The Five Most Useful Lab Tests for Measuring Your Health
As a new year approaches, it’s good idea to assess your health status and make informed decisions about what you need to do next to get your body in the best health ever.
While I feel that oft times, practitioners over-rely on lab testing and use it instead of applying clinical detective tools, like a good interview and exam, still there are many lab tests that I believe are super important to guide you to making informed decisions about what to eat, how to move, and what supplements might be needed.
The basic lab tests performed as part of the “annual physical”contain a tremendous amount of information about your nutritional status and your health…far more than most conventionally trained practitioners know to look for.
The Basic Lab Test: Understanding what “Normal” Means
The ranges used by most doctors are those calculated by the lab. Sadly, for most tests the way they decide if a value is normal or abnormal is based on the average values of all the lab tests done by that lab. So when you’re told you are “normal” what It really means is that you’re average.
I, for one, fail to feel encouraged to be told I’m average in a land where close to 50% of the people get cancer, autoimmune disease is epidemic, hormone imbalance is rampant, and heart disease and diabetes kill millions each year.
As a functional medicine practitioner, I look at optimal ranges calculated from studying healthy populations.
The List of Five Lab Tests that are Helpful Guides to Optimal Health
The following list is not meant to be comprehensive. Check with your doctor to determine the best tests for you.If you don’t have a primary care doctor or do but don’t have insurance coverage for lab tests, I suggest you check out one of the direct access labs that allow you to order your own blood tests.
The one I use is called Direct Labs – http://www.directlabs.com.
These panels are unfortunately only available in the continental U.S. excluding New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island due to state laws in these localities. If you live outside the U.S. or in one of these states, speak to your local health practitioner or seek a functional medicine doctor in your area to get help with ordering tests.
1. Comprehensive Wellness Profile (CWP)
I like to start with a comprehensive blood chemistry panel and Complete Blood Count (CBC). Direct Labs calls this the Comprehensive Wellness Profile, aka CWP. It’s a panel of over 50 tests that assesses your thyroid, kidneys, liver, cholesterol and other blood lipids (fats), minerals, fluids and electrolytes, and blood sugar.
The CWP also includes the aforementioned Complete Blood Count test, which assesses your immune system and determines if you have anemia and what kind of anemia if so.
Direct Labs usually runs a sale on this test in December. Until the end of the month, you can order this complete panel for only $59.
Click HERE for details.
Even if you’re outside the region that can Direct Labs to run the test for you, you can see what’s covered and be better informed when you speak to your local practitioner about ordering the equivalent for you.
2. Vitamin D
Next, I add Vitamin D.This is a very important test to run, as Vitamin D deficiency is very widespread due to the fear of the sun propagated by the media.Vitamin D is made by your body upon exposure to UV sunlight.Deficiency of Vitamin D can lead to widespread problems, including altered immune system function, including autoimmune disease, leaky gut, depression, hormone imbalance and much more.
3. Thyroid
If you’re tired, overweight, have dry skin, depression or constipation, your thyroid might be off.While the CWP tests thyroid, it’s not always enough.The most common cause of low thyroid function is an autoimmune condition.For this, I suggest you add to the mix 2 tests for thyroid antibodies: Thyroid Peroxidase and Antithyroglobulin.
4. Blood Sugar
If you have a history of blood sugar imbalance, hard to get rid of belly fat, fatigue, or a family history of diabetes, I also recommend additional tests to assess your blood sugar status and determine if you have a tendency towards insulin resistance or diabetes. The CWP includes fasting blood glucose, but often this is not enough to give the true blood sugar balance picture.
I recommend also running fasting insulin and hemoglobin a1C. In addition, you can purchase an inexpensive blood sugar meter at your local pharmacy or online and really get the complete picture.
5. Heart
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Sadly, for about 50% of people with heart disease the first symptom is dropping dead of a heart attack. This happened to BOTH my parents. Wouldn’t you like to know if you are at risk BEFORE a fatal event so you can take the steps to reduce your risk?
If you have a family history of cardiovascular disease, or find that your cholesterol tends to be higher than ideal, there are a couple of really useful tests. C-Reeactive Protein (CRP-hs) is a marker of inflammation in your blood vessels and homocysteine is an amino acid that plays a role in destroying the lining of your artery walls, promoting the formation of blood clots, and also accelerates the buildup of scar tissue. High levels may increase the chance of heart disease and stroke, especially if you have other risk factors such as diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, smoking, or family history.
I suggest you run CRP-hs and homocysteine tests if you feel you are at risk. There are also much more detailed and sophisticated cardiac risk tests, including one called VAP, that I order when appropriate.
Extra Tests
Extra tests I often run when indicted by symptoms and health history are the adrenal stress index and a fatty acid test to determine the balance between the oh-so-important omega 3 and 6 fats and risk for inflammatory disease.
How to Determine Which Tests You Need
When I’m working with someone one on one, I do a complete history and determine which tests would be helpful.
My Assess Your Own Body Chemistry class was designed to empower you to take charge of your own health. The program teaches you how to read your own lab work, as well as physical signs and symptoms.
We’ll be releasing the self-study version of the course in early 2012.It’s an excellent way to learn how to read your own body.
Finally, if you are overweight, crave sugar or carbs, and feel like you need to eat frequently to maintain your energy, you most likely have a blood sugar imbalance. In this case, I recommend you get yourself a glucose meter and start to track your response to foods.
The participants in my recent B4 Be Gone System learned how use a glucose meter to track their blood sugar in response to their foods and realized the tremendous value in knowing just how each food affected them. Knowing YOUR response to particular foods guides you in designing a diet that keeps your belly flat, your mind sharp and focused, and your energy high. The B4 Be Gone System will be available again for a live group setting in February 2012.
Before you get yourself tested, make a commitment to take good care of yourself. Get the white stuff out and the green stuff in.
If you’ve been feeling off or overweight in spite of a good diet, it’s time to do some testing and see what’s out of balance.
Measuring your health is the best way I know to really determine how your habits are serving you.
Watch here for more information and resources for lab testing over the next couple of months.
Tags: blood count, blood sugar, blood sugar imbalance, direct labs, heart disease, immune system, lab test, lab testing, thyroid, Vitamin D
Posted in Health Coach, Lab Testing, Vibrant Health
Vitamin D, Bone Health, Cancer and the Importance of Testing
In Vitamin D: Are You Getting Enough? I talked about the role of Vitamin D and why we are finding such an epidemic of deficiency in our modern world. The widespread use of sunscreen in an attempt to protect you from basal cell carcinoma, one of the easiest to treat cancers, increases your at risk for more serious disease, like colon, prostate and breast cancer.
Part 1 of a two part video series about Vitamin D discussed the role of vitamin D and why it’s important to test.
Today’s video shares how to interpret the test and bring your blood Vitamin D level up to a range that helps protect you from cancer, osteoporosis, autoimmune disease and a whole lot more.
It’s easy to get your vitamin D tested. If you don’t have a practitioner, or your doctor is unwilling to order the test for you, you can order it yourself through Direct Labs, an online testing service that allows you to take charge of your health and order your own blood tests.
If You’re Suffering from any of the Issues listed Below, Get Your Vitamin D Level tested Right Away.
- Obesity or excess bodyweight
- High blood pressure
- Osteoporosis and osteopenia
- Autism
- Autoimmune conditions (such as Hashimotos, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis)
- Cancer
- Depression
- Asthma
- Migraines
- Cystic fibrosis
- Diabetes(both types 1 and 2)
- Multiple sclerosis
- Schizophrenia
- Epilepsy
- Osteoarthritis
- PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)
- Musculoskeletal pain, including joint pain and low back pain
- Muscle weakness
- Poor balance
- Systemic inflammation
- Fibromyalgia
Simple Strategies for Improving your Vitamin D status
- Get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine for at least 20 – 30 minutes a day during, preferably when the sun is highest in the sky.
- Avoid sunscreen for a full 20 – 30 minutes.
- Expose your arms and legs. You need to expose 40% of your skin to make sufficient Vitamin D.
- Be sure to avoid washing the exposed parts with soap for at least 48 hours to give your body a chance to absorb all he Vitamin D it produced as a result of the sunshine exposure.
- Get tested for vitamin D. The 25, hydroxyl vitamin D test is the one most commonly used.
- Supplement with Vitamin D if you’re low.
Vitamin D Levels — what’s optimal?
| >100 ng/mL | Excessive vitamin D |
| 75-100 ng/mL | Proposed optimal range |
| 50-75 ng/mL | Suboptimal |
| <50 ng/mL | Deficient |
| <20 ng/mL | Seriously deficient |
Remember, it’s important to test.
If you decide to skip the test and just supplement with 2000-4000 IU you run the risk of not correcting the problem. If you supplement with 10,000 – 20,000 without testing, you run the risk of vitamin D excess.
It’s important to work with a trained practitioner. Fortunately it doesn’t have to be one on one anymore. I’ve pioneered training people to assess themselves with my guidance in cost-effective group programs, where you do the assessment and can ask me questions to guide you. The program is called Assess Your Own Body Chemistry and it’s intended to teach you to read your own body’s signs, symptoms and lab tests so you can create a nutrition plan customized to your needs.
Additional reading on Vitamin D from Dr. Joe Mercola
[1] Mercola.com “Daily Sunlight Can Keep Cancer Away” August 7, 2008
[2] Mercola.com “Lack of Sunshine Causes One Million Deaths a Year” August 24, 2007
[3] Dr. Joe Mercola Comments How Much Vitamin Do You Need?
[4] Video by Dr. Joe Mercola. 1 hour video with lots of details about Vitamin D
Medical research papers on the Vitamin D cancer connection
[1]Annals of Epidemiology April 14, 2009 Dr. Cedric Garland
[2] Annals of Epidemiology July 2009, Volume 19, Issue 7, Pages 468-483
[3] Science Daily, “New Model of Cancer Development: Low Vitamin D Levels May Have Role” May 26, 2009
[4] The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology March 2007; 103(3-5):708-11
[5] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 2007; 85(6):1586-91.
[6] American Journal of Epidemiology October 12, 2007
Question of the day:
Have you been tested for Vitamin D yet? If yes, what was your level? How much are you supplementing if low?
COMMENT BELOW and LET ME KNOW if you’re supplementing and what your level is if you’ve been tested recently.
With Love and Gratitude,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: autoimmune conditions, autoimmune disease, blood tests, breast cancer, direct labs, Dr.Joe Mercola, fibromyalgia, high blood pressure, mercola, sunscreen, Vitamin D
Posted in Articles, Cancer, Vitamin D, Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin D: Are you getting enough?
Nature’s design is to offer us the ability to easily get enough Vitamin D. We were born with the ability to convert sunlight to vitamin d. Cool, huh?
The only problem is we’re deficient in sunlight.
Most of us work indoors. And we’re taught by the “authorities” to be scared of the sun because it’s dangerous and can cause skin cancer. It’s said we must slather ourselves in sunscreen or wear protective clothing whenever we go outdoors.
We’ve created a Vitamin D deficient society by virtue of our lifestyles.
By protecting yourself from the sun, you prevent the more benign form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma. You do nothing to prevent the deadly form, malignant melanoma.
And by allowing yourself to become Vitamin D deficient, you put yourself at risk for more serious forms of cancer than you prevent by avoiding sunlight. Incidences of colon, prostate and breast cancer are significantly higher in the Vitamin D deficient person.
So what exactly is Vitamin D and what does it do?
Vitamin D is actually not actually a vitamin. It’s a prohormone and it’s responsible for over 2000 genes in the body. Vitamin D fat-soluble and is naturally present in very few foods. The main naturally occurring dietary sources are cod liver oil and salmon. The only significant plant sources of vitamin D are mushrooms, in particular shitakes. When mushrooms are exposed to UV light, the level of vitamin D increases dramatically.
Some foods are fortified with Vitamin D, such as homogenized milk. It is also produced endogenously when ultraviolet rays from sunlight strike the skin and trigger vitamin D synthesis. The Vitamin D you get from sun exposure, food, and supplements is biologically inert and needs to be activated in your body. There are two activations, called hydroxylations required to produce active Vitamin D. The first occurs in your liver, which converts pro- vitamin D to 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D], also known as calcidiol. The second occurs in your kidney and forms 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D [1,25(OH)2D], also known as calcitriol.
The main role of Vitamin D is to promote calcium absorption in your gut and to maintain the level of calcium in your blood. Without sufficient vitamin D, bones can become thin, brittle, or misshapen. Together with calcium, vitamin D can help protect you from osteoporosis.
Vitamin D has other roles in your body in controlling cell growth, neuromuscular activities, immune function, and reduction of inflammation. There are many genes controlled by vitamin D, including those that regulate cell growth, differentiation, and death.
Common Conditions and Symptoms Associated with Vitamin D deficiency
1- Obesity and excess weight
2- High blood pressure
3- Osteoporosis and osteopenia
4- Autism
5- Autoimmune conditions (such as Hashimotos, lupus, ankylosing spondylitis, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis)
6- Cancer
7- Depression
8- Asthma
9- Migraines
10- Cystic fibrosis
11- Diabetes(both types 1 and 2)
12- Multiple sclerosis
13- Schizophrenia
14- Epilepsy
15- Osteoarthritis
16- PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome)
17- Musculoskeletal pain, including joint pain and low back pain
18- Muscle weakness
19- Poor balance
20- Systemic inflammation
21- Fibromyalgia
Tips to Improve Your Vitamin D Status
- Get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine for at least 20 – 30 minutes a day during, preferably when the sun is highest in the sky.
- Avoid sunscreen for a full 20 – 30 minutes.
- Expose your arms and legs. You need to expose 40% of your skin to make sufficient Vitamin D.
- Be sure to avoid washing the exposed parts with soap for at least 48 hours to give your body a chance to absorb all he Vitamin D it produced as a result of the sunshine exposure.
- Get tested for vitamin D. The 25, hydroxyl vitamin D test is the one most commonly used.
- Supplement with Vitamin D if you’re low.
The older you get the more unhealthy you are, the harder it is for you to make Vitamin D. During the winter in all locations north of Atlanta, Georgia, it is virtually impossible to get enough vitamin D, even with mid day sun exposure. If you are darkly pigmented, you’ll need more sun exposure to make sufficient Vitamin D.
Vitamin D Supplementation
If you’re unable to get your daily dose of sunshine, then take a vitamin D supplement. Vitamin D3 is best absorbed and utilized. It’s usually from lanolin, which is from sheep. If you prefer a vegan source, the only one I know about is Vitamin Code Raw Vitamin D3. Vitamin D2, a less well absorbed form of vitamin D, is another vegan option.
In general, Vitamin D supplementation is much less effective than sun exposure. It’s best to get sunlight exposure as much as possible and only use the supplements when sunlight exposure is not possible. However, it’s best to test to determine whether you’re getting enough. So many factors affect how well you derive Vitamin D from sunlight. Most people just don’t get enough. Even if you get plenty of sun exposure, it’s possible to become Vitamin D deficient.
You can overdose on Vitamin D. That’s why I recommend a baseline test before starting supplementation. You cannot overdose on Vitamin D via sunlight exposure, but you can with supplementation.
According to Dr. Mercola, you may need 3000 units of vitamin D per 100 lbs of body weight to correct a deficiency. In the case of cancer or severe auto immune disease, optimal may be in the range of 5000 units per 100 lbs of body weight. The human body, given the right conditions, can make up to up to 20,000 units in a day!
Vitamin D supplementation can be helpful for combating acute infectious disease, like the flu or a cold. In this case, you should take 2000 units /kg per of body weight each day for 3 days.
Vitamin D has a long half life, which means that you can take it once a week rather than daily.
Vitamin D Testing
Testing for Vitamin D is very important to make sure you optimize your levels and avoid overdose. You should test 25-Hydroxy vitamin D not the more expensive 1,25 dihydroxy vitamin d.
You can get tested by going to Directlabs.com
Learn more about Vitamin D testing at Lab Tests Online. This is a site where you can find information about any lab test. It is very thorough and informative.
I have found in my practice that it’s SO important to get vitamin D tested …not just once but every 3 months until your levels are in the optimal range (I target for 75 in general, but since there are so many factors involved, I tailor my recommendation to the person).
Vitamin D Levels — what’s optimal?
| >100 ng/mL | Excessive vitamin D |
| 75-100 ng/mL | Proposed optimal range |
| 50-75 ng/mL | Suboptimal |
| <50 ng/mL | Deficient |
| <20 ng/mL | Seriously deficient |
For anyone with levels below 20 I generally recommend 10,000 and sometimes more for 3 months then recommend retesting.
In many cases the levels come up to the 30s by then and I recommend the same for another 3 months. If the levels come up higher than 30′s, I’d probably drop that down a bit and retest in 3 months. If lower, I would increase the dose and monitor again soon.
The key is testing. If someone is really low and has serious conditions, like autoimmunity, I often recommend higher doses and retesting sooner.
If you decide to skip the test and just supplement with 2000-4000 IU you run the risk of not correcting the problem. If you supplement with 10,000 – 20,000 without testing, you run the risk of vitamin D excess.
It’s important to work with a trained practitioner. Fortunately it doesn’t have to be one on one anymore. I’ve pioneered training people to assess themselves with my guidance in cost-effective group programs, where you do the assessment and can ask me questions to guide you. The program is called Assess Your Own Body Chemistry and it’s intended to teach you to read your own body’s signs, symptoms and lab tests so you can create a nutrition plan customized to your needs.
Additional reading on Vitamin D from Dr. Joe Mercola
[1] Mercola.com “Daily Sunlight Can Keep Cancer Away” August 7, 2008
[2] Mercola.com “Lack of Sunshine Causes One Million Deaths a Year” August 24, 2007
[3] Dr. Joe Mercola Comments How Much Vitamin Do You Need?
[4] Video by Dr. Joe Mercola. 1 hour video with lots of details about Vitamin D
Medical research papers on the Vitamin D cancer connection
[1]Annals of Epidemiology April 14, 2009 Dr. Cedric Garland
[2] Annals of Epidemiology July 2009, Volume 19, Issue 7, Pages 468-483
[3] Science Daily, “New Model of Cancer Development: Low Vitamin D Levels May Have Role” May 26, 2009
[4] The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology March 2007; 103(3-5):708-11
[5] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition June 2007; 85(6):1586-91.
[6] American Journal of Epidemiology October 12, 2007
Question of the day:
Have you been tested for Vitamin D yet? If yes, what was your level? How much are you supplementing if low?
With Love and Gratitude,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: breast cancer, cod liver oil, deficient person, dietary sources, Dr. Ritamarie Loscalzo, Dr.Joe Mercola, DrRitamarie, malignant melanoma, skin cancer, sources of vitamin d, ultraviolet rays, Vitamin D, vitamin d testing
Posted in Autoimmune, Cancer, Vitamin D
How Do Vegans Get Their Calcium, Iron, Vitamin B12 & Vitamin D?
Where do vegans get their nutrients is a question asked by many concerned relatives and friends. Calcium, protein and Vitamin B12 are the nutrients that most inquirers are interested in. All the while, they’re chowing down on burgers and fries, fritos and coke. It’s very interesting.
As with all diets, you need to be conscious of the balance of foods you eat to be sure you get all the nutrients your body needs to thrive. Such is true of veganism as well. Many people tell me that they eat any they want as long as it’s vegan. That’s a good way to get yourself into trouble. A poorly planned, unbalanced vegan diet puts you at risk for deficiencies of several vitamins and minerals, just as a poorly balanced omnivorous diet does.
Greens need to be the cornerstone of any diet, and this is especially true of vegan diets. Sea greens are exceptional sources of minerals that have become depleted in our soil an deficient in many land vegetables. The way greens are prepared is especially important for nutrient balance and absorption.
Trevor Justice of the Vegan Mastery Program is offering a new e-book called “How Vegans Get Calcium, Iron, Protein, A, B12, & D” and it’s packed with good information, like the importance of fermenting, sprouting and germinating to enhance absorption of these key nutrients, what good vegan sources of these nutrients are and how to combine foods and nutrients to get best absorption.
If you’d like to thrive on a vegan diet and avoid being vulnerable to vitamin and mineral deficiencies, thus guide is a great resource. When you request the guide, you’ll also get access to a recording called “Balancing Raw and Cooked Whole Foods” plus a few other reports and articles.
To get your complimentary copy of the new e-book from the Vegan Mastery Program “How Vegans Get Calcium, Iron, Protein, A, B12, & D” simply follow this link.
http://www.drritamarie.com/go/veganmastery
Love, Health and Joy,
Dr. Ritamarie
Tags: vegan, veganism, vitamin B12, Vitamin D, vitamins and minerals, whole foods
Posted in Articles, Vegan Diet, Vitamin D, Vitamins and Minerals
Nutritional Supplements: Do You Need them, or Can Your Nutrient Needs be Completely Supplied By Food?
That’s one of the questions we get most frequently here at Fresh ‘n Fun Living headquarters.
In an ideal world, you’d able to meet all of your nutrient needs by simply eating a balanced diet. Stress, pre-existing imbalances and genetic variations can result in increased nutrient needs while depleted soils, modern agricultural techniques and food processing lead to foods with decreased nutrient density.
In this episode, we will talk about the most important nutrients your body needs, how to determine whether you’re getting enough or too much, and what foods best supply these nutrients. We’ll discuss how to determine if you need supplementation, and if so, what types of supplements best supply what’s missing.
Do you have questions about vitamins and supplements? Email them to Tracey@DrRitamarie.com before the
show and we will answer them live on the air.
DATE: Wednesday, April 28, 2010
TIME: 10:30am pdt, 11:30am MDT, 12:30pm CT, 1:30pm EDT
Listen Live: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/dr-ritamarie
Tags: B12, Dr. Ritamarie, greens, natural supplements, Raw Foods, supplements, vitamin B12, Vitamin D, vitamin d testing, vitamin deficiency, vitamins
Posted in Holistic Nutrition, Vibrant Health
