GastroLab

WDHD2026
Chronic diarrhea demands better diagnosis, not more trials.
May 29 marks World Digestive Health Day and throughout this month of May we’ll be focusing on chronic diarrhea; its hidden drivers, and how at GastroLab we are closing the diagnostic gap through innovations and tests that are aligned to demographic and epidemiological needs of India. More insights coming soon.

🚨Attention please🚨

Fresh off the press!

A game changing study done at AIIMS under the guidance of Dr. Govind K. Makharia on chronic diarrhea and Bile Acid Malabsorption (BAM) has just been published in the Indian Journal of Gastroenterology and we at GastroLab India Pvt. Ltd are proud to have supported this incredibly important study.

"Could a single spot stool sample be the key to unlocking the hidden cause of chronic diarrhea for millions of patients?"

For years, diagnosing BAM has been a major clinical challenge. The gold standard test (75SeHCAT) is costly, requires radiation, and isn't widely available outside Europe. As a result, BAM is often missed in patients with chronic diarrhea.

But what if a single stool sample could change that?

This pilot observational study evaluated the IDK® Bile Acid test, a simple enzymatic spectrophotometric assay to measure total stool bile acids in a single spot sample.

Here are the steaming hot findings:

✅ High Accuracy:

An optimal f***l bile acid (FBA) cut-off of 2.8 µmol/g yielded 89.5% sensitivity and 92.0% specificity.

✅ High Prevalence Discovered:

BAM was identified in:

• 88.1% of patients with ileal 's disease

• 57.0% of post- patients

• 54.5% of patients

• 21.0% of -D and functional patients

The authors concluded that

“single spot FBA estimation……… may be a promising tool for diagnosing BAM in patients with chronic diarrhea, especially in low-resource settings….. Increasing use
of spot FBA may help diagnose more patients with BAM and
improve management of chronic diarrhea considerably. “

We finally have a promising, simple, and accessible diagnostic tool for BAM. This could help avoid inappropriate treatment and offer targeted relief for patients suffering from chronic diarrhea.

At GastroLab India Pvt. Ltd , we are committed to closing diagnostic gaps in Indian healthcare through state of the art, epidemiologically relevant testing solutions.

Share ♻️ this pathbreaking research

Link to article 👇🏽👇🏽

Mehta, S., Agarwal, S., Pachisia, A.V. et al. A single test strategy using spot f***l bile acid test may be a feasible strategy for the diagnosis of bile acid malabsorption. Indian J Gastroenterol (2026).

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12664-026-01972-y

A single test strategy using spot f***l bile acid test may be a feasible strategy for the diagnosis of bile acid malabsorption - Indian Journal of Gastroenterology Background Bile acid malabsorption (BAM) is often missed in patients with chronic diarrhea as diagnostic tests are technically challenging and not available widely. Quantitative estimation of f***l bile acids (FBA) in a single stool sample has been reported recently for the diagnosis of BAM and may....