Low Butyrate and the Microbiome: Interpreting Short-Chain Fatty Acids and Dysbiosis Markers
Presented by Dan Kalish, DC, IFMCP | September 22, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific
Butyrate production requires a chain of organisms in the gut, some break down fiber, others produce hydrogen and a third group clears the hydrogen that would otherwise stall the whole process. When short-chain fatty acids come back low on a stool test, the number tells you the ecosystem isn't working, but not where it broke. This session walks through how the cycle works, how to read SCFA results alongside the Dysbiosis Index, what that index really measures, and which interventions actually move it.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain how fiber becomes butyrate and feeds into a cycle of GI bacteria production
- Describe the microbial hydrogen cycle and its role in the gut microbiome
- Interpret SCFA patterns in stool testing
- Identify the Dysbiosis Index and how it relates to additional findings, including GI pathogens
- Differentiate dietary strategies including soluble fiber, resistant starch, polyphenols, prebiotic powders, and supplemental butyrate and their effects on the gut microbiome
Elemental Archive: Hair as an Indicator of Toxic Exposure and Nutritional Element Status
Presented by Jeannie Gorman, MS, CCN | October 7, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific
Hair analysis provides a noninvasive matrix for evaluating longer-term patterns of exposure to toxic elements and the status of selected essential elements. This presentation will provide clinicians with an evidence-informed and practical overview of the clinical utility of hair element analysis, including how elements are incorporated into hair, factors that can influence results, and appropriate interpretation of findings. Attendees will gain a clearer understanding of what hair analysis can, and cannot indicate, and how to distinguish clinically meaningful findings from results requiring additional context or confirmation.
Participants will also explore DDI's methodology for hair element testing, including specimen collection, preparation, analytical technology, reference ranges, and quality considerations. The session will address common environmental, occupational, dietary, and supplemental sources of elemental exposure, as well as the appropriate clinical applications and limitations of hair testing. Attendees will leave with a practical framework for integrating hair element results with patient history and exposure assessment to support appropriate clinical correlation, follow-up testing, and informed patient management.
Learning Objectives:
- Explain the biological basis and rationale for using hair as a matrix for elemental assessment.
- Evaluate hair element results within the context of laboratory methodology, reference ranges, specimen collection, and potential sources of variability.
- Differentiate findings that may warrant clinical consideration from those requiring confirmation or additional context.
- Recognize when follow-up testing or additional exposure assessment may be appropriate.
Interpreting Heavy Metals: Selecting the Correct Test and Building a Clinical Plan
Presented by Dan Kalish, DC, IFMCP | October 20, 2026 at 12 PM Pacific
This webinar teaches clinicians how to select the appropriate heavy metal test: hair, urine, and blood. Using Doctor's Data's three flagship profiles, you'll learn how to differentiate chronic exposure from recent exposure, and provoked urine considerations. Once elevated metals are identified, this webinar walks through a patient's detoxification capacity through glutathione and methylation testing, and how these pathways interact. Clinicians will leave with a clear framework for building a complete clinical picture beyond the initial metals result.
Learning Objectives:
- Hair Elements vs. Urine Toxic Metals vs. Blood Metals Panel - what each matrix actually measures (chronic/cumulative exposure vs. ongoing excretion vs. acute/recent exposure), and how to select the appropriate matrix or combination of tests.
- Provoked vs. unprovoked urine testing - how chelation challenges differentiate mobilized body burden from current exposure
- Glutathione testing through Doctor's Data - why glutathione status is often the next test to run, and how glutathione drives phase II detoxification and heavy metal binding/elimination
- Methylation testing through Doctor's Data - how methylation acts as a rate-limiting step in arsenic biotransformation and other detox pathways, a major reason two patients detoxify at very different rates
- The glutathione-methylation connection - why these two pathways are biochemically linked, and why testing one without the other leaves a gap in understanding a patient's detox capacity
- The glutathione-magnesium dyad and oxidative stress - how oxidative stress suppresses methylation while simultaneously increasing glutathione demand, and why magnesium belongs in the treatment picture