Is the Organic Acid Test Accurate?

Have you ever questioned the reliability or accuracy of the urinary organic acid test?
Thousands of practitioners are running it and using it to make clinical decisions and nutritional interventions in their patients and clients.
But, how accurate is it really?
We're going to take a quick look at that today by looking specifically at some of the citric acid metabolites that are found with urinary organic acid test.
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KEY MOMENTS IN THE EPISODE:
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0:34 Where does urine come from?
0:55 Citric Acid Metabolites
1:28 Citric Acid Cycle
1:57 Mitochondria
3:30 Journey of the CAC Metabolites
4:50 Scientific Literature Review
8:05 CAC Metabolites and Micronutrient Deficiency
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ABOUT DR. BRYAN WALSH
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Dr. Walsh has been studying human physiology and nutrition for over 25 years and has been educating others in health for 20 of those years. When he isn’t teaching, he spends his time pouring over the latest research and synthesizing his findings into practical information for clinicians to use in practice. Dr. Walsh is best known for his expertise in biochemistry and human physiology, which allows him to (happily) dismantle the myths and misconceptions in the functional medicine industry and replace them with the truth. His work is most often described as, “the functional medicine education you always wanted, but never received".
www.metabolicfitnesspro.com
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[@gutmicrobiomequeen]

Honestly, it's really depressing how many *BS tests* there are in the functional medicine world. And doctors (supposedly some of the smartest among us) fall for them hook line and sinker without doing any research. I've always been skeptical of OATs, but have had limited success in getting proponents of the test to change their minds. Thank you for producing these wonderful, insightful videos for all of us to learn from and refer to!
I would love to see a similar video on the yeast/fungal metabolites next! I've been meaning to do exactly that on my channel, but haven't gotten to the task yet, but something tells me you've already done that research ;)
Thanks again, doc!
Your fan in NC,
Nikki

[@gaybuck1077]

You are amazing! As a patient, I did dozens of OATS, which would come back normal for most markers, even though I was very unwell.
Never did I have the ability to question the validity of such a test. It seemed like the OAT could reveal so much, but was left wanting.

[@edyt.8761]

Dr. Walsh, thank you so much for this explanation!

[@RobertSelig]

Every lab test is one snapshot in time at that very moment a sample was collected and should never solely be used as an indicator for anything, but possibly give a clue or a window into the biochemistry. I think the Hair mineral analysis/HTMA is still the best bang for the buck regarding labs, but this still is not the only lab for prescribing. Still, it does give us the most information into the mineral matrix and the toxic elements as we profile our patients gathering the clues so that we can make better clinical decisions to improve the nutrient status and detoxification programs.

[@DA-gi6gs]

Thanks this is interesting as I have questioned this test myself as a practitioner and as a patient this did not correlate to any of the clinical findings and symptoms nor did it relate to any other functional lab test that has been run. For example patient with severe ME and myalgia and complaining of lactic acid among other mitrochondrial dysfunction symptoms the test came back with no deficiencies?
So without clinical correlation I question this. Also am I right in saying that it’s via a computer generated machine? Would love to hear more of this although I have 25 years as a medic I am new to functional medicine thanks

[@DrBryanWalsh]

If you were to look into the scientific literature at all of the markers found on these tests, a handful of the markers appear to be accurate and therefore have clinical relevance (urinary vitamin C, for example). Others, however, appear to be woefully inaccurate and unreliable for what it purports to measure, making them basically useless as any kind of diagnostic marker for clinical or nutritional decision-making.

[@AmandaJ77]

I’m suffering from mold toxicity and have developed multiple chemical sensitivities. I’ve yet to find a doctor who can help me but from my research it seems this test would be standard for someone like me. What would you recommend I have tested to help me detox?

[@officeimpact6377]

What test do you recommend then? Do you recommend a stool test like Eric bakker?