Gut & microbiome
Too many bacteria in the small bowel; the breath test and the culture often disagree.
Not yet investigated
Too many bacteria in the small bowel; the breath test and the culture often disagree.
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.
The AGA's own position, and unusually blunt. 'The definition of SIBO as a clinical entity lacks precision and consistency'; true prevalence is therefore undefined; controversy remains over its role in IBS; and the antibiotic evidence base is thin enough that therapy is 'for the most part, empiric'. It also names the real problem — we do not know what a NORMAL small-intestinal bacterial population looks like, so there is no baseline to call overgrowth against. Anyone selling a SIBO protocol is ahead of this document.
Connected on the map
Also in Gut & microbiome
The letter
The full citation list for each investigation, the studies that didn't make the episode, and any corrections — sent the morning it publishes.
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