, repeat. The microbiome doesn’t fit well in that box. It’s dynamic, contextual and incredibly individual. In short, it’s messy. But that mess holds the key to solving some of our biggest health problems.

The opportunity: shift from product to platform
Here is where it gets exciting. What if we stopped treating the microbiome as a product category and started treating it like a platform? …

Read the full article by Christian Roghi here