GI-MAP Stool Test

What this test actually measures

Traditional stool testing worked by culture, meaning you take a sample, try to grow whatever is in it, and see what appears.

That approach has an obvious problem. A great many gut organisms are anaerobic and simply will not grow on a plate, so a culture reports what was culturable rather than what was there.

The GI-MAP uses PCR instead, amplifying and quantifying DNA. It does not need the organism to survive the journey or grow in a dish, because it is reading genetic material directly.

That gets you quantified levels of bacteria across the commensal and opportunistic ranges, yeast including candida species, parasites, and some antibiotic resistance genes.

It also reports functional markers rather than only inhabitants: pancreatic elastase for digestive enzyme output, secretory IgA for gut immune activity, calprotectin for intestinal inflammation, and steatocrit for fat absorption. Those are frequently the most actionable numbers on the report, because they describe how the gut is working rather than only who is living there.

What it answers, and the question it is not asking

Let me be useful about scope, because this is where stool testing gets over-read.

A stool sample reflects the large intestine. That is where the great majority of your gut microbes live, and it is a legitimate and informative thing to map.

It is not measuring your small intestine. And small intestinal overgrowth is a distinct condition with a distinct symptom pattern, typically bloating within thirty to sixty minutes of eating, because fermentation is happening much higher up than it should.

A 2025 review in Nutrients described small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and small intestinal fungal overgrowth, the latter driven primarily by candida species, as distinct yet often overlapping conditions presenting with bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and malabsorption. It noted bacterial overgrowth is diagnosed by jejunal aspirates or breath tests, while the fungal version relies on fungal culture from small intestinal aspirates and lacks standardised protocols.

So if your symptoms point at the small intestine, the GI-MAP is a useful companion rather than the answering test, and breath testing arranged through a provider is what addresses that question.

The second thing worth saying plainly is that a microbiome report is not a diagnosis. Reference ranges for many gut organisms are less well established than for a blood marker, and a value flagged high does not automatically mean it is causing your symptoms. The functional markers, elastase, calprotectin and secretory IgA, are generally the more solid ground.

Which is exactly why this test rewards being read by someone. A GI-MAP interpreted alone tends to produce a supplement list. Interpreted with a practitioner alongside your symptoms and your blood work, it produces a plan.

Test details

What is measured: bacterial, yeast and parasite DNA quantified by PCR, alongside markers of digestion, inflammation and immune function.

Sample: stool.

Provider: Diagnostic Solutions Laboratory, ordered through Jess's practitioner dispensary.

Fasting: not required. Collection instructions come with the kit, and there are usually medication and supplement timing notes worth reading before you collect.

Turnaround: results typically within a few business days of the sample reaching the lab.

Order this test.

How the pricing works

I want to be straightforward about this, because lab pricing in the wellness industry frequently is not.

Jess takes no markup on the test itself. The lab cost is passed through exactly as it comes. What you pay is the test cost, the dispensary's service fee, the authorization fee, the collection fee where one applies, a flat handling fee for placing and managing the order, and the card processing cost. The handling fee is the part that is Jess's, and it is flat regardless of how expensive the test is.

That structure is deliberate. A percentage markup on labs creates an incentive to recommend expensive tests, and this way there is not one.

The full lab menu shows everything available, and the order page itemises every fee before you pay.

Who this test is worth running for

Anyone with persistent digestive symptoms that have not been explained: bloating, irregular bowel habits, abdominal discomfort, or symptoms that clearly track with food.

It is particularly worth it when gut symptoms come with something apparently unrelated, because absorption sits upstream of everything. Low ferritin, low B12 or low vitamin D3 in someone eating well is evidence about the gut, and this test is one way of asking why.

One sequencing point that matters more than the test itself. If you have never had coeliac serology, get that first and get it while you are still eating gluten, since removing gluten beforehand makes the result unreliable. That is an autoimmune condition with its own risks and follow-up, and it should not be missed underneath a microbiome report.

Ordering restrictions

The lab network cannot issue orders to residents of New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, or Hawaii. New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island prohibit direct-to-consumer lab testing outright, requiring a treating provider's signature on every requisition. Hawaii is excluded by the network. This is tied to where you live, not where the sample is collected, so it applies to kits as well as draws.

If you live in one of those four states, your doctor can order the same test.

What to do with the result

Start with the functional markers rather than the organism list. Pancreatic elastase, calprotectin and secretory IgA describe how your gut is working, and they are the most solid ground on the report.

If calprotectin is raised, that is intestinal inflammation and it belongs with a doctor, since it is one of the markers used to distinguish inflammatory bowel disease from other causes.

Do not treat an organism list as a shopping list. A flagged value is a finding rather than a prescription, and antimicrobial protocols aimed at a report rather than a person are how people end up worse.

If your bloating arrives within an hour of eating, ask a provider about breath testing as well, since that is the small intestinal question this test does not answer.

Take the report to someone who reads it with the rest of you. A good functional medicine doctor, alongside your symptoms and your blood markers. That is what turns this from a document into a direction.