Breath test for the detection of various diseases

A process for determining the presence or absence of aging in a mammal which comprises:

• collecting a representative sample of alveolar breath from the mammal;
• collecting a representative sample of ambient air;
• analyzing the samples of breath and air to determine content of n-alkanes having 2 to 20 carbon atoms inclusive;
• calculating the alveolar gradients of the n-alkanes having 2 to 20 carbon atoms, inclusive, in the breath sample in order to determine the alkane profile;
• and
• comparing the alkane profile to baseline alkane profiles calculated for mammals;
• the finding of differences in the alkane profile from the baseline alkane profile being indicative of the presence of aging.