Description

What does the GI-MAP measure?

The GI-MAP includes the ‘pathogens’ (bacteria, parasites, and viruses known to cause disease) that can cause gastrointestinal infections. However, pathogens don’t always cause disease, so if you have them in your gut they may not be responsible for your symptoms. Your general health, the pathogen count, and your gut environment all interact with each other and shape the way your symptoms present.

To get a comprehensive window into your gut health, in addition to pathogens, the GI-MAP also assesses a vast range of ‘normal’ bacteria, yeasts, worms, and clinical markers of intestinal health.

GI-MAP Test UK NHS

Stool tests in the UK fall into one of two categories: the type medical doctors use to look for signs of disease, and the type nutritionists, naturopaths and functional medicine practitioners use to understand what’s going on in your microbiome and the rest of your gut that could be causing your symptoms.

If your doctor suspects you may have a disease like cancer, Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, they may ask you to make a stool sample. For example, if you have IBS symptoms like diarrhoea, constipation or bloating, or if you’ve been passing mucus or blood in your bowel movements, they may send your stool to a laboratory to find evidence that confirms or rules out these conditions.

If your doctor has asked to do a stool sample, there are many other conditions that they could be checking for with a stool test, so if you want to know, the best thing to do is ask them.

A stool test through a health provider like IBS Clinics is likely to be some kind of gut health test, or comprehensive stool test. There are many test providers who all call their tests by different names.

Gut health tests look at the health of your gut. They don’t diagnose any serious conditions, and as far as we know, they’re not available on the NHS.

If you want insight into your overall gut health, or to find out why you’re suffering from uncomfortable gut symptoms, the GI-MAP can help you to understand what’s going on in your gut.

GI-MAP Test London

GI-MAP testing is available at IBS Clinics, London.

While you don’t need to come to our clinic to make your stool sample, we strongly recommend that you make an appointment with us for when your results are due to come through, to hear our professional interpretation and to go through your treatment plan. You can talk to us face-to-face in our central London clinic, or remotely, over Zoom.

So, you can do the whole process from the comfort of your own home, if you prefer.

Advances in technology over the past ten years have transformed our understanding of the human gut. DNA analysis now allows us to see all the types of bacteria in a stool sample, and the levels of them

All bacteria (and other organisms called ‘archaea’) have the 16s rRNA gene, which remains detectable even if the bacteria are dead. By using 16s rRNA sequencing, information on the species and strains of your bacteria—and their ratios with each other—are almost instantly available.

Before 16s RNA, the only way we could analyse gut microbes in stool was by culturing, which could only reveal live bacteria and took much longer.

GI-MAP Test at Home

The GI-MAP is an at-home stool test.

That means that you make your stool sample in the same way as you would if your doctor had asked you for one: you make your deposit and collect a sample of stool in a small container. Then, you package it up in a larger sterile container provided with the test kit and send it to the laboratory at the address the laboratory provides.

Everything you need for the whole process is included in the kit that you receive.

GI-MAP test results usually take around 14 working days. Multiple weekends and bank holidays and/or hold-ups in transit mean you could wait a bit longer.

That time covers:

• the transit time in the post for the sample to reach the lab
• The ‘queue’ at the lab: how many samples are waiting in front of you
• the time the scientists and technicians need to analyse the sample using the latest technology and send the results to us.

Why should you do the GI-MAP at-home stool test?

Your gut health is central to the rest of your health.

Even if you don’t have symptoms in your gut, like diarrhoea or bloating, we now know that some of the most common health conditions have strong links to gut dysbiosis (an imbalance in the trillions of bacteria and other microbes in your gut).

Your neurotransmitters (the chemicals that control your mood), have most of their receptors in your gut, and 80% of your immune system is in your gut. That means imbalances in your gut have a knock-on effect on almost any area of your health. 

GI-MAP Test Price 

The GI-MAP is an extremely accurate and reliable test.

A huge volume of scientific research now shows that your gut health is fundamental to your immunological, hormonal, neurological and metabolic health. Looking at the make-up of your microbiome is a valuable tool in uncovering the root causes of not just uncomfortable gut symptoms, but chronic debilitating illnesses—like chronic fatigue, or autoimmune disease—too.

We believe that the GI-MAP is the most sensitive and valid test on the UK market.

GI-MAP stool testing is not available on the NHS. If you have private healthcare, your provider may cover your treatment with IBS Clinics. However, they may not cover the cost of the GI-MAP test. Check with your provider to find out exactly what your package covers.

Compared with other comprehensive stool tests, it offers far more than its competitors at around the same price. We’ve found that the results are a key part of the puzzle of our clients’ health issues and enable us to create the most powerful, customised treatment plan. 

It’s important that you work with a qualified nutritionist or functional medicine practitioner who can deploy their knowledge to unlock the information in your GI-MAP results.

The kit includes: 

Shipping materials

• 1 x box containing the collection kit (keep
• this box for returning your samples)
• 1 x shipping instruction
• 1 x personal information form
• 1 x padded envelope

Collection materials

• 1 x orange-capped vial
• 1 x collection tray
• 1 x resealable plastic bag with an
• absorption pad
• 1 x disposable glove

Is the GI-MAP Test worth it?

Only a couple of decades ago, stool tests only existed to rule out serious conditions like cancer or inflammatory bowel disease, or to look for parasites or dangerous, acute bacterial infections.

Today, stool tests are still used to detect serious diseases and infections, but incredible advances in technology and microbiology have enabled us to explore our own inner space: our gut.

Stool testing is even becoming useful in predicting the likelihood and pattern of various diseases, and in working out how a person’s body processes certain drugs. This is helping to shape the future of medicine.

The GI-MAP test looks at more than just your gut bacteria: it reveals valuable information on other microbes like yeasts, archaea, viruses and parasites. They can all have a big impact on the health of your gut and the rest of your body.

The GI-MAP also looks at functional markers, such as:

• Calprotectin: reflects levels of gut inflammation 
• Secretory IgA: measures immune activity in the gut 
• Pancreatic elastase: shows pancreatic function 

One of the best reasons to take a GI-MAP test is that the results allow your practitioner to create a truly tailored treatment plan for you. Generic, non-personalised treatment plans based only on your health history and symptoms involve a lot of guesswork.

The ecosystem in your gut (your microbiome) reacts quickly and severely to interventions like antibiotics, antifungals, probiotics, and prebiotics. Trying them in the hope that they will help you risks exacerbating the real root cause of your symptoms.

For instance, if you want to treat SIBO, antibiotics—either herbal or pharmaceutical—are the first line therapy. However, if you have a fungal overgrowth, rather than a bacterial one, the antibiotics will only kill off bacteria, not the fungus. In fact, killing off the bacteria significantly raises the risk of worsening the fungal overgrowth.

The GI-MAP test allows you and your nutritionist or functional medicine practitioner to identify any pathogens or overgrowths and target them with clinically proven treatments. If your functional markers are out of range, a trained professional will either refer you back to your GP or be able to recommend the right course of therapy.

Perhaps most importantly, the GI-MAP is the first comprehensive stool test that has been approved by the FDA in the US, the government body responsible for controlling and supervising prescriptions and medications. On top of that, the GI-MAP was developed at Georgia Tech University, the highest rated molecular biology department in the world. 

It’s safe to say that the GI-MAP is a valid, credible and accurate test, and a powerful tool to gain a window into the health of your gut and beyond.

Our GI Map test includes viral pathogens, bacteria, worms, yeasts, parasites and comprehensive antibiotic resistant genes, alongside intestinal and digestive health and immune markers, and so tests for:

GI Maps for BACTERIAL PATHOGENS

• Campylobacter
• difficileToxin A
• difficileToxin B
• Enterohemorrhagic  coli
• coliO157
• Enteroinvasive  coli/Shigella
• Enterotoxigenic  coli LT/ST
• Shiga-like Toxin  colistx1
• Shiga-like Toxin  colistx2
• Salmonella
• Vibro cholerae
• Yersinia enterocolitica
• pylori
  • Virulence Factor, babA
  • Virulence Factor, cagA
  • Virulence Factor, dupA
  • Virulence Factor, iceA
  • Virulence Factor, oipA
  • Virulence Factor, vacA
  • Virulence Factor, virB
  • Virulence Factor, virD

PARASITIC PATHOGENS

• Cryptosporidium
• Entamoeba histolytica
• Giardia

VIRAL PATHOGENS

• Adrenovirus40/41
• NorovirusGI
• NorovirusGII

NORMAL/COMMENSAL BACTERIA

• Akkermansia Mucinophilia
• Bacteroides fragilis
• Bifidobacterium
• Clostridia (class)
• Enterobacter
• Enterococcus
• Escherichia
• Faecalbacterium prausnitzii
• Lactobacillus

BACTERIAL PHYLA

• Bacteroidetes
• Firmicutes
• Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes Ratio

ADDITIONAL DYSBIOTIC/OVERGROWTH BACTERIA

• Bacillus 
• Enterococcus faecalis
• Enterococcus faecium
• Methanobacteriaceae (family)
• Morganella spp.
• Pseudomonas
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Staphylococcus
• Staphylococcusaureus
• Streptococcus

POTENTIAL AUTOIMMUNE TRIGGERS

• Citrobacter
• Citrobacter freundii
• Fusobacterium
• Klebsiella
• Klebsiella pneumoniae
• Mycobacterium avium
• Prevotella copri
• Proteus
• Proteus mirabilis

FUNGI/YEAST

• Candida albicans
• Candida
• Geotricum
• Microsporidia
• Rhodoturula

OPPORTUNISTIC VIRUSES

• CMV- Cytomegalovirus
• EBV- Epstein Barr Virus

GI Maps for Parasites & worms:

PROTOZOA

• Blastocystis hominis
• Chilomastix mesnelli
• Cyclospora cayetanensis
• Dientamoeba fragilis
• Endolimax nana
• Entamoeba coli
• Pentatrichomonas hominis

WORMS

• Ancyclostroma duodenale
• Ascaris lumbricoides
• Necator americanus
• Trichuris trichiura
• Taenia solium/saginada

Intestinal health markers:

DIGESTION

• Elastase-1
• Steatocrit

IMMUNE RESPONSE

• Secretory IgA
• Anti-gliadin IgA

INFLAMMATION

• Calprotectin

GI MARKERS

• ß-Glucuronidase
• Occult Blood – FIT

Antibiotic resistance genes:

Phenotypes | HELICOBACTER

• Amoxicillin
• Clarithromycin
• Fluoroquinolones
• Tetracycline

Genotypes | UNIVERSAL MICROBIOTA RESISTANCE GENES

• ß-lactamase
• Fluoroquinolones
• Macrolides
• Vancomycin