Bedfont® presents its new Hydrogen and Methane Breath Testing Home Kits in association with GI Cognition
With the pandemic of COVID-19 bringing a halt to most medical tests and procedures, it has highlighted a need to safely, easily, and remotely find a way for health services to continue treating their patients, especially in the field of Gastroenterology. Global breath analysis manufacturer, Bedfont® Scientific Ltd., has teamed up with GI Cognition to do just that in launching its new Hydrogen and Methane Breath Testing (HMBT) ‘Home Kits’ to help improve Gastric Health remotely.
Known for their innovative medical devices, Bedfont® brings their 32 years of Hydrogen and Methane monitoring knowledge and has created a simple and patient-friendly HMBT Home Kit, which allows patients to be tested remotely for many digestive issues, including food intolerances, IBS, and SIBO. The Home Kits will be distributed by GI Cognition; a UK network of qualified GI physiologists, providing a unique and innovative mobile gastrointestinal physiology service.
A meta-analysis of 25 studies with 3,192 patients with IBS and 3,320 controls revealed: individuals with IBS have a 3.7 times higher prevalence of SIBO compared to controls and 4.9 times higher than the healthy controls. In the same meta-analysis, breath tests detected SIBO more frequently than culture-based methods (35.5% vs. 13.9% for IBS patients)2. In another extensive meta-analysis 33.8% of patients with gastrointestinal complaints tested positive for SIBO using a breath test3.
GI Cognition was first established to ease the pressure on UK hospitals that deal with long waiting times and convoluted processes for their gastroenterology outpatients. By teaming up with Bedfont® to offer HMBT Home Kits, they can not only accomplish this but also help Bedfont® to raise awareness of gastrointestinal health and give the patient more knowledge and control of their own gastric health.
Dr. Jafar Jafari, Head Of Upper GI Physiology Service at Guys and St Thomas Hospital, and Executive Director at GI Cognition, explains, “Hydrogen and methane breath testing is an invaluable tool in helping to detect gastrointestinal disorders, but unfortunately there are not enough qualified GI physiologists in the UK to meet the growing demand from patients and hospitals, causing a shortage of upper GI testing services, including HMBT; GI cognition was established to remedy this. We are excited to be working with Bedfont® on HMBT Home Kits to help bridge the gap.”
Jason Smith, Managing Director at Bedfont®, adds, “For some time there has been a need to help reduce the pressure on gastroenterology health services and with the pandemic, we decided to focus on developing the Home Kits sooner. Through remote breath analysis, more patients can be seen, without having to leave the comfort of their homes, meaning they can receive great care and stop living in discomfort by better understanding and taking control of their digestive health.”
References:
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- Introduction | Irritable bowel syndrome in adults: diagnosis and management | Guidance | NICE [Internet]. Nice.org.uk. 2021 [cited 20 May 2008]. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg61/chapter/introduction#:~:text=IBS%20most%20often%20affects%20people,of%20IBS%20in%20older%20people.
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in irritable bowel syndrome: A systematic review and meta-analysis of case-control studies, The American journal of gastroenterology. Available at: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31913194/ (Accessed: 25 March 2025).
- Efremova, I. et al. (2023) Epidemiology of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, World journal of gastroenterology. Available at: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10303511/ (Accessed: 25 March 2025).