BL-RQ-003 · Open
Do people with recurrent SIBO-pattern breath tests differ in host epithelial or motility measures from people with a single episode?
Recurrence is usually attributed to incomplete eradication. A host-capacity explanation predicts measurable host differences instead.
Relation to the Host Capacity Model
Directly tests the HCM recurrence framing against the eradication framing.
Measurements required to answer it
- Standardised breath testing per published consensus procedure
- A motility measure
- A host barrier or epithelial measure with known validity
Confounders
- Breath test misclassification
- Prokinetic and antibiotic exposure
- Structural disease
Decision criteria
A prospective cohort comparing recurrent versus single-episode groups on prespecified host measures.
What would count against the Host Capacity Model
No host-side difference is detectable between recurrent and single-episode groups.
Registered claims this question bears on
- BL-CLAIM-COL-003 · HCM integration inference
In a subset of people with persistent gut-centred chronic illness, impaired colonocyte butyrate oxidation and facultative-anaerobe expansion may form a self-reinforcing loop that resists single-target treatment.
Entities
- Hydrogen and methane breath testing — A timed breath measurement of hydrogen and methane after a carbohydrate substrate. Reflects fermentation kinetics and transit, not a direct count of small-intestinal bacteria.
- Migrating motor complex — A cyclical interdigestive motor pattern that sweeps residue and bacteria distally between meals; disrupted MMC activity is one proposed contributor to small-intestinal overgrowth.
Cite this question
Attallah, M. BL-RQ-003: Do people with recurrent SIBO-pattern breath tests differ in host epithelial or motility measures from people with a single episode? BiomeLogic research question registry. https://biomelogic.net/research-questions/BL-RQ-003
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