The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA) is a series of advanced stool tests that provide detailed insights into your gut health. Available in four progressive levels, each test builds upon the previous one to give you increasingly comprehensive information about your digestive system, microbiome, and overall gut function. You'll receive your results in around two weeks after the lab receives your sample.
Select the level that best matches your health goals and the depth of testing you need:
CDSA Level 1 – Foundation
What's Included: Complete microbiology screening (bacteria, yeasts, parasites), beneficial bacteria assessment, pathogen detection, and stool appearance analysis.
Best for: Basic gut health screening and identifying imbalances in your microbiome.
CDSA Level 2 – Enhanced
The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA Level 2) includes everything from CDSA Level 1, plus a deeper look at digestive efficiency, absorption, metabolism, and detoxification markers.
Best for: Understanding how well your body digests and absorbs nutrients.
🔹 Digestive Function
Adds key markers that assess how well your digestive system is breaking down and processing food:
- Chymotrypsin — evaluates pancreatic enzyme output and protein digestion.
- Meat and vegetable fibres — indicate maldigestion or low stomach acid.
- Putrefactive short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) — show whether undigested protein is fermenting in the bowel, suggesting protein malabsorption or bacterial imbalance.
🔹 Absorption Markers
Measures how effectively nutrients and fats are absorbed:
- Stool triglycerides, cholesterol, phospholipids, and long-chain fatty acids help identify fat malabsorption or inadequate bile or pancreatic enzyme function.
🔹 Metabolic & Detoxification Markers
Explores how well your gut flora and colon are functioning:
- Total beneficial SCFAs — indicate fermentation activity of good bacteria.
- Butyrate, acetate, and propionate levels — reflect colon health and microbial balance.
- β-Glucuronidase — assesses detoxification efficiency; elevated levels may interfere with toxin clearance.
- pH — reveals the overall gut environment, influencing flora balance and SCFA production.
CDSA Level 3 – Advanced
The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA Level 3) builds on Levels 1 and 2 by adding advanced enzyme, biochemical, and antimicrobial sensitivity testing to provide the most complete picture of your digestive health.
Best for: Comprehensive gut assessment with targeted treatment guidance.
🔹 Pancreatic Function & Digestive Markers
Adds Pancreatic Elastase-1, a key marker of exocrine pancreatic function — useful for identifying mild pancreatic insufficiency even before symptoms are obvious.
Also continues to measure chymotrypsin, meat/vegetable fibres, and putrefactive SCFAs to evaluate how well your stomach acid, bile, and enzymes are digesting food.
🔹 Enhanced Absorption & Metabolic Assessment
Includes all fat-absorption markers from Level 2 plus biochemical measures that reflect bacterial fermentation, pH balance, and detoxification activity:
- Total beneficial SCFAs, butyrate, acetate & propionate — show microbial balance and colon health.
- β-Glucuronidase — assesses detoxification efficiency; high levels can interfere with toxin clearance.
- pH — identifies gut acidity shifts linked with dysbiosis or malabsorption.
🔹 Expanded Microbiology & Pathogen Detection
In addition to Level 2 testing for bacteria, yeasts, and parasites, Level 3 also reports:
- Antibiotic sensitivities for bacterial isolates (e.g. ciprofloxacin, gentamycin, tetracycline).
- Antifungal sensitivities for detected yeasts, including both pharmaceutical and natural agents such as nystatin, berberine, garlic, and uva-ursi. This helps guide targeted antimicrobial or natural support strategies where clinically indicated.
🔹 Comprehensive Bacterial & Yeast Profile
Quantifies both beneficial species (Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, E. coli) and potential opportunists (e.g. Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Citrobacter), alongside Candida and other yeasts.
When relevant, guidance is provided for addressing imbalances and supporting recolonisation.
CDSA Level 4 – Complete
The Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA Level 4+) is the most complete gut test in our range. It builds on Levels 1–3 with detailed assessment of gut inflammation, immune activity, infection markers, and tumour screening, giving a truly comprehensive picture of digestive and intestinal health.
Best for: The most complete gut health assessment including inflammation and early disease detection.
🔹 Inflammation & Immune Markers
Adds sensitive indicators of gut inflammation and immune response:
- Faecal Calprotectin – distinguishes inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from IBS; elevated results reflect active intestinal inflammation.
- Eosinophil Protein X – reflects allergic or eosinophilic inflammation.
- Transglutaminase IgA – a stool-based screen for coeliac disease activity and gluten sensitivity. These biomarkers help identify inflammatory or autoimmune processes affecting the digestive tract.
🔹 Tumour & Ulcer Screening
Adds early-detection markers for gastrointestinal tumour or ulcer activity:
- M2-Pyruvate Kinase (M2-PK) – a tumour-associated enzyme used to detect adenomas or colorectal cancer, even when bleeding isn’t visible.
- Occult Blood and macro/microscopic RBC detection – identify hidden bleeding in the GI tract. These provide non-invasive insights into potential structural or neoplastic changes in the gut.
🔹 Infection Markers
Expands on Level 3 microbial screening by including:
- Helicobacter pylori antigen – indicates current infection (useful for gastritis, reflux, or ulcers).
- Full parasite antigen testing (Giardia, Cryptosporidium, Entamoeba histolytica, Blastocystis hominis) with confirmation that results are DNA-negative if no organisms are detected.
🔹 Digestive, Absorptive & Metabolic Markers
Level 4 continues to include all digestive and microbiological markers from Levels 1–3 — including Pancreatic Elastase-1, Chymotrypsin, SCFAs, β-Glucuronidase, pH, bacterial balance, and antibiotic/natural antifungal sensitivities — to give a complete profile of digestion, absorption, and microbial health.
