Digestive breath tester launched for gastrointestinal conditions

FoodMarble, a digital health company in the gastroenterology space, has launched a personal digestive breath tester: AIRE 2. 

Anyone suffering from ongoing digestive issues such as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth) and IBS can use this pocket-size device at home to measure and monitor their digestion in real time to help better manage their digestive health.

This analytical technology allows individuals to pinpoint foods contributing to excessively rapid fermentation in the gut, which can lead to a myriad of digestive health symptoms. This latest release from FoodMarble will also be used by healthcare professionals so they can better understand patients’ digestive disorders, including IBS and SIBO. Early data from an ongoing clinical trial from Johns Hopkins Medicine, led by Dr Jay Pasricha, has demonstrated the benefit of remotely monitoring breath levels after meals using FoodMarble technology. This potentially offers a much more accurate way to identify those that will respond to SIBO treatment.

Aonghus Shortt, CEO and co-founder of FoodMarble, said: “At FoodMarble we’re continuously working to give people the tools they need to overcome some of these really challenging digestive issues. With AIRE 2, the only consumer-facing device of its kind, we are able to further our mission to make advanced, personalised at-home breath testing technology for gut health available to everyone that needs it.”

When food isn't fully digested, the microbes in your gut break it down and produce hydrogen. If this happens too quickly or starts to build up, it can leave you feeling bloated and gassy. For some, the hydrogen can be converted by other microbes to make another gas: methane. Methane has been shown to slow down the passage of food in the gut and is commonly linked to constipation. For example, those with constipation-predominant IBS (IBS-C) tend to have more methane producing microbes than those that are diarrhoea-predominant.

SIBO is considered a population-wide disorder and is associated with common conditions like autoimmune disorders (e.g. IBD, coeliac disease), diabetes and obesity, as well common medication use, including proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), narcotics and antibiotics.

Providing this at-home breath testing technology to patients enables them to monitor and manage their symptoms under the guidance of a physician.

Hiroshi Mashimo, MD PhD, said: “Breath testing can be an effective procedure in the assessment of a variety of digestive disorders. However, it can take up significant resources in the clinic setting. Since each patient has their own FoodMarble device, they can use it for multiple tests and collect data over time. From the patient’s perspective, it gives them the flexibility to test when suitable for them, and there is a lot of emerging research supporting the idea that home testing is preferred.”