Multiple Food Intolerances Increase Hydrogen Levels in Breath Tests
Extra increase in exhaled hydrogen during fructose malabsorption breath tests is linked to additional food intolerance/malabsorption and/or Helicobacter pylori
Research hubs: Digestive System
- Evidence type
- Observational study · Human study
- Authors
- Wolfgang J Schnedl, Simon Michaelis, Dietmar Enko, Sandra J Holasek
- Journal
- Clinical Nutrition ESPEN
- Year
- 2025
- PMID
- 41241218
- Study Type
- Human
- Participants
- 318
- Delivery
- Gas
- Outcome
- Neutral
- Peer Reviewed
- Yes
- Country
- Austria
TL;DR
Fructose malabsorption patients with additional food intolerances (lactose, histamine) or H. pylori infection show significantly elevated hydrogen levels in breath tests compared to FM-only patients.
Key Finding
Patients with fructose malabsorption who also had additional food intolerances or Helicobacter pylori infection showed significantly elevated exhaled hydrogen levels during breath testing compared to those with fructose malabsorption alone.
Summary
Researchers studied 318 patients with fructose malabsorption (difficulty digesting fructose sugar) who took hydrogen breath tests—a diagnostic tool that measures undigested food in the intestines by detecting hydrogen in exhaled breath. They found that patients who had fructose malabsorption plus other food intolerances (like lactose or histamine intolerance) or a Helicobacter pylori bacterial infection showed significantly higher hydrogen levels in their breath compared to patients with only fructose malabsorption. This suggests that having multiple digestive problems at once can affect the results of these breath tests.
Practical Takeaway
If you're being tested for food malabsorption using a hydrogen breath test, this study suggests that doctors should consider whether you have other concurrent digestive conditions or infections, as these can affect test results and their interpretation. However, this was a retrospective analysis of existing patient data rather than a controlled experiment, so more research would be needed to fully understand how these conditions interact during testing.
Abstract (excerpt)
Background & aims: Food intolerance/malabsorption, including fructose malabsorption (FM), histamine intolerance (HIT), lactose intolerance (LIT), and Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), may present with symptoms similar to symptoms of the irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) spectrum. We aimed…