Functional Stool Analysis
A comprehensive look at Your Gut Health
It is impossible to assess your overall health without understanding the state of your gut health.
Gut health is the foundation of the following biological functions and systems:
- Immune system
- Digestion and absorption
- Mental and cognitive health
- Metabolism
- Hormonal health
- Detoxification
Poor gut health does not only manifest in digestive symptoms, such as belching, bloating, constipation, etc. It also has a wide range of manifestations outside of the digestive system, such as:
- Low immunity and autoimmune conditions
- Skin health
- Migraines and headaches
- Joint and muscle aches
- Mood disorders
- Metabolic disturbances, including the inability to lose weight
- Low energy
- Brain fog
A Functional Stool Analysis provides an in-depth assessment of your gut health across a number of markers, including microbial flora and microbiome assessment, yeast and parasites, digestion and absorption functions, inflammatory markers, the health of the intestinal lining, and more.
What is a Functional Stool Analysis?
A Functional Stool Analysis is a comprehensive laboratory test that examines your stool sample to evaluate the overall health of your gut. Gut Philosophy offers GI360 functional stool test by Doctor’s Data.
The stool sample is examined for a wide variety of markers, including:
Microbiome Analysis & Microbiology:
- Evaluation of abundance and diversity of your intestinal microbiome, including a “dysbiosis score”.
- Presence of imbalanced microflora.
- Evaluation of beneficial flora (i.e. Lactobacillus spp.)
- Presence of gastrointestinal pathogens (e.g. E. coli, Entamoeba histolytica, etc).
Parasitology :
- Presence of parasites, including amoebas and worms (e.g. Blastocystis spp., Enterobius vermicularis (or pinworms)).
Microscopy:
- Yeast overgrowth
- White blood cells
- Red blood cells
- Vegetable fibres
- Mucus
Stool Chemistry:
- Inflammatory markers, such as Calprotectin, Lactoferrin, Secretory IgA, Lysozyme
- Digestion markers, such as Elastase, Fat Stain, Carbohydrates
- Stool pH
- B-glucuronidase
- Occult blood
- Short-chain Fatty Acids
Find a sample GI360 report here.
What is included in the Functional Stool Analysis test package?
Investment: £595
Why is a Functional Stool Analysis better than other gut health tests?
There are a number of stool tests on the market measuring a wide range of markers. However, the test we offer is a comprehensive stool test, which does not only assess the state of your microbiome and the presence of beneficial microflora, pathogenic microbes and parasites but also looks at your ability to digest and absorb nutrients (e.g. proteins, carbohydrates, fats, fibre), the health of your intestinal lining, inflammatory and immune markers in the gut, as well as gut biochemistry.
What could Functional Stool Analysis results tell me?
Functional Stool Analysis results may help identify root causes for a wide range of imbalances, including:
- Intestinal dysbiosis due to insufficient beneficial bacteria.
- Overgrowth of harmful bacteria or yeast.
- Intestinal infections due to the presence of pathogens or parasites.
- Elevated inflammatory markers.
- Malabsorption and maldigestion.
- Pancreatic enzyme insufficiency.
This information may guide treatment, including antimicrobial and antiparasitic treatments, intestinal lining repair, digestive enzymes support, probiotic and prebiotic supplementation and more.
5 reasons to do a Functional Stool Analysis
- Uncover hidden gut issues: the stool test may uncover the root causes of gut imbalances contributing to both digestive issues or symptoms outside of your gastrointestinal tract, such as immune dysfunction, mood disorders, skin issues and more.
- Support your gut health: even if you do not have obvious digestive challenges, this test would be able to evaluate your overall gut health, including the state of your gut microbiome, your efficiency in digesting and extracting nutrients from the food and the resilience of the immune system.
- Optimise your overall health: having robust and resilient gut health and diverse gut microbiome are the foundations of your overall health, well-being and longevity. The test may provide an in-depth evaluation of your digestive and absorption functions and the intestinal microbiome.
- Personalised and targetted health strategy: the stool test results would be crucial for developing a personalised and targetted health optimisation strategy, tailored to your individual needs, whether it is an antimicrobial treatment, or supporting your microbiome diversity and resilience.
- Non-invasive way to assess your gut health: the test involves collecting stool samples in the convenience of your home and sending them directly to the lab for analysis.
Functional Stool Analysis FAQs
A Functional Stool Analysis is a laboratory stool test that examines your stool sample to provide a comprehensive assessment of your gut health. The test looks at various markers, such as the presence of beneficial and pathogenic microbes, yeast, and parasites, the level of inflammation present, your ability to digest and absorb nutrients, the health of your intestinal lining and more.
A Functional Stool Analysis tests for the microbial composition of your intestinal flora, including beneficial microbes, pathogenic microbes, yeast, and parasites; digestion and absorption functions; health of intestinal lining; any signs of inflammation present. It also provides you with an overall “dysbiosis” score.
The stool test results may help in the evaluation of a wide range of gut imbalances, including the presence of pathogenic bacteria and/or parasites, overgrowth of yeast, raised levels of inflammation, insufficient digestive enzymes, maldigestion, malabsorption, and compromised intestinal lining. The results of the Functional Stool Analysis would guide the development and implementation of a personalised health optimisation strategy, including dietary and lifestyle interventions, as well as a supplementation schedule.
Once the test is ordered, a test kit will be posted to your home address. The kit includes all necessary equipment of stool collection (e.g. a tray, gloves, tubes, ice pack). It will include detailed collection instructions. You would be required to collect three stool samples. The stool samples are posted with an ice pack directly to the lab for analysis.
The results will be available within 2-3 weeks of the lab receiving your sample. Your practitioner will then invite you to book your Interpretation Consultation to go through the results and develop your health optimisation strategy.
Yes, you can order your stool kit online through this link
IIt depends on your insurance provider, you should check with them to confirm the coverage.
Once your test results are back from the lab, your practitioner will be in touch to arrange a 60 minutes interpretation consultation to go through the test results with you and develop your personalised recommendations across dietary, lifestyle and supplementation interventions.
Testimonials
What My Happy Clients Say!
“Elena has inspired me to start my health optimisation journey. She has done several functional tests for me (microbiome etc) and helped identify and treat a few issues they showed. It transpired I had candida (which explained some issues I had for years) and through following Elena’s advice, this has been sorted.
She has also tweaked my diet, encouraging me to include food groups I used to ignore and making sure my morning smoothies were balanced, teaching me optimum nutrition for better health. She has also given me advice on sleep, stress management, and weight loss. I have now lost 6kg following Elena’s recommendations and have never felt better.”
