Human cells make no hydrogen, so every molecule in your breath came from gut bacteria. Elegant physiology, and the weakest widely-ordered test in this atlas.
Filed under MethodConstellation Hydrogen & the protonStatus Upcoming
Not yet investigated
What we have so far
Human cells make no hydrogen, so every molecule in your breath came from gut bacteria. Elegant physiology, and the weakest widely-ordered test in this atlas.
This star is on the map because the show intends to take the question apart properly — the trials, how it is actually tested, whether the thing sold is the thing studied. That work is not done yet, and nothing here should be read as a conclusion. When the investigation is published it will appear on this page.
What we are reading
Gathered for the investigation and not yet written up. Each note says what the paper does and does not show.
Rezaie A, Buresi M, Lembo A, et al. Hydrogen and methane-based breath testing in gastrointestinal disorders: the North American Consensus.Am J Gastroenterol · 2017 · 112(5):775–8410.1038/ajg.2017.46 · PMID 28323273
Hydrogen rise ≥20 ppm by 90 minutes is positive for SIBO; methane ≥10 ppm is methane-positive. Doses: lactulose 10 g, glucose 75 g, fructose 25 g, lactose 25 g. It is a consensus statement voted by ten specialists — the thresholds are agreed, not validated against a reference standard, and the document says so.
