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Breath tests diagnose diseases by analyzing air expelled from the lungs. Common types include breathalyzers, exhaled nitric oxide tests, hydrogen breath tests, and urea breath tests. Hippocrates recognized the relationship between breath and health, and Linus Pauling found 250 chemicals in human breath. Breathalyzers determine blood alcohol content, while other tests identify asthma, dietary diseases, and peptic ulcer disease.
Breath tests are medical testing procedures that measure and diagnose disease by analyzing the air expelled from the lungs. There are several common types of breath tests, including breathalyzers, exhaled nitric oxide tests, hydrogen breath tests, and urea breath tests. With each of these procedures, a patient’s breath as they exhale is examined using special diagnostic tools, allowing for the monitoring and identification of various ailments, including asthma, dietary diseases, and peptic ulcer disease.
The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was one of the first scholars to recognize the relationship between breath and health. Hippocrates deduced that bad breath could be indicative of a disease. This pioneering idea set the stage for breath studies that took place over the next few centuries, reaching their peak in the 1970s. It was then that Linus Pauling, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, found 250 chemicals in human breath. Since then, research has continued and nearly 1,000 chemicals have been successfully identified.
It is these chemicals that are analyzed during a breath test. A patient breathes into the test unit, usually through a small tube, and the breath sample is collected and sent for testing. Many breath tests are administered over a very short period of time, approximately 5 to 15 minutes apart, and are noninvasive procedures.
A breathalyzer is the best known type of breath test. These machines determine an individual’s blood alcohol content through breath analysis. Breathalyzers are commonly used by law enforcement to curb drink driving, although they are also sold for home use.
In exhaled nitric oxide testing, breath tests are often administered to determine the level of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO) in the blood. It has been established that eNO levels are elevated in individuals with asthma. The eNO test can provide valuable information for making a definitive medical diagnosis of asthma. Other diseases that can be identified by an eNO test include inflammation of the airways and other respiratory problems.
Hydrogen breath tests are used to determine dietary deficiencies and diagnose diet-related diseases. The most common disorders identified by this test method are lactose intolerance, fructose intolerance and malabsorption, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth syndrome. These results are inferred by studying the levels of hydrogen, methane and other gases in the breath.
Breath tests known as urea breath tests can detect Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) organisms, which set in motion a process that can lead to degrading of the stomach lining or peptic ulcers. The test detects carbon dioxide levels in the body, which help identify the presence of H. pylori. The H. pylori is a serious medical problem and leads to half a million new stomach cancer diagnoses each year.
