Here at Stream Diagnostics we test for Fructose, Lactose, Glucose, Sucrose, Mannitol and Sorbitol malabsorption. But how are these sugars related to the FODMAPs?
Firstly FODMAP stands for Fermentable Oligosaccharides Disaccharides Monosaccharides And Polyols. This big and tongue twisting acronym can be broken down to make a little more sense. The four sugar groups in this acronym are the Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols.
What are the differences between these sugar groups? Well sugars are made up of ‘building blocks’. How many building blocks which make up one sugar determines that sugar group. For instance, Monosaccharides contain one single sugaar building block. The prefix –MONO meaning one, also helps to remember this. The monosaccharides we test at Stream Diagnostics for malabsorption are glucose and fructose.
The next sugar group, Disaccharides contain two sugar building blocks. An example of the disaccharides which we test for are Sucrose and Lactose. Lastly, here at Stream Diagnostics we also test the malabsorption of two polyols – mannitol and sorbitol. These are slightly different to other sugars as this group is considered a sugar alcohol.
As for the oligosaccharides, here at Stream we do not test sugars from this group. Why? Because sugars in this group such as Fructans and Galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) are always malabsorbed and therefore results from the test wouldn’t be helpful. Do you have any questions about this or want to know if our testing would be right for you? Give us a call today!