Evaluation of Potential Screening Tools for Metabolic Body Odor and Halitosis

Mebo Research

Status

Completed

Conditions

Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases

Study type

Observational

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT02692495

200904010001MEBO

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study is designed as a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the potential of diagnostic procedures in defining populations of patients self-reporting unexpected and uncontrollable episodes of body odor and/or halitosis. The cohort - generally healthy individuals who had underwent multiple diagnostic tests recommended by their physicians and had not been diagnosed with any known medical condition - expressed their interest in trying gastrointestinal and nutritional diagnostic tests offered by Biolab Medical Unit. Our retrospective analysis will determine if these tests were useful as potential screening tools for metabolic body odor and halitosis.

Full description

Many yet uncharacterized medical conditions including inborn and acquired errors of metabolism or skewed microbiome could be responsible for unpredictable and uncontrollable episodes of body odor and halitosis. These conditions have dramatic impact on the quality of life and socioeconomic outcomes of sufferers. Yet clinics and specialized malodor centers do not provide tests for diagnosing malodor other than trimethylaminuria (TMAU). Self-reported odor problems are often dismissed if are not organoleptically evaluated by trained odor judges that are not readily available during malodor flare-ups.

The aim of this study is to analyze effectiveness of existing gastrointestinal and nutritional tests for the assessment and investigation of self-reported malodors.

Diagnostic tests included:

Gut Permeability Profile. PEG 400 is used as a probe and measured in urine passed for the following 6 hours at 11 different molecular weights to establish the quantity of each absorbed through the gut wall. Extraction and separation of PEG from urine is done by ion exchange chromatography and capillary GLC.
Gut Fermentation Profile. Blood alcohols - ethanol, methanol, butanol, propanol and short chain fatty acids - are measured by gas-liquid chromatography.
D-lactate test. D-lactate is measured by centrifugal analysis using the specific enzyme D-lactate dehydrogenase, which does not react with L-lactate
The urine indicans (Obermeyer) test. Detection of indican in the urine depends upon its decomposition and subsequent oxidation of indoxyl to indigo blue and its absorption into a chloroform layer
Breath test for small intestinal dysbiosis. Breath hydrogen and methane are measured by gas-liquid chromatography. The patient is given 10 gm of lactulose in 200 ml of water and alveolar air samples are collected every 20 minutes for 3 hours
Functional B vitamins profile, by measuring the activation of a red cell enzyme that is dependent upon an adequate concentration of a particular vitamin for full activity. The assay relies on normal metabolism of the vitamin to its native form and the presence of other non-vitamin cofactors.

Enrollment

16 patients

Sex

All

Ages

20+ years old

Volunteers

No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria