The Indican Urine Test:
What It Is, What Your Results Mean, and How to Support Your Gut Health at Home
When it comes to understanding your health, most of us are familiar with blood tests, stool tests, and even saliva hormone panels. But there’s one lesser-known tool that can reveal a surprising amount about your gut function — the Indican urine test. It’s simple, inexpensive, and can point to issues that may be flying under the radar.
If you’ve been struggling with bloating, fatigue, unexplained joint pain, skin breakouts, or brain fog, this test can provide valuable clues.
Let’s dive into what it is, why it matters, what your results mean, and what you can do to support your body based on those results — all from home.
What Is the Indican Urine Test?
The Indican urine test measures the amount of indoxyl sulfate (also called indican) in your urine. Indican is a by-product of protein breakdown by certain gut bacteria.
Here’s the simplified chain of events:
- You eat protein.
- Your stomach and small intestine break it down into amino acids, including tryptophan
- If your small intestine is functioning well, most of that tryptophan is absorbed and used by your body to make serotonin, melatonin, and other beneficial compounds.
- But if your digestion is off — especially if you have protein putrefaction in the gut — some tryptophan travels undigested to the large intestine.
- There, certain bacteria ferment it into indole.
- Your liver detoxifies indole into indoxyl sulfate (indican), which is excreted in your urine.
Bottom line: Higher levels of indican in urine can signal protein maldigestion and/or bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine.
What the Test Involves
The test is non-invasive and straightforward:
- You provide a urine sample.
- A reagent is added to detect indican levels.
- The urine changes color depending on the concentration — darker purple/blue usually means higher indican.
- A lab or at-home kit will report your result as “low,” “normal,” “moderate,” or “high
What Your Indican Urine Test Results Mean
Normal/Low Indican
What it means: Your protein digestion and gut bacterial balance appear to be functioning well. Protein is being broken down and absorbed in the small intestine before it reaches bacteria in the large intestine.
Possible causes of very low levels: In rare cases, abnormally low indican can be due to extremely low protein intake or poor dietary diversity, but most of the time, low/normal is a good sign.
Moderate to High Indican
What it means: Protein is not being fully digested in the small intestine, and bacteria are fermenting it in the large intestine, producing more indole. This can be a sign of:
- Hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid)
- Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO)
- Pancreatic enzyme insufficiency
- Food intolerances (especially to proteins like dairy or gluten)
- Poor diet quality (too much processed protein or low fiber)
- Sluggish bowel transit time (constipation, slow motility)
- Chronic stress impairing digestion
Symptoms Often Linked to Elevated Indican Levels
While symptoms vary, many people with high indican report:
- Gas, bloating, abdominal discomfort
- Foul-smelling stools or urine
- Fatigue after meals
- Brain fog
- Skin rashes or acne
- Mood changes, anxiety, or irritability
This makes sense, because bacterial protein fermentation can produce not just indole but other toxic by-products like ammonia and phenols, which can burden the liver and nervous system.
What You Can Do at Home to Improve Your Results
If your Indican urine test comes back high, the goal is to improve protein digestion and rebalance gut bacteria. You can often make significant progress with diet and lifestyle changes.
1. Support Stomach Acid Production
Low stomach acid is a common driver of poor protein digestion. To help, you can eat slowly and chew thoroughly, avoid drinking large amounts of water with meals (a few sips are fine), add lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to salads or drink small diluted amounts before a meal, take a betaine HCl supplement
2. Optimize Digestive Enzymes
Your pancreas releases proteases to break down proteins. If enzyme production is low, consider, eating more raw fruit/veggies containing natural enzymes (pineapple, papaya, kiwi) and take a high-quality digestive enzyme supplement with protease.
3. Rebalance Gut Bacteria
If bacterial overgrowth is part of the problem, aim to increase fiber from vegetables and low-sugar fruits, include fermented foods (sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir) if tolerated, avoid excessive sugar, refined carbs and alcohol which fee harmful bacteria, and consider a targeted probiotic such as Akkermansia
4. Improve Protein Quality and Cooking Methods
Choose clean, minimally processed protein sources (grass-fed meat, wild fish, pasture-raised eggs, organic legumes if tolerated), avoid overcooked or charred meat, which is harder to digest and distribute protein evenly throughout the day, rather than in one large meal.
5. Support Liver Detoxification
Since your liver processes indole into indican, eat more cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale) to support detox pathways, stay hydrated, limit alcohol and unnecessary medications that burden the liver.
6. Address Stress and Meal Environment
Digestion works best in a parasympathetic (“rest and digest”) state. To activate the parasympathetic state, take a few deep breaths before meals, eat without screens or multitasking and practice stress-reducing activities, such as walking, stretching, meditation and yoga.
7. Keep Things Moving
Slow bowel transit time increases bacterial fermentation of proteins. To ensure things move properly, stay active and increase fiber gradually and hydrate well. The goal is to have a complete bowel movement every day.
When to Seek Professional Help
If your indican levels remain high despite dietary improvements, or if you have ongoing digestive distress, testing for SIBO, pancreatic insufficiency, celiac disease, or food intolerances may be the next step. A functional medicine or integrative practitioner can guide targeted treatment.
The Takeaway
The Indican urine test may not be as widely known as other digestive health tools, but it’s a valuable window into how well you’re breaking down and absorbing protein — and whether your gut bacteria are in balance.
High indican levels are often a sign that food is lingering too long in the wrong part of your digestive tract, feeding bacteria that produce unwanted toxins. The good news? In many cases, you can make meaningful improvements at home by:
- Supporting stomach acid and enzymes
- Choosing quality proteins
- Encouraging healthy gut motility and balance