After spending some time looking at the LabCorp website, I can only find scant information on stool testing. I did find parasite stool tests that check for basic parasites. However, based on the site, I can’t see that LabCorp offers anything in the league of Doctor’s Data or Genova diagnostics, who I deal with every day in my clinic.
That being said, I know about LabCorp because many of my US clients have LabCorp tests done, although they have primarily been blood tests.
The testing I have done through Doctor’s Data seems to be far superior to that offered by LabCorp. Doctor’s Data Laboratories offer a very useful stool test panel. In the report provided by Doctor’s Data, the bacteriology culture is found at the top of the page. This section comments on the beneficial gut flora, imbalanced flora, and harmful flora. There is also a yeast culture provided. If you went with LabCorp, you would have to do five or six separate tests to get the same information, and it would cost you a ton of money.
The Doctor’s Data comprehensive stool analysis (CSA) also screens three samples for parasites. It provides a digestion and absorption panel as well as commenting on inflammatory markets like calprotectin. An immune panel is also found in the Doctor’s Data report.
Overall, there is so much information in the Doctor’s Data test that I don’t see in a LabCorp test. We’ve got our short-chain fatty acids for colonic health. We’ve got our intestinal health markers as well.
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If you want to do a pure parasite screen looking for organisms like Salmonella, Yersinia, and Giardia, LabCorp may be sufficient. LabCorp seems oriented towards conventional medical practice compared to a functional testing lab like Doctor’s Data or Genova Diagnostics. The latter two labs are more suitable for naturopaths and traditional doctors who have training in functional medicine. Those two groups of clinicians will be used to comprehensive stool test reports. In contrast, LabCorp tends to provide pared
down information for medical doctors who tend to see GI problems as mostly related to parasites.
Most conventional doctors would never investigate beneficial bacteria in a client, which, to me, is very unfortunate. I’m discovering now that a patient’s beneficial bacteria count can be even more important than looking at yeast or parasites. I’ve come to that conclusion in the last four to five years after conducting a vast number of stool tests. I’m noticing that the balance between beneficial and harmful bacteria is particularly vital to gut health. Not many labs will do a good screen on the beneficial or expected flora. If you really want to get a proper assessment of what is happening in your digestive tract, go to Doctor’s Data or Genova Diagnostic labs.
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