Ombre Review: Ombre's microbiome testing and probiotics

In your gut, a population of bacteria and other microbes lives in symbiosis with your digestive system. Current research suggests that the composition of bacteria in your gut influences and reflects your gut health and impacts other aspects of your physical and mental well-being.1 2

Imbalances in your gut microbiota can cause symptoms such as bloating, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, and constipation.3 Your gut microbiome can also influence chronic conditions such as diabetes, obesity, cardiovascular disease, and mental health issues like depression and anxiety.

Ombre uses robust scientific processes to analyze your microbiota and give personalized probiotic and dietary recommendations. Does Ombre’s program work well? We thoroughly tested Ombre’s services and studied the science behind them so you can decide if it’s worth a try.

Ombre is a good service for those curious about their microbiota and for anyone with symptoms they suspect might originate in their guts. Testing is easy, results are fairly comprehensive, and the company’s probiotics are effective and well-priced. We only wish the process were a little faster and that Ombre would use more advanced testing methods.

At Innerbody Research, we extensively test each health service we review, including Ombre. All told, our team has spent over 347 hours testing and researching the services of Ombre and its chief competitors like Viome, Tiny Health, and others. We’ve ordered these tests, taken them ourselves, and documented every part of the process.

Our team has also read through more than 180 scholarly articles dedicated to gut health, microbiome testing, and probiotic supplementation. Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions to live healthier lifestyles.

In evaluating Ombre, we paid close attention to several criteria we felt best aligned with the wants and needs of the average customer. These criteria include test accuracy, cost, results, speed, and helpfulness. Let’s take a closer look at each.

Accuracy

Ombre’s testing approach delivers decent accuracy. It relies on 16S rRNA to sequence the genetic signatures of your gut’s bacteria. Then, it compares that detailed information with dozens of thousands of studies and pits your measurements against those logged in the database of the American Gut Project. That gives it the ability to provide you with confident recommendations about what symptoms you may experience due to your current gut makeup and what you can change in your diet or lifestyle to address them.

However, 16S rRNA sequencing is not without its limitations, the most pressing of which is resolution.4 Much like an image, when genetic sequencing resolution increases, you can see more. It becomes easier to discriminate between one species and another, even if they share incredible similarities. And there are many higher-resolution methods than 16S rRNA sequencing currently available. Shotgun and deep shotgun metagenomics are superior in this regard,5 as are the metatranscriptomics employed by Viome, one of Ombre’s chief competitors and our perennial pick for microbiome testing.6

For the average user’s purposes, especially for those who are more curious about their microbial health than they are genuinely trying to diagnose a condition based on concerning symptoms, Ombre’s sequencing should be accurate enough. But there are superior options out there for those who demand the best or need to know with a higher degree of certainty what might be causing a health problem.

Cost

Ombre’s main product is its Gut Health Test, and it’s one of the more competitively priced tests on the market. If you want to continue testing your gut, its premium package allows you to access future tests at a discount. It offers several probiotic options, all of which cost around what most store-bought probiotics would, but its formulas target specific needs.

For microbiome testing, these are good prices. Similar tests from Viome and Tiny Health cost closer to $200. And the test from Floré’s is $300. Biohm’s test is slightly less expensive, coming in at $105, but that test is going to be less accurate than Ombre’s, as it relies on DNA information, rather than RNA information.26

On the probiotic side, Ombre’s prices are similarly competitive. There are certainly cheaper alternatives out there, but the 100 billion CFU in the company’s Healthy Gut formula and its convenient Daily Care probiotic drink mix make it a good choice if you aren’t determined to get custom probiotics from a company like Viome, which are a bit pricier.

Results

Ombre’s results are an interesting mix of specific data points and food or lifestyle recommendations. Most customers will be interested in what foods they should avoid or incorporate more into their diets, and here Ombre goes into great detail. But these recommendations sometimes lack a clear connection with your results. The company has a dedicated column next to every food entry that specifies the bacteria related to the recommendation.

But one of our testers found that every food on their lists of foods to limit or avoid referenced the same single bacterial genus. And when they clicked there for more information, the data pop-up clearly showed that they had lower levels of this bacteria than the community range. So, why were they being told to avoid foods that could boost it and not other foods? This same tester had other more pressing overgrowths to consider, but their food recommendations never referenced them.

There is additional results-based information behind a $10 premium paywall. If you have a specific concern, like inflammation or intestinal permeability (leaky gut), it might be worth getting this added information, but the bulk of the report is provided as part of your test purchase.

Compared to the comprehensive results you can get from Viome, Ombre’s results are unimpressive. There are plenty of data points and summaries, but they lack the depth or actionability (which we’ll discuss below) that Viome provides. As described above, though, testing with Ombre is a fair bit less expensive.

Helpfulness

So, what can you actually do once you’ve gotten your results? Are they actionable in any way that could make a difference in your life without updating it? Well, in our experience, Ombre’s thoroughness falls short when it comes to implementing solutions for the abundance of data it provides.

The most obvious example of this comes from the company’s food recommendations, which are central to most people’s interest in making microbiome adjustments. Our testers have found these recommendations to be specific but lacking in clear reason. It makes it hard to commit to lifestyle adjustments if you can’t be sure that they’re based on a proper evaluation of your results.

Ombre also doesn't have any sort of consultation process, so you can’t go over your results with a professional to help you make sense of them or resolve any apparent discrepancies. Viome’s results provide additional opportunities for action that make more sense. And if you think having one-on-one guidance to help with your report would be useful to you, Floré provides access to people who can do just that.

Speed and efficiency

Sequencing from a stool sample is rarely fast. Most of the companies we’ve tested take around three weeks to process your results, and Ombre was no different. Communication was consistent throughout, letting us know when the lab received our samples and when we might expect results, though these timelines proved optimistic. What we were told could take “up to two weeks” took just over three weeks, though that is close to the norm. Viome is generally faster, as the company is consistently developing new technologies to improve its speed and accuracy concurrently.

Another area where Ombre could improve is its shipping times. It took about five days for our kits to arrive after purchasing, and it took another four days for the return shipment to reach the lab. We’ve seen much faster shipping times from other companies, including Viome.

Ombre is a San Francisco-based health and wellness startup. It was founded under the name Thryve, but the company has since rebranded itself. It offers a test to analyze the bacteria in your gut by examining a stool sample. Based on the lab’s findings, it generates a gut microbiome report. This report provides actionable insights to help you improve your gut microbiome, including the option to purchase probiotics made by the company. Ombre suggests that enhancing your gut health could allow you to achieve better weight loss results, see improvements in your mood, feel more energetic, and improve your digestion.

Who is Ombre for?

The truth is that Ombre is for anyone. Collecting a sample is simple, and the results are easy enough for most people to understand — especially the recommendations. Ombre is a good place to start for those curious about microbiome testing but who aren’t keen on paying top dollar for the market’s best tests. The company uses a slightly less expensive method of sequencing genetic material in your sample (16S rRNA sequencing), and that makes the service more affordable than many of its competitors.

Ombre is particularly ideal for anyone who suffers from mild or occasional symptoms associated with microbial imbalances in the gut, including:3

• Digestive discomfort
• Constipation
• Bloating
• Overly dry or oily skin
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Problems sleeping

There are undeniably more symptoms that Ombre's probiotics and food recommendations may be able to address. Still, we encourage anyone with significant pain, discomfort, or mental health issues to seek additional help. Ombre takes pains to remind its customers that its testing is not diagnostic and that a physician will be your best source of dietary and lifestyle advice.

Who might want to look elsewhere for microbiome testing?

It’s important to understand that Ombre’s less expensive methodology, known as 16S rRNA sequencing, is accurate only to a point. When you get down to the species level of bacterial colonies in your gut, this sequencing method becomes somewhat less reliable than others.4 If you’ve already had some more extensive microbiome testing done in the past and are looking to see how you’ve been progressing, you’d do better to stay with the company you’ve already used.

You also might want a more accurate picture of your gut health if you’re looking to create a completely custom-tailored probiotic or supplement regimen like the ones Viome offers to people who take its tests. And you’d also want that higher level of accuracy if you and your doctor were looking for specific causes of noteworthy symptoms that are significantly affecting your quality of life.

Ombre’s company reputation

Ombre is not accredited with the Better Business Bureau, on whose website the company holds an A- rating. Its user rating on the BBB site is a 3.4 out of 5 stars, which is close to our Ombre rating of 3.9. There are very few complaints lodged on the BBB site, and most revolve around disappointment in probiotic efficacy or problems with shipping.

On Trustpilot, things look a little better. Ombre has a 4.3-star rating and plenty of 5-star reviews. Complaints here are similar to those on the BBB site, with specific frustrations about the company’s return policy.

The testing process with Ombre or any microbiome testing company is perfectly safe, so long as you wash your hands afterward and sterilize any surfaces used. And Ombre’s probiotic and prebiotic products should be safe for most users.7

That said, there are certain risks for probiotic and prebiotic supplementation that are worth mentioning. As with many supplements, probiotics can cause some gastrointestinal discomfort at the outset. This may be due to the changing balance of bacteria in your gut, which can result in bloating, indigestion, and even diarrhea.7 And people with compromised immune systems may want to avoid probiotics due to the risk of contamination if proper testing is not conducted.8

For the most part, these products pose no significant risk to the general population.

Ombre offers a Gut Health test, nine probiotics, one prebiotic, and a vaginal health test. You can save money on any of its products by subscribing to them instead of making a one-time purchase. Many probiotics take at least a few weeks to start making a real difference, so subscribing is likely your best value. Here’s a quick breakdown of products and pricing.

Ombre Gut Health Test

The Ombre Gut Health Test is Ombre’s gut microbiome test. You send in a small sample of your stool, and the company uses genetic sequencing tools to generate a report about the bacteria present in your stool, which is a snapshot of the bacteria in your gut.

Ombre uses a wealth of published scientific research to understand how the abundance of different types of bacteria in your gut relates to the available scientific research and the microbiomes of others. This research allows the company to suggest what your results could mean for your overall health.

Ombre uses this information to generate personalized diet and probiotic recommendations to improve your gut bacteria’s diversity and health. This report includes foods and probiotics that could help decrease potentially pathogenic bacteria and increase the variety of other, more helpful species.

Ombre Vaginal Health Test

The microbiome isn’t exclusive to the gut. There are bacterial colonies all over and inside our bodies, including in the vagina.25 The balance of these bacteria can influence various parameters of vaginal health.

Unlike the gut test, which requires a stool sample, Ombre’s Vaginal Health test requires a simple vaginal swab. The company then employs the same 16S rRNA sequencing to discover what bacteria are present in your vagina and make recommendations for supplemental support.

This test is ideal for women and AFAB individuals at various life stages, including pregnancy and menopause, but it’s equally useful from a general wellness perspective. At this time, Viome, Ombre’s most ardent competitor, doesn’t have a vaginal health test. Tiny Health, a company dedicated to microbiotic testing in pregnant people and their babies, has a vaginal health test, but it’s significantly more expensive than Ombre’s. However, this test uses deep shotgun metagenomics, a more accurate and detailed test than Ombre’s 16S rRNA sequencing.

Ultimately, we would recommend most women interested in a vaginal health test start with Ombre if they’re concerned about cost. If your results are at all troubling, and you want more detailed information, you can go through Tiny Health (or your OB-GYN).

Importantly, Ombre explicitly points out that its tests are not diagnostic services. If you’re concerned about any gastrointestinal symptoms or any other health concerns, you should speak to your healthcare provider.

Ombre probiotics and prebiotics

Ombre offers a selection of nine probiotics and one prebiotic. This catalog has expanded over the years, from just three probiotics when the company started out. We anticipate further expansion in the years to come, but the blends currently in the catalog are associated with some of the more well-researched effects of probiotics.

Ombre lists the following strains as those used in its formulas:

• Enterococcus faecium (Rosell 26)
• Lactobacillus acidophilus (LA-14)
• Lactobacillus rhamnosus (LR 32)
• Bifidobacterium longum (BL-05)
• Saccharomyces boulardii (CNCM 1-1079)
• Bifidobacterium lactis (BL-04)
• Lactobacillus helveticus (Rosell 52)
• Lactobacillus reuteri (Rosell 444)
• B. longum KABP-042
• Lactobacillus paracasei (HA-196)
• Lactobacillus plantarum (LP-115)
• L. rhamnosus GG
• L. plantarum (KABP-33)
• P. acidilactici (KABP-021)
• L. plantarum (KABP-022)
• L. plantarum (KABP-023)
• L.plantarum (DR7)
• L. acidophilus La-14
• Lactobacillus paracasei (LPC-37)
• Bifidobacterium bifidum (BB-06)
• L. rhamnosus HN001
• L.plantarum KABP-011
• L. plantarum KABP-012
• L. plantarum KABP-013
• L. rhamnosus GR-1
• L. reuteri RC-14

There is a fair amount of research into many of these strains, with some among the most thoroughly researched probiotics on the market. Below, we’ll highlight key strains in each Ombre blend and discuss their potential as illustrated in scientific studies.

However, we have found some strains listed on Ombre products that are not in the list above, indicating that this information may be out of date. In some instances, strains may have been tweaked ever so slightly at the genetic level to produce proprietary forms of these probiotics that Ombre or a partner could consider as their own. In some cases, our team could trace the proprietary ingredients to their originals, but the trail isn’t always reliable.

Using Ombre to assess the health of your gut or vaginal microbiome and seek treatment with probiotics is a pretty straightforward process. However, it involves some at-home sample collection, which may turn off certain customers. Here’s a quick look at the process.

Ombre accepts credit card payments and Apple Pay. Depending on your specific FSA/HSA, you may be able to pay for Ombre’s services in this way, but you will need to check with your provider first. There are likely no insurance companies that would cover the cost of a test from Ombre or its probiotics. Still, a small number may consider a receipt submitted for partial reimbursement.

Our testers found that the initial shipping times from Ombre were relatively slow. In prior testing phases, we observed that the company (then known as Thryve) had shipped products and produced results within the timeframes promised.

There’s a 30-day return window for tests and supplements, but only if the products are unopened. Ombre has no money-back guarantee associated with its supplements. However, if your sample fails to produce a result after three attempts, the company will completely refund your purchase.

Ombre protects your privacy by separating your personally identifiable information from your protected health information. It uses multiple layers of encryption and protection to ensure your data is secure. The company also promises never to sell your data or provide information to health insurance companies or employers.

You can opt in to share your data for anonymous research purposes. If you do, the lab may reuse your sample or the data it collects to improve analysis and develop new techniques and technologies. This is similar to how Viome and others operate.

Ombre will also provide your raw data as FASTQ files. If you have any experience with DNA sequencing (or know someone who does), you could use this data yourself.

The microbiome testing space isn’t overrun with providers, but there are some worth considering among the few that offer what Ombre offers.

Viome

Viome is an outstanding company in the microbiome testing space, with the ability to quantify your entire gut microbiome — not just the bacteria. It utilizes cutting-edge technologies in sequencing, and it’s even developing its own hardware and software to speed up the process and increase accuracy.24

Unlike Ombre, which provides recommendations from pre-made probiotics, Viome formulates your probiotic blend in response to your specific test results. As part of a subscription to its system, you can also receive a free microbiome test each year to keep track of your progress and allow the company to make any necessary tweaks to your probiotics, prebiotics, and supplements.

Viome also has several tests that go even deeper than the microbiome, investigating cellular health, biological age, and other vital markers.

Floré

Floré doesn’t provide the degree of insights you’ll get from Viome or Ombre, though it can formulate custom probiotics based on your results. What is perhaps most disappointing is its reporting on foods. A sidebar on your results page gives you a bird’s eye view of what you should and shouldn’t eat to improve your health, but it’s sorely lacking in specifics compared to its competitors.

One important distinction is that you can have your doctor write you a prescription for one of several tests Floré offers, which may allow you to pay for it using your insurance (depending on your plan, of course). And Floré offers consultations with specialists to help you understand your results.

Biohm

Biohm doesn’t have quite as comprehensive a testing process as Viome, but it does test for fungi in addition to bacteria. Like Ombre, it offers probiotics in response to your test results, but these are all pre-made and not formulated to match your needs precisely. Like Floré, Biohm offers a live consultation with a dietician to help clarify your results and create an action plan for wellness.

Tiny Health

Tiny Health takes its name from the interest the company has in serving the macrobiotic health of people of all ages, from before they were even conceived and into adulthood. It offers adult gut tests and vaginal health tests to guide potential patients toward a healthier microbiome, and it’s the only service we’re aware of that tests the microbiota of infants and children.

There is ample evidence that a baby’s immune system can be bolstered by initial contact with positive vaginal bacteria during vaginal birth, as the microbiota of children born vaginally differs significantly from children born via cesarean section.27

However, one-off tests from Tiny Health are much more expensive than competitors. But if you’re serious about establishing and maintaining your current or future child’s microbiotic health, the company offers memberships that reduce the cost of a year’s testing for a higher up-front price.