Microbiome analysiswithin a check-up, not as a standalone test.

Most offerings in Germany are standalone tests: a kit by post, one sample, a results dashboard. Embedded in physician-led diagnostics the analysis is considerably rarer, mostly found at preventive medicine clinics and some gastroenterology centres. YEARS is a physician-led preventive medicine clinic in Berlin City West working with patients from all over Germany. The microbiome analysis is part of the Ultimate programme and is interpreted together with inflammatory, metabolic and nutrient markers.

Because a microbiome result on its own is hard to read. You get a list of bacterial groups and a comparison against a reference group, but nobody who connects that with your symptoms, your inflammatory markers and your metabolism. That is exactly where the medical value arises. Sample quality matters too: processing time and transport affect the result. If all you want is orientation, a home test is legitimate. For a medical statement it is not enough.

That is the normal case for us. The complete check-up takes place in one day; the clinic is in City West, around 15 minutes from the main station and easy to reach from the airport. The sample for the microbiome analysis is organised as part of the appointment, and the laboratory analysis then takes a few days. The medical results consultation follows afterwards, without a second trip if you prefer. You receive the written report digitally.

Mixed, and we say so openly. It is well supported that the composition of the gut flora relates to immune function, metabolism and digestion, and that low diversity is associated with less favourable outcomes in studies. Considerably weaker is the evidence for causal claims about individual bacterial groups and for individual diet plans derived from them. A microbiome analysis is not a diagnostic test for a disease. It provides orientation that becomes useful in the context of the rest of the diagnostics.

It makes most sense with persistent unexplained digestive complaints, after prolonged or repeated courses of antibiotics, with recurring infections, or if you want to change your diet deliberately and need a baseline. It makes less sense as an end in itself when you have no complaints at all, because usually no consequence follows. In the free intro call we say openly if we consider the benefit low in your case.

The microbiome analysis is part of the Ultimate programme from €16,900, which additionally includes genomics, epigenetics and neurology. As a private medical service we bill according to GOÄ, and reimbursement is possible depending on your policy: privately insured patients submit the invoice to their insurer, and with occupational health insurance the annual budget applies. German statutory health insurance generally does not cover microbiome analysis. The insurer always decides bindingly.

We do not sell supplements and earn nothing from recommendations. If a probiotic seems sensible in your case we will say so and explain why, but the first lever is almost always diet: fibre and plant diversity have the best evidence and the most reliable effect on composition. Where the evidence for a supplement is thin, we say that too, rather than recommending something that merely sounds good.