Food Marble, an Irish company providing digital digestive health solutions, has launched the Aire 2, a second-generation personal breath testing device. An at-home test solution that assists in diagnosing and managing digestive issues, the original Aire offers an immediate analysis of hydrogen breath levels. The Aire 2 tests hydrogen and methane levels to better understand how specific foods affect the user’s digestion.

Aire 2 helps individuals with small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) identify foods that trigger symptoms so they can avoid them. The device pairs with a mobile app in which users can track breath measurements and log meals, symptoms, sleep, and stress. Food Marble facilitates secure transmission of results to health care providers to assist with diagnosis. This data also supports providers and patients in designing a personalized management plan for IBS or SIBO.

Excessive fermentation is a hallmark of SIBO and contributes to other digestive symptoms, including gas, constipation, and abdominal pain. Hydrogen is a common metabolite in gut fermentation; although it’s less common, people who produce methane have unique digestive concerns, often leading to constipation. Trace amounts of these metabolites are present in the breath after food consumption.

Since Aire 2 identifies the presence of both hydrogen and methane metabolites, it can help methane-producing users understand their trigger food profile. Food Marble offers a food intolerance testing kit to use with the Aire 2. This kit identifies digestive reactions to four common fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and polyols (FODMAPs) such as lactose, fructose, sorbitol, and inulin.

A 2019 study confirmed that Aire results match the accuracy of the gold standard in medical hydrogen breath tests. An ongoing large-scale clinical trial at Johns Hopkins Medicine began in August 2020.