New Gut Health Measure Tracks Disease Progress

Scientists develop a metric to distinguish healthy and diseased gut microbiomes based on microbial interactions.

Published on Feb. 27, 2026

Got story updates? Submit your updates here. ›

Researchers have developed a new metric called the Ecological Network Balance Index (ENBI) that can distinguish healthy gut microbiomes from diseased ones by measuring how gut bacteria interact with one another, rather than just looking at which bacteria are present. The ENBI captures whether microbial communities are dominated by competitive or cooperative interactions, and has been shown to consistently separate healthy individuals from patients across multiple diseases, including rising as colorectal cancer progresses.

Why it matters

This new approach to understanding gut health provides a more holistic view, showing that disease emerges when the entire microbial community reorganizes itself, not just when certain bacteria are present or absent. This could lead to earlier detection of gut-related diseases and more targeted interventions, as well as help explain why some gut therapies like probiotics and fecal transplants have had mixed results.

The details

The researchers built computer models simulating how gut bacteria compete for nutrients and exchange metabolic byproducts, which naturally produced two distinct patterns - a diverse, competitive state associated with health, and a second state dominated by small, tightly connected groups of cooperating bacteria linked to disease. When they compared these simulations to real DNA data from patients, they saw the same patterns emerge. This prompted the development of the ENBI metric to capture these community-level shifts between health and disease.

  • The study was published in Science on February 27, 2026.

The players

Juan Bonachela

An associate professor with the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and a senior author of the study.

Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello

The Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health in the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology at the Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences and an author of the study.

Martin Blaser

An author of the study and director of Rutgers Health's Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.

Roberto Corral López

The study's lead author, who conducted the research as a Fulbright doctoral visiting student at Rutgers and completed it at the Universidad de Granada in Spain.

Michael Manhart

Of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and a contributor to the study.

Got photos? Submit your photos here. ›

What they’re saying

“Instead of asking which bacteria are there, we started asking how they are related to other bacteria. That change in perspective allowed us to see health and disease as two fundamentally different states of the gut microbiome.”

— Juan Bonachela, Associate Professor, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (Mirage News)

“Our new measure could capture this shift by, for example, using stool samples, distinguishing healthy people from diseased people.”

— Maria Gloria Dominguez-Bello, Henry Rutgers Professor of Microbiome and Health, Rutgers School of Environmental and Biological Sciences (Mirage News)

“This gives us a new way to think about what goes wrong in the microbiome. Instead of focusing on individual microbes, it shows that disease emerges when the entire system shifts. That opens the door to earlier detection and more targeted interventions.”

— Martin Blaser, Director, Rutgers Health's Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine (Mirage News)

“Right now, donor selection is largely based on availability and basic health screening. Our work opens up the possibility of matching microbial communities based on how their interaction networks fit together, rather than just which species are present. That could help us design treatments that are tailored to each patient's microbiome instead of relying on trial and error.”

— Roberto Corral López, Postdoctoral Associate, Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional (Mirage News)

What’s next

The researchers say the new ENBI metric could eventually be used to screen stool samples and detect gut health issues earlier, paving the way for more targeted interventions. They also believe the insights could help improve the predictability of microbiome-based therapies like probiotics and fecal transplants.

The takeaway

This study represents a significant shift in how we understand gut health, moving beyond just looking at which bacteria are present to examining how the entire microbial community is organized. By capturing the competitive or cooperative dynamics of the gut microbiome, this new metric could enable earlier diagnosis of gut-related diseases and lead to more personalized, effective treatments.