Hi, I’m Stephen Ward (MSc) from Fairfield Nutrition.
Not too long ago, all stool tests in Australia were assessed by culturing the stool and microscopy. But of course, it can be very hard to find bugs hiding in the stool sample, and often parasites were missed.
Now we have Complete Microbiome (G.I. Map) Testing which finds DNA fragments of different viruses, bacteria, and fungi. It’s a far more precise method and we can pick up a wide range of parasites using this test. These parasites are frequently the cause of digestive discomfort and IBS.
There are a few other DNA gut tests from the States such as Viome, and uBiome, and whilst they may provide a good view of benefial bacteria, they may miss the parasites and fungi that are causing your gut issues.
If that wasn’t enough, the G.I. map test also provides some very useful Functional markers that show inflammation in the gut, digestive enzymes (pancreatic elastase), secretory IgA, leaky gut (zonulin) and gluten sensitivity (Anti-gliadin IgA), and toxin and hormones re-absorption (beta-glucoronidase).