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  4. If you use the NutrEval by Genova, could you comment on how to use it as an alternative for the organic acids test? I run this test often for nutrient status and oxidative stress markers and see they have urine biomarkers for malabsorption and bacterial dysbiosis, but the markers are not exactly the same as the organic acids biomarkers you’ve referenced, and I’m not sure how to interpret them as such. I wonder if I could use the urine biomarkers from the NutrEval as data similar to organic acids since I’m ordering this test anyway.

If you use the NutrEval by Genova, could you comment on how to use it as an alternative for the organic acids test? I run this test often for nutrient status and oxidative stress markers and see they have urine biomarkers for malabsorption and bacterial dysbiosis, but the markers are not exactly the same as the organic acids biomarkers you’ve referenced, and I’m not sure how to interpret them as such. I wonder if I could use the urine biomarkers from the NutrEval as data similar to organic acids since I’m ordering this test anyway.

Chris Kresser:  The answer is yes. The markers, as you point out, are not exactly the same, but that doesn’t really matter because, as we discussed when we went over the organic acids panel, that is probably the least reliable or dependable in terms of what the evidence base tells us in terms of the relationship between those markers and clinical disease. I use it as another data point with all of the rest of the testing that we do, and I tend to look at it more as a gestalt, meaning if there are several markers that are positive and that adds to other positive findings, then it’s just another stick on the pile that tells us there’s something going on. I rarely will make clinical decisions based solely on a single marker on the organic acids panel, although there are certain markers within that panel, as we discussed, that are more reliable and diagnostic than others, like D-lactate, for example, which is being even investigated as a marker for SIBO. But overall, if you’re already ordering that panel, you can just take a glance at that malabsorption and dysbiosis section, and if you see several markers that are elevated, then that is establishing a trend in the direction of gut issues or dysbiosis that you can then piece together with the other types of testing that you’re doing, absolutely.

 

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