The following is provided for health education reasons only and should not take the place of medical advice.
The older woman sitting across from me explained her frustration that she had attended doctor visits for years without getting solutions to her IBS symptoms of bloating and pain. She carefully followed restrictive diets and took medications without results because the exact culprit for her digestive issues was unidentified.
Once she finished describing her situation, I offered my advice: order a GI-MAP (Gastrointestinal Microbial Assay Plus) stool test and let's meet again to discuss. She completed the preparation for the test and sent her sample in. We met about three weeks later to go over the results. The test identified parasitic protozoa, nothing too serious, but a species known to cause bloating and related symptoms. Also, the markers for food sensitivities and inflammation were high so I suggested she begin the diet outlined in The Body Tune-up book and pay careful attention to her gut symptoms. She agreed to do the Body Tune-up diet, including an anti-parasitic herbal blend for the protozoa, and we were to meet about a month later.
The next time I saw her, she was all smiles and said her chronic bloating and pain were completely gone. They had subsided on The Body Tune-up when she eliminated one of her favorite foods. Then, when she took the anti-parasitic herbal blend, the symptoms were gone completely. We discussed how to finish the herbs and re-introduce and test foods. The next time we met, she said she had been able to comfortably reintroduce most foods and she was pleased.
This is a typical example of how clients I work with get results through the synergistic benefits of functional medicine testing like the GI-MAP stool test, and therapeutic diet as outlined in The Body Tune-up. The optimized nutrition and anti-inflammatory action of the diet in the Tune-up combined with targeted interventions identified in a personal stool test can be very powerful in alleviating symptoms and addressing root issues.
I like to recommend the GI-MAP stool testing by Diagnostic Solutions because it helps you skip the broad trial-and-error approach and instead zero-in and target exactly where you need digestive support. I have used it in hundreds of cases including children and adults of all ages with success. Check out other examples of where it has been useful at the end of the article.
The GI-MAP uses quantitative PCR (qPCR) technology to identify microbes in the stool by their DNA. The test is counting and identifying all the cells in the stool sample so microbes you are testing will not be missed. Therefore, it is superior to traditional stool tests that try to grow bacteria in a petri dish. I used standard stool tests before I used the GI-MAP. With the GI-MAP, the results were so targeted and effective in comparison, I have been using the GI-MAP for testing ever since. It transforms addressing digestive health from a guessing game to a clear roadmap.
The GI-MAP doesn't just look for bad "bugs" (bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi/yeast) which can be a profound finding in and of itself for someone. It also measures intestinal markers: gut detoxification (Beta glucuronidase), digestive enzyme levels (Pancreatic Elastase), gut inflammation (Calprotectin), and immune function (Secretory IgA). The Secretory IgA can be especially important in chronic health situations where the gut immune system is no longer functioning well due to prolonged stress, long term exposure to a bothersome food, or the presence of a nasty microbe. This is prevalent in those with chronic sinus issues or UTIs, but can show up in other cases, too, like chronic fatigue, or cases of biotoxin illness (like mold or Lyme disease). Once this marker is addressed with lifestyle changes and targeted nutrition, the immune system is able to overcome the imbalance in the gut biome (or skin biome or sinus biome or vaginal biome...).
In addition, the GI-MAP test measures Zonulin and keystone commensal bacteria that are indicators for intestinal permeability (don't miss my upcoming free webinar Natural Solutions for Leaky Gut) and can help the person with numerous sensitivities or a inflammatory symptoms including chronic pain. The careful diet outline in The Body Tune-up is designed to help alleviate symptoms of leaky gut, food sensitivities and even auto-immunity by down-regulating chronic inflammation.
The GI-MAP results are five pages long (view a sample report). More often than not, the GI-MAP section on healthy gut bacteria has been most valuable to us where the test identified that a client's levels were either too high, they were missing specific keystone species that act like bodyguards in the gut, or good bacteria were so low, they cannot keep inflammation in check. Nutrition supplements work a lot better in these cases because I am able to see exactly what a person needs to address the root issue.
Knowing exactly what is happening in the gut allows me to identify specific, interventions—such as customized herbal antimicrobials, targeted probiotic strains, or digestive enzyme support. Pair this with the diet outlined in The Body Tune-up, and you have a recipe for relief from digestive issues and chronic inflammation.
The test is not typically available for direct-to-consumer purchase and requires professional interpretation. I order it for clients, so if you are interested, I encourage you to make an appointment with me. The full fee is about $550 for the expanded panel in 2026. I provide a careful protocol to prepare the stool sample ahead of time. These additional instructions help to open up any biofilms present and give the test the best opportunity at identifying troublesome microbes. This careful preparation also makes sure that any factors that might falsely influence the markers are reduced or eliminated. This means your results are most helpful and impactful.
Schedule your consultation to order your GI-MAP stool test.
Other common uses for the GI-MAP stool test:
I have found the test to be invaluable in kids and adults with chronic digestive complaints. It often identifies an overgrowth of a bothersome microbe. It tells me about the gut terrain that is both a cause and a result of chronic constipation or diarrhea, oftentimes keeping someone stuck in a loop of symptoms. Sometimes there is an infection behind chronic digestive issues, and sometimes it is simply dysbiosis, or imbalance in the gut biome.
It can help with chronic skin issues like rosacea, eczema, psoriasis, lichen planus, and lichen sclerosis. It is also helpful with chronic fungal infections.
I have used it with babies with bloody stools from multiple food sensitivities. The test is very good at identifying H.pylori infections as it is more sensitive than the traditional tests for this.
The test can also be helpful for neurodivergent kids and adults. It can identify where they need support to help ease digestive issues, improve gut biome health, and therefore reduce neurological inflammation stemming from the gut-brain axis and experience better nervous system regulation as a result.
The test can be critical for adults with chronic diarrhea and bloating. It can also be supportive in addressing irritable bowel disease (IBD). A typical test will identify multiple root causes that need to be addressed with natural supplements and lifestyle.
For GERD and acid reflux, it is helpful in identifying if the source of the issue is histamine, H.pylori infection, hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), or something else.
Finally, the test is good at highlighting which bacterial strains in the gut biome are correlated with auto-immunity and disease. Those persons interested in optimizing their gut health for overall wellness will get helpful information and direct interventions as a result of the test.