Clinical Utility of Handheld Hydrogen Breathalyzer in Identification of Food Sensitivities (AIRE Study)

Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is defined as a condition in which an abnormally high amount of coliform bacteria is present in the small bowel and results in premature anaerobic fermentation of carbohydrates before reaching the colon. Commonly recognized causes include gastric achlorhydria, post-surgical bowel stasis, gastrocolic/coloenteric fistulas, and motility disorders leading to bowel stasis.. The current "gold standard" for the diagnosis of SIBO, is a breath test that measures the concentration of hydrogen in response to lactulose, a carbohydrate that is only metabolized by bacteria. However, its accuracy is only about 50% and therefore it is not a very useful test, leading most physicians to treat these patients empirically based on clinical suspicion alone. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the clinical utility of a portable medical device called AIRE, an over-the-counter, commercially available handheld breath analyzer that measures exhaled hydrogen content.