Tuesday, March 3, 2009
In the USA, perhaps the 3 best known 'niche' labs for dysbiosis are the following:
Genova Diagnostics
Metametrix
Great Plains lab
In
this post, we will look briefly at Great Plains laboratory. Of the 3
above, Genova and Metametrix seem closely associated with Functional Medicine,
whereas it's unclear where Great Plains affiliation lies (it looks like
a stand-alone company). The Great Plains founder, Dr William Shaw, was
interested in gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and noticed that
some patients had high levels of metabolites that he associated with
yeast. his lab associates 'tartaric acid' with gut candidiasis. The lab
itself seems geared towards autism in particular (autistic people often
have 'bowel' issues). An initial impression is that he could be regarded
as a maverick 'conservative' physician. you can see his introductory
video here.
His
expertise seems to be from a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
background, and so his lab is very interested in metabolites. But they
do do the full range that someone would expect from these type of
investigative niche labs (immune tests, metabolite tests etc). His lab
hold workshops and online conferences.
It's
not known if there are any differences in the labs or if one or the
other is more preferable. Perhaps at this point, the only real way of
knowing would be for someone rich to do the same test in all 3 labs.
One
good thing about Great Plains is that they seem to be allowing people
to order the tests direct, rather than using the old 'physician knows
best' principle (which in truth seems like a job-protection blocker
rather than best for the patient). This is a first impression, when
looking at the website to order the tests. Mymedlab.com. Metametrix also allow direct testing through 3rd parties such as directlabs.com
None
of the above labs are likely aware of systemic body odor and
particularly fecal body odor of course. Even amongst niche labs and
functional medicine, the problem is still not recognised
Since
yeast is often mentioned as a possible factor in fecal body odor on the
body odor forums, it's interesting to read Dr Shaw's views on gut yeast
infection. This article may be tailored towards autism in particular,
but perhaps fecal odor sufferers have a similar problem in that for some
reason their gut always has problems controlling the gut flora. In the
article, Dr Shaw hypothesizes that some people perhaps for some reason
do not have the normal checks and balances that stop the gut flora going
bad, and external help may be needed for maintenance.
http://www.greatplainslaboratory.com/home/eng/yeast.asp
The
3 main groups of microbes that are mainly thought to cause gut
dysbiosis are yeast (probably candida in particular), bacteria (both
bad, or displaced or overgrowth) and parasites.
related links
Dr Shaw 1995 medical paper on a gut yeast infection case
comparison of analytes tested in their dysbiosis organic acids tests
Genova: (note) this is their full organic acid test
Metametrix: dysbiosis test only
Great Plains: dysbiosis test only
Originally published: https://www.meboblog.com/2009/03/great-plains-laboratory-and-other-main.html
