Organic Acids Test (OAT) - Sharon Strahan

What are Organic Acids?

An Organic Acids Test (OAT) – which is a simple urine test that you can do at home but which gives a huge amount of information about the current state of your health.

The OAT examines metabolites (chemical substances produced by your metabolism) that are coming out with, and in, your urine. These metabolites can give clues about the efficiency (or lack of) of your internal cellular processes, as well as gut microbes. It gives clues if we have a blockage, nutritional insufficiencies, and/or bacterial overgrowth.

Organic acids are the by-products of cellular metabolism, i.e. your cellular metabolism is made up of certain steps of certain biochemical reactions and pathways based on your bodyʼs needs. So if my body needs energy, for example, certain metabolic reactions down a pathway occur to create that energy. Or if I need to break down the food I eat, there are certain metabolic chemical reactions down that pathway to do so. And in creating those different metabolic pathways, certain acids are used and/or produced. They range from acetic acid, butyric acid, oxalic acid, lactic acid, malic acid, uric acid, citric acid and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_acid

But sometimes, those metabolic pathways donʼt work the way they should! Because of a nutrient deficiency or an inherited block, they go down DIFFERENT pathways in trying to create the same end result, but which can be inefficient or problematic. And what comes out in your urine via the organic acids reveals so much of what can be going on inside you thatʼs inefficient or needs help. This can often highlight the cause of a health problem.

This figure illustrates a well-functioning metabolic pathway. Molecule A is converted to Molecule B by the enzyme AB. Molecule B is converted to Molecule C by the enzyme BC and so on, all the way down the metabolic pathway. Many enzymes require nutrient co-factors such as specific vitamins and minerals in order to perform their functions in converting one molecule to another.

If one or more of these specific nutrients are not available in adequate amounts, important reactions cannot occur as well as they should. This illustration shows what happens when the nutrient is not present in adequate amounts so that enzyme AB functions inefficiently. A small amount of Molecule A is converted to Molecule B and the remainder builds up and spills into the urine. Notice that Molecules C through D downstream are also affected.