What does the Beneficial Bacteria Relative Abundance test measure?

Why is Beneficial Bacteria Relative Abundance measured?

Relative abundance of beneficial taxa is interpreted within the context of the child's age, diet, and clinical presentation. Low Bifidobacterium in an exclusively breastfed infant may prompt evaluation of maternal diet, antibiotic history, or feeding difficulty. Reduced diversity or beneficial taxa in an older child with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms, eczema, or recurrent infection may inform probiotic, dietary, or microbiome-targeted interventions. Because reference distributions are method- and cohort-specific, results guide functional and dietary support rather than serving as diagnostic thresholds.

Reference ranges

Standard reference

Age-stratified reference distributions for Bifidobacterium, Lactobacillus, Akkermansia, and Faecalibacterium; reported as percentile ranks against a paediatric cohort.

Functional medicine optimal

Age- and diet-dependent; Tiny Health provides percentile ranks for each taxon against their paediatric reference cohort. 'Optimal' is interpreted in the clinical and developmental context rather than as a fixed numerical target.

Units

% relative abundance

Reference ranges vary by laboratory and assay platform. Interpret in context of the issuing laboratory's stated range.