Breath Hydrogen Test

The sucrose breath test is based upon the fact that in CSID, the unabsorbed sucrose is converted in the colon to methane, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen gasses by bacteria. The hydrogen gas is absorbed into the blood stream and eliminated via expired air. Thus, following a loading dose of sucrose the amount of hydrogen in the expired air rises dramatically.

In patients with CSID, breath hydrogen has shown to be > 20 ppm over baseline, 90 and 180 minutes after sucrose consumption. However, false negatives can occur with this test. Davidson and Trevor found 4% occurrence of false negatives. Most of the false negatives, however, were a result of recent antimicrobial therapy or failure to test mechanics.

For full details on how to conduct a sucrose breath test using a sucrose breath hydrogen kit, Quintron PDF.