The patented EasySampler Breath Collection Kit offers ease and flexibility. It’s a simple, at-home solution for breath sample collection. Patients can easily collect and mail their samples at their convenience. Purchase the kit and we will register you with Microbiome Labs who will send email instructions as well as the kit and process the results.

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) is a condition in which an excessive number of bacteria in the small bowel cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Typically, the small intestine has fewer microbes than the colon, but in SIBO, this balance is significantly disrupted. 

Hydrogen is produced when certain bacteria consume sugars.  
Elevated hydrogen levels are indicative of SIBO. 

Methane is produced when archaea (single-celled organisms similar to bacteria) consume hydrogen.  

Elevated methane levels are indicative of IMO.  
Intestinal methanogenic overgrowth (IMO) is caused by an overgrowth of methane-producing archaea (methanogens) in the small and large intestines. Excess methane production seems to be associated with Methanobrevibacter smithii, the dominant methanogen in the human gut. Abnormal methane levels are linked to constipation, and the amount of methane is proportionate to the severity of constipation. 

IMO is a newer term that replaces methane-dominant SIBO. The newer terminology characterizes two main differences between IMO and SIBO: 

1. IMO is caused by methanogens called archaea, not bacteria. 

2. IMO can occur at any point along the digestive tract