Educational lab-pattern review. Not diagnosis, treatment, prescription, or urgent triage.
SIBO Breath Test Interpretation: Why Gas Is Not Geography
Breath testing measures gas output after substrate ingestion. The pattern of hydrogen, methane, and hydrogen sulfide can be informative, but it does not map mucosa, exact location, or upstream habitat.
What breath testing can show
Time-course curves of H2, CH4, and (with newer assays) H2S after lactulose or glucose. Useful as one signal of microbial fermentation behavior in the upper GI tract.
What this test cannot prove
- Exact anatomical location of microbial activity
- Which organisms or community structure is responsible
- Whether antimicrobials or prokinetics are appropriate
- That a negative test means symptoms are not microbial
Common interpretation traps
- Reading transit-fast curves as positive SIBO without context
- Missing hydrogen sulfide patterns when only H2/CH4 are measured
- Treating glucose-test negatives as ruling out distal SIBO
- Ignoring underlying habitat instability when results 'look clean'
The BiomeLogic mechanistic lens
- Breath as one signal of upper-GI microbial behavior, not a map
- Habitat context: motility, bile, oxygen gradient, immune tone
- Integrating breath findings with stool, OAT, and bloodwork patterns
- Explicit uncertainty around false negatives and false positives
Discussing this with your clinician
Bring breath-test patterns to a clinician familiar with motility and SIBO. BiomeLogic does not prescribe antimicrobials, prokinetics, or elemental diets, and does not provide treatment plans.
Request a Lab-Pattern Review
A written educational systems-biology synthesis of your lab patterns to discuss with your licensed care team. Not diagnosis or treatment.
BiomeLogic provides educational systems-biology lab-pattern synthesis only. It is not diagnosis, treatment, prescription, supplement guidance, or urgent triage, and does not replace licensed clinical care. BiomeLogic is not affiliated with or endorsed by any third-party laboratory unless explicitly stated.