13/02/2025
💥Testing! Testing! 💥As part of my nutritional therapy service I have access to health tests – too many to mention them all, but here is a small selection of the tests I use most often with my clients.
Testing can be useful when it is clear that we need to explore an issue more extensively when food alone isn’t creating the results we are looking for.
Some clients like to see results in black and white as it’s extremely motivating. It can really kick start a more concerted effort to make lasting changes to habits around food that have led to the issues in the first place.
💥Complete Thyroid Panel – one of my favourites, especially when a client is already on thyroxine and is still feeling tired and sluggish and weight isn’t being lost. This panel includes all the markers that your GP doesn’t want to test (because they don’t have a medication to fix the issues raised). It checks for anti-bodies to rule out an auto-immune element, and also T3 and associated nutrients that are required to kick start metabolism. This is a finger prick blood test that can be carried out at home.
💥Adrenal (Stress) Function Profile. Measures cortisol levels throughout the day. Useful if you suffer from anxiety or chronic stress, diabetes, fatigue, poor concentration, food cravings and weight gain (especially around the middle). Testing helps me to support adrenal health as both high and low levels of cortisol tend to create the same issues, so it’s imperative to know where your levels are at so I can recommend the correct protocol and supplements to support you. This is a saliva test that can be carried out at home.
💥Hair Mineral Analysis. This test provides information about toxic metals exposure (eg mercury, lead, aluminium) and essential mineral elements (magnesium, calcium, potassium, selenium, zinc etc). Useful for thinning hair, fatigue, stress, cardiovascular issues, blood sugar issues, depression, bone loss, gut issues, weight loss stall and much more. This test takes a small sample of hair and can be carried out at home.
💥Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis. My most popular test as gut health really is the cornerstone of optimal health. Useful if you have digestive issues like bloating and constipation, IBS, indigestion and acid reflux. It will also give us information regarding your immune system, inflammation, pancreatic status, as well as determining an imbalance in the microbiome, and the presence of pathogens like candida, parasites, h.pylori and pathogenic bacteria. This test requires a small stool sample and can be carried out at home.
💥DUTCH Hormone Test. Fantastic test for determining hormone imbalance in relation to PMS, PCOS, endometriosis and peri-menopause. It tests for oestrogen and progesterone levels alongside cortisol to check adrenal function. Tests detox pathways to check hormones are being safely excreted. Also includes markers for neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin and associated co-factors such as B6 and B12, to get an all-round picture on hormone health for women. This test is a dried urine test that can be carried out at home.
💥Health DNA Testing. One of my favourites and I wish more people did it! As a preventative tool it is excellent. This test is designed to optimise well-being and health by personalising lifestyle, diet and supplement choices to offset nutritional deficits based on specific gene variants. This test establishes the optimal nutrition necessary for good health, longevity and disease risk mitigation. For instance, knowing our APOE gene status can alert us to any increased risk of a dementia diagnosis, and we can start to mitigate that risk with diet and lifestyle choices to optimise our long-term brain health. There are add-on tests for specific health issues – weight, hormones, exercise, dental, mental health etc. This is a blood-spot test that can be carried out at home.
❤I am happy to advise you on any testing that you may be interested in. I arrange all the tests for you and review the test results with you. We use them together to formulate a health plan with food and supplement recommendations.
👍Interested in testing? Want to find out more? Book in for a free 30 minute chat with me, or message me – you know what to do!