Specialty Testing Guide › GI-MAP Gut Testing
After your GI-MAP comes back, your clinician reviews it alongside your symptoms, history and bloodwork, sorts the findings by importance, and turns them into a medical, nutritional and lifestyle plan. At YoungerMeMD that interpretation and planning are included in membership.
A good results visit does not treat every flagged number. Some findings need standard medical care, some need watching, and some are normal variation. Here is what the visit covers, how a gut plan is built, and which results should send you to a gastroenterologist or your primary care doctor.
Key takeaways
- Results are read in the context of your symptoms, not one marker at a time.
- H. pylori, a high calprotectin, a stool blood signal or a true pathogen take priority and may mean referral.
- Many flagged organisms are common in healthy people and do not need treatment.
- Any treatment the clinic offers, including peptide options, is discussed with its evidence and limits stated plainly.
What the results visit covers
Expect your clinician to go through the report section by section: pathogens, H. pylori, commensal and opportunistic bacteria, yeast, parasites, and the stool markers for digestion, immune response and inflammation.1 For a walkthrough of each section, see how to read GI-MAP results.
The visit can be in person in Conshohocken or by telehealth if you are located in Pennsylvania. Bring a list of your current medicines and supplements, any recent antibiotics, and notes on how your symptoms have changed since you collected the sample.
Step one: findings that need standard care
Some results are handled by established guidelines, and the plan should follow them.
- H. pylori: a positive result should be confirmed and treated following the American College of Gastroenterology guideline, which also calls for a test after treatment to confirm the infection is gone. See H. pylori on a GI-MAP.
- High calprotectin: this inflammation marker is well studied for telling inflammatory bowel disease apart from IBS. A meta-analysis found that a calprotectin of 40 micrograms per gram or less made inflammatory bowel disease very unlikely in people with IBS symptoms, so higher values deserve a gastroenterologist's review.2
- Stool blood signal: any positive blood marker should lead to a colonoscopy discussion, not a supplement plan.
- Clear pathogens: organisms such as Giardia or C. difficile genes, especially with active diarrhea, need prompt medical review.
Step two: findings that are context-dependent
Much of a GI-MAP report falls into a grey zone. Organisms such as Blastocystis and Candida are found in many healthy people, and a commensal bacterium slightly below range is not a diagnosis. Our article on parasites on a stool test explains why.
Dr. Varano's view is that microbiome disturbance has some connection to metabolic problems and links to IBS and mood, and that some patients test positive for an imbalance while having no symptoms at all. That is exactly why your symptoms, not the report alone, decide what gets treated.
How a gut plan is built
A plan usually combines a few elements, adjusted to what the results and your history show:
- Medical steps: treating confirmed infections, reviewing medicines that affect the gut, and referring when a finding needs a specialist.
- Nutrition: changes aimed at your specific symptoms, such as fiber adjustments or a time-limited, guided diet trial, rather than long lists of banned foods.
- Lifestyle: sleep, stress and activity, which all affect gut symptoms.
- Follow-up: visits to check how you respond and adjust the plan. Members get 3 to 4 visits a year plus support between visits.
Be cautious about routine probiotics. The American Gastroenterological Association recommends probiotics for IBS only in the context of a clinical trial, because the evidence is not strong enough to recommend them for routine use.3
Treatment options and retesting
The clinic treats SIBO, although it does not test for it; a SIBO diagnosis comes from a breath test arranged elsewhere.
YoungerMeMD also offers oral BPC-157 and KPV peptides as part of gut care. These are options a clinician may discuss, not proven treatments. A 2026 systematic review found only three small human studies of BPC-157 for any use, none of them in gut disease, and rated the certainty of the evidence as very low.4 Ask your clinician to explain the evidence, the unknowns and the alternatives before you decide.
A formal gut health program is being developed at the clinic. Ask our team for current details.
A repeat GI-MAP is not automatic. It makes sense when it will answer a clear question, for example whether a treated pathogen has gone, and less sense as a routine check on organisms that were never causing harm. Retest pricing is not published, so ask our team.
Booking and questions
If you have not started yet, the GI-MAP is a $404 add-on to the $599 assessment, added at checkout on our payment page. Membership is $279 per month and includes interpretation and planning; the test kit is billed separately. Questions about your results or next steps? Contact our team.
Frequently asked questions
Will I need supplements after my results?
Not necessarily. A plan may involve none, and any suggestion should come with a clear reason tied to your symptoms and findings.
What if my results are mostly normal but I still feel unwell?
A normal GI-MAP does not rule out IBS, celiac disease, SIBO or other conditions. Your clinician should look at what else could explain your symptoms and refer when needed.
Do I need to see a gastroenterologist?
If you have a high calprotectin, a positive blood marker, alarm symptoms or a confirmed infection that needs specialist care, yes. Your clinician will tell you when a referral is the right step.
Related reading
This article is for general education and is not medical advice. Decisions about testing and treatment should be made with your clinician. If you have severe symptoms, call 911. For a suspected poisoning, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222.
