Essential Blood Panels and Individual Markers

Blood testing is one of the most important assessment tools within the Functional Nutrition framework and helps with the early identification of functional disorders and for disease prevention.  It's important to have regular bloodwork (i.e., at least annually) and to look at trends in your results over time.  

Blood testing gives a snapshot of where you are on the continuum from optimal health to full-blown disease.  It can be a useful tool that allows us to gain a lot of insight into the body IF you know how to interpret the results from a functional, or "optimal" perspective.  

Correlated with your health history, this is how you start to identify issues before they become a problem.  By catching dysfunction early, a proper plan will help to correct it so that normal, healthy function can be restored.

The following is a list of the essential blood markers I recommend my clients have done.  There may be additional biomarkers needed, depending on certain symptoms or conditions. 

CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Panel):
Glucose
BUN
Creatinine
Sodium
Potassium
Chloride
Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Calcium
Phosphorus
Protein (Total)
Albumin
Globulin
Bilirubin (Total, Direct, Indirect)
Alkaline Phosphatase
LDH
AST (SGOT)
ALT (SGPT)
GGT (GGTP)

Lipid Panel:
Cholesterol (Total)
Triglycerides
HDL & LDL Cholesterol
VLDL

CBC (Complete Blood Count):
WBC
RBC
Hemoglobin
Hematocrit
MCV
MCH
MCHC
RDW
Platelets
Neutrophils %
Lymphocytes %
Monocytes %
Eosinophils %
Basophils %

Iron Panel:
Iron (Total)
Iron Binding Capacity
% Saturation
Ferritin

Thyroid Panel:
TSH
Free T4
Free T3
Reverse T3
Total T4
Total T3

Additional individual markers:
Zinc (RBC)
Magnesium (RBC)
Vitamin A
Vitamin D3
Insulin (Fasting)
Hemoglobin A1C
Homocysteine (serum) (cardiovascular inflammation marker)
Uric Acid (inflammation marker)
Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) (inflammation marker)
C-reactive protein (CRP) (inflammation marker)

If you would like to learn more about how I can help you better analyze your blood work results within the Functional Nutrition framework, click here for a free twenty-minute consultation.