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A SIBO Nutraceutical Protocol

INL are very pleased to release the first issue in our series of INL Education Treatment Protocol on the subject of SIBO, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.
This guideline, written by Graeme Bradshaw, B.Sc, Dip. Nutr., Dip. Hom., Dip. Herb., N.D., Naturopath, Homeopath and Founding Director IMI and INL, who outlines common symptom presentations, how to diagnose with breath testing, and outlines interpretation of breath test results, and finally summarize the nutritional supplement options for small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

SIBO is symptomatically similar to the all too common irritable bowel syndrome, with abdominal bloating, irregularity of bowel motions, and often some discomfort, but it is diagnostically dissimilar to IBS in that bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine is the cause. In fact, the majority of IBS sufferers have SIBO.
A breath test, taken over 2-3 hours is required to ascertain SIBO. The hydrogen and methane gasses caught in the tubes every 20 minutes are produced only by the output of gut microbes, not human metabolism, and the excess levels of these are established.

However, few health care practitioners are reaching for this SIBO breath test, despite the fact that it can successfully uncover the cause of the patients digestive complaints, and point to the corrective treatments needed for such chronic complaints as constipation, loose stools, abdominal discomfort, as well as malabsorption, skin symptoms and other health issues. SIBO can also aggravate a wide variety of non-intestinal symptoms with their origins in the toxic effects of methane and pro-inflammatory effects of lipopolysaccharides from gut dysbiosis.
Graeme provides evidence-based recommendations and personal anecdotal advice derived from the collective hours of practical clinical experiences that have resulted from many successful treatment outcomes for SIBO patients.

Please read on to discover what SIBO breath test results look like, and then the nutritional supplement options to correct the gut dysbiosis – generally without the use of any antibiotics.