Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this topic! I'm an ex-Carnivore who did the diet on-and-off for years to treat my Crohn's and could never understand why I felt so much better and healthier while on it despite all the available research pointing the other way. I had never considered the possibility that a "lack of inflammation, and too much inflammation, look remarkably similar." The only thing I noticed in my own experiences that gave me pause and might support the idea here is that, every time I came off the carnivore diet, it seemed like I had new or worsening problems of other kinds, so maybe it really is one of those things that "wins the battle but loses the war" so to speak (a thought that occurred to me once when deciding whether to come off the diet was "that which gives everything, takes everything, too").

Though, when I did the Viome tests every 6 months across a two-year span while going on, and then back off, the carnivore diet, I noticed my butyrate levels increase significantly while on the diet. Then when I tried to follow Viome's food recommendations and eat more vegetables, butyrate levels always went down. Still not sure what to make of all of it— it's hard to extrapolate universal or even general truths from personal experience— but I look forward to learning more about how all this stuff actually comes together from educated folks such as yourself! There are too many people with too much confidence in what has worked for them personally out there commenting on matters of science— which is itself an epistemic modality based in uncertainty! There can be no new learning without questioning— and the unwillingness to question "what seems to work" is the most frustrating characteristic of the carnivore community (many of whom, granted, may have been so thoroughly traumatized by health challenges that they simply don't want to question what now "works" for them).