Testing the function of your gastrointestinal tract, your "gut", is often one of the highest priorities from the perspective of Functional Medicine, which places great emphasis on the idea that "all disease begins in the gut".
Although not all disease begins in the gut, a lot of it does. Intestinal inflammation, hyperpermeability, inefficient digestion, intestinal malabsorption, dysbiosis, and parasites, can wreak havoc on all other systems of the body.
The Most Often Used Gut Tests
The tests of gut function and microbiome that seem to be most often used by practitioners of functional and naturopathic medicine include the following (in no particular order):
- GI-MAP (Diagnostic Solutions)
- GI Effects (Genova Diagnostics)
- GI360 (Doctor's Data)
- Gut Zoomer (Vibrant Wellness)
My apologies to any labs that I have left out of this list.
From here, this article focuses on just one of these tests because it appears (to my eye) to be the most complete test in every category of the various parameters of gut function and microbiome.
The Gut Zoomer
The "Gut Zoomer" test by Vibrant Wellness measures the following parameters:
- Commensal bacteria
- Pathogenic bacteria
- Parasites
- Fungi
- Viruses
- Antibiotic resistance genes
- Inflammatory markers
- Digestive insufficiency markers
- Other fecal markers (e.g. short chain fatty acids produced by the microbiome, zonulin, beta-glucuronidase, anti-gliadin antibody)
Do You Need to Test Gut Function?
If you have gut-related symptoms, obviously a test of gut function would make sense. But what if you do not have gut-related symptoms? Unfortunately, you cannot rule out the need to test gut function based only on symptoms. That's because you can experience "silent" inflammation in the gut. As an example, 8 out of 9 people with reactivity to gluten do not have symptoms in the gut and experience their symptoms as things like anxiety, depression, or skin problems.
On the other hand, as important as testing gut function, it might not need to be the first test that you obtain. It might be a higher priority to get a birds eye view of multiple body systems with an organic acids test, which can actually provide some insight into whether there might be a problem in the gut. However, an OAT is definitely not a definitive screen for the need to test gut function more directly and completely.
In general, if you have any of the following types of symptoms or conditions, testing gut function would be advisable:
- Gastrointestinal symptoms, including but not limited to slow digestion, gas, bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, loose stools or diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Cognitive difficulties from "brain fog" to dementia
- Neuropsychiatric issues like anxiety or depression
- Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, diabetes
- Nutritional deficiencies
The Best Time to Test
Whether you're testing gut function or another aspect of health, the best time to test, is probably now. Most people wait far too long to find out what is happening in their body, and sometimes the cost of waiting ends up being catastrophic, such as the extreme case of testing for cancer and discovering that it has reached Stage IV.
You would probably agree that it would never be too early to detect something like cancer. And wouldn't it be even better to detect the root causes of cancer and other serious illnesses long before they are detectable and even before they begin to develop?
If you would like to skip the avoidable complication, expense, and heartache of discovering a health condition after it has developed into something serious and more challenging to treat, start testing now.
If you would like to speak to me about testing and/or coaching, schedule a free 15-minute consultation with me to discuss what you're looking to accomplish, what you've done so far, and some suggestions about testing options to consider.
To learn about my approach to resolving health challenges and optimizing energy, sleep, immunity, and more, download the Bio-Individual Blueprint Roadmap and watch the walkthrough video. If you've already watched the video, you can go ahead and schedule a free 45-minute consultation.