What Is Functional Lab Testing And Which Test Is Best?

Lab tests are used to gather data about a person’s health to determine a disease or treatment plan. There are differences between functional lab tests and conventional lab tests in how they’re used to evaluate health and determine a course of action. With functional lab tests, practitioners can dig deeper into what’s happening in the whole body and why it’s happening, allowing them to catch early signs of disease years before conventional lab tests would ever pick up. This is partly due to the way standard medical ranges are determined, making it easy to fall into the “normal” range even when you feel awful.

Practitioners trained in functional lab testing, ranging from blood, stool, saliva, hair, or urine samples, provide rich data about a variety of body systems such as nutritional, gastrointestinal, hormonal, immune, endocrine, metabolic, detoxification, and more. All of this data not only helps practitioners but also helps clients understand what’s happening in their body to stop disease in its tracks. Everyone deserves to have this type of access and answers that go beyond conventional medicine.

Why Choose Functional Lab Testing?

• Functional lab testing is more extensive and goes beyond conventional lab testing.

• Functional lab testing is looking for optimal body function rather than a disease.

• Functional lab testing is taking a proactive approach rather than reactive.

• Functional lab testing is great for identifying specific systems that may be problematic.

• Functional lab testing provides further understanding of ‘why’ symptoms/dysfunction are occurring.

Functional lab testing can only be ordered through a practitioner who has had prior training. This is why when you go to your doctor and ask for functional lab testing, they’ll look at you like you’re crazy. Now, let’s break down which functional lab test is the best to start with and why.

Which Functional Lab Test Is Best To Start With?

Functional blood labs are the most affordable and comprehensive when compared to other functional lab tests. We’re not just targeting one specific system such as your gut microbiome with the GI MAP or hormones with the DUTCH test, but we’re looking at your whole body and how it’s functioning together.

Functional blood labs are conventional blood labs that your doctor will usually run, but instead of assessing the markers based on standard medical ranges, through a functional lens, we’re using optimal ranges which are more narrow. Too often people fall into the “normal” range on their blood work that their doctor ordered even though they feel sick or just off. The functional blood labs we offer look at over 70 biomarkers, which is far more than your doctor will and can order for you. This also provides you with an advantage to pinpoint your drainage & digestion, gut health, blood sugar, inflammation & stress, hydration, nutrient status, infections & more.

If more data is needed to determine your root causes or out of curiosity, we offer other functional lab tests but highly recommend pairing them with functional blood labs to get a complete picture of what’s going on in your body, why you’re feeling sick, or to check where you can improve.

Other Functional Labs We Offer:

Micronutrient Test

The Micronutrient Test will tell you exactly the micronutrients you're deficient in. It evaluates how 31 different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants are working within your cells. But it goes even further—The MNT will tell how well cells can withstand oxidative stress, how well cells are metabolizing carbohydrates, and how adeptly cells function when launching an immune response.

GI-MAP

The Gastrointestinal Microbial Assay Plus (GI-MAP) is a test designed to measure your gut microbiome. It detects microbes (bacterial, parasitic, and viral pathogens) that may be disturbing normal microbial balance or contributing to illness, as well as indicators of digestion, absorption, inflammation, and immune function.

DUTCH Test

The DUTCH Complete provides a complete assessment of hormonal health. By measuring a patient's sex hormones, adrenal hormones, and melatonin, along with their metabolites, this test can help identify symptoms of hormonal imbalances.

Ready to stop guessing and start testing?