Giardia lamblia

check icon Optimal Result: 0 - 400 Units.

What is Giardia lamblia?

Giardia lamblia—also known as Giardia intestinalis or Giardia duodenalis—is a microscopic protozoan parasite that infects the small intestine. It is one of the most common causes of parasitic gastrointestinal infections worldwide, affecting both children and adults.

Giardia spreads through contaminated water, food, or surfaces, and is especially common in areas with poor sanitation or in people who travel, camp, or drink untreated water.

On stool testing panels like the Vibrant Wellness Gut Zoomer, Giardia lamblia is included to detect active parasitic infections that may be causing symptoms like diarrhea, fatigue, or malabsorption.


How Does Giardia lamblia Affect the Body?

When you ingest Giardia cysts (the infective form), they travel to your small intestine, where they hatch into trophozoites—motile forms that attach to the intestinal lining. There, they can interfere with nutrient absorption, digestive enzyme function, and gut barrier integrity.

The resulting infection, known as giardiasis, may be either symptomatic or asymptomatic. Even without symptoms, Giardia can still disrupt the microbiome and trigger inflammation.

What If Giardia lamblia Is Not Detected?

A “not detected” result is the normal and healthy finding. It means no Giardia organisms or DNA were found in your stool sample. This suggests you do not currently have an active infection with Giardia lamblia.

If you’re experiencing gastrointestinal symptoms despite a negative result, your practitioner may consider other causes such as:

  • Other parasites, pathogens, or dysbiosis

  • Food sensitivities

  • Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)

  • Pancreatic enzyme insufficiency or bile issues


How to Prevent Giardia Infection

To reduce your risk of giardiasis:

  • Avoid drinking untreated water (especially when hiking, camping, or traveling)

  • Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly

  • Practice good hand hygiene, especially after using the bathroom or changing diapers

  • Avoid swallowing water from pools, lakes, or rivers

  • Treat household members if needed—reinfection is common if not all carriers are treated


Final Thoughts

Giardia lamblia is a treatable parasitic infection, but it can significantly disrupt digestion and long-term gut health if left unaddressed. If detected on your Gut Zoomer or stool analysis, it’s important to seek treatment and follow up with microbiome repair strategies to restore full digestive function.

What does it mean if your Giardia lamblia result is too high?

What Does It Mean If Giardia lamblia Is Detected?

A positive test for Giardia lamblia indicates an active parasitic infection. This means the organism or its DNA was found in your stool sample, confirming colonization or infection of your intestinal tract.

Even if symptoms are mild or absent, Giardia should be addressed, because:

  • It can lead to chronic gut inflammation

  • It may impair absorption of fat-soluble vitamins and iron

  • It can increase intestinal permeability (“leaky gut”)

  • It may trigger long-term IBS-like symptoms after infection

  • It’s contagious, especially in daycare or shared living environments


How is Giardia Treated?

Giardia is typically treated with prescription antiparasitic medications. Common options include:

  • Metronidazole

  • Tinidazole

  • Nitazoxanide

In many cases, a short course (5–10 days) is effective at eliminating the parasite.

In addition to medication, functional and integrative approaches may include:

  • Probiotics to support gut flora restoration

  • Digestive enzymes to aid recovery from malabsorption

  • Herbal antimicrobials (e.g., berberine, oregano oil, garlic) under professional supervision

  • Gut-healing nutrients, such as L-glutamine, zinc carnosine, and aloe vera

You should also:

  • Avoid alcohol during treatment

  • Hydrate well and eat a gentle, anti-inflammatory diet

  • Clean your home and personal items thoroughly to prevent reinfection

All Your Lab Results.
One Simple Dashboard.

Laboratories

Bring All Your Lab Results Together — In One Place

We accept reports from any lab, so you can easily collect and organize all your health information in one secure spot.

lab corp logo
genova diagnostics logo
quest diagnostics logo
dutch test logo
doctors data logo
vibrant america logo
diagnostic solutions logo
zrt laboratory logo
the great plains laboratory logo
cyrex laboratories logo
spectracell logo

Pricing Table

decoration

Personal plans

$15/ month

Complete Plan

Access your lab reports, explanations, and tracking tools.

  • Import lab results from any provider
  • Track all results with visual tools
  • Customize your reference ranges
  • Export your full lab history anytime
  • Share results securely with anyone
  • Begin with first report entered
  • Cancel or upgrade anytime

$250/ once

Unlimited Account

Pay once, access everything—no monthly fees, no limits.

  • Import lab results from any provider
  • Track all results with visual tools
  • Customize your reference ranges
  • Export your full lab history anytime
  • Share results securely with anyone
  • Receive 10 reports entered for you
  • Skip the $15/month subscription — no recurring payments ever

$45/ month

Pro Monthly

Designed for professionals managing their clients' lab reports

  • Import lab results from any provider
  • Track lab results for multiple clients
  • Customize reference ranges per client
  • Export lab histories and reports
  • Begin with first report entered by us
  • Cancel or upgrade anytime

About membership

What's included in a Healthmatters membership

microscope icon Import Lab Results from Any Source

person icon See Your Health Timeline

book icon Understand What Your Results Mean

textbook icon

textbook icon Visualize Your Results

folder icon

folder icon

card icon Securely Share With Anyone You Trust

Let Your Lab Results Tell the Full Story

What Healthmatters Members Are Saying

5 stars rating

I have been using Healthmatters.io since 2021. I travel all over the world and use different doctors and health facilities. This site has allowed me to consolidate all my various test results over 14 years in one place. And every doctor that I show this to has been impressed. Because with  any health professional I talk to, I can pull up historical results in seconds. It is invaluable. Even going back to the same doctor, they usually do not have the historical results from their facility in a graph format. That has been very helpful.

Anthony

Unlimited Plan Member since 2021

5 stars rating

What fantastic service and great, easy-to-follow layouts! I love your website; it makes it so helpful to see patterns in my health data. It's truly a pleasure to use. I only wish the NHS was as organized and quick as Healthmatters.io. You've set a new standard for health tracking!

Karin

Advanced Plan Member since 2020

5 stars rating

As a PRO member and medical practitioner, Healthmatters.io has been an invaluable tool for tracking my clients' data. The layout is intuitive, making it easy to monitor trends and spot patterns over time. The ability to customize reports and charts helps me present information clearly to my clients, improving communication and outcomes. It's streamlined my workflow, saving me time and providing insights at a glance. Highly recommended for any practitioner looking for a comprehensive and user-friendly solution to track patient labs!

Paul

Healthmatters Pro Member since 2024

Use promo code to save 10% off any plan.

Frequently asked questions

Healthmatters is a personal health dashboard that helps you organize and understand your lab results. It collects and displays your medical test data from any lab in one secure, easy-to-use platform.

  • Individuals who want to track and understand their health over time.
  • Health professionals, such as doctors, nutritionists, and wellness coaches, need to manage and interpret lab data for their clients.

With a Healthmatters account, you can:

  • Upload lab reports from any lab
  • View your data in interactive graphs, tables, and timelines
  • Track trends and monitor changes over time
  • Customize your reference ranges
  • Export and share your full lab history
  • Access your results anytime, from any device

Professionals can also analyze client data more efficiently and save time managing lab reports.

Healthmatters.io personal account provides in-depth research on 4000+ biomarkers, including information and suggestions for test panels such as, but not limited to:

  • The GI Effects® Comprehensive Stool Profile,
  • GI-MAP,
  • The NutrEval FMV®,
  • The ION Profile,
  • Amino Acids Profile,
  • Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH),
  • Organic Acids Test,
  • Organix Comprehensive Profile,
  • Toxic Metals,
  • Complete Blood Count (CBC),
  • Metabolic panel,
  • Thyroid panel,
  • Lipid Panel,
  • Urinalysis,
  • And many, many more.

You can combine all test reports inside your Healthmatters account and keep them in one place. It gives you an excellent overview of all your health data. Once you retest, you can add new results and compare them.

If you are still determining whether Healthmatters support your lab results, the rule is that if you can test it, you can upload it to Healthmatters.

shield icon

We implement proven measures to keep your data safe.

At HealthMatters, we're committed to maintaining the security and confidentiality of your personal information. We've put industry-leading security standards in place to help protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of the information under our control. We use procedural, physical, and electronic security methods designed to prevent unauthorized people from getting access to this information. Our internal code of conduct adds additional privacy protection. All data is backed up multiple times a day and encrypted using SSL certificates. See our Privacy Policy for more details.

gdpr compliance image hipaa compliance image