Breath biomarkers and the exposome
Biomarkers in human body fluids provide a window into the biochemistry and its interactions with the environment, defined as the “human exposome.” Understanding the exposome addresses the observation that an estimated 70%-90% of long-term latency and chronic human disease is attributable directly or indirectly to environmental factors through gene-environment interactions. This chapter provides a general overview of breath composition and existing breath-based tests, and introduces and addresses how the “breath exposome” could help interpret human health state. The ultimate purpose in exploring the exposome is to observe specific perturbations to improve health screening and disease interventions. In contrast to blood or urine, exhaled breath has strategic advantages in that sample collection is noninvasive, does not require medical personnel, privacy, or a clinical environment, and does not typically generate potentially infectious waste. These features are especially important when collecting many hundreds of samples to foster simplicity in the field and acceptance by individuals.
