Functional Nutritional Medicine Diagnostic Tests
Functional Nutritional Medicine is a truly preventative approach to your health. ‘Functional’ means that the investigation looks at the body processes and pathology that underlies the condition and symptoms you are experiencing. It acknowledges that every state of ‘dis-ease’ has an underlying malfunction. Usually, the malfunction consists of 3 key parts:
- A deficiency of key nutrients. These are vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, anti-oxidants and others
- An excess of undesirable organisms, heavy metals and environmental toxins. These can be bacteria, viruses and dysbiotic gut flora (the species that don’t belong in the gut or have grown out of proportion to the ‘good’ species) or metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and toxins such as glyphosate, BPA, etc.
- A metabolic process in the body that has gone haywire. These processes can be hormonal, digestive, genetic, etc in nature.
The interaction of these variables with your inherited genetics is what triggers an illness and/or symptoms that you are experiencing.
The functional tests listed below (and many others) are extremely helpful in providing a deep understanding of the imbalances that may be present in the body relating to the above three key areas.
I commonly use these tests in clinic with great results. They go beyond the very simple standard blood tests available and provide big clues to numerous health conditions. Functional Pathology testing is able to assess genetic, nutritional, biochemical, metabolic and hormone levels that regular pathology testing is unable to measure. These tests guide dietary, lifestyle and supplement strategies.
Here are some examples of functional pathology tests I regularly use in clinic.
- G.I Map Gut test– functional gut markers, leaky gut, gluten intolerance, enzymes, pathogenic bacteria, parasites, H.Pylori, beneficial bacteria and many others
- Hair Mineral Analysis– key minerals and heavy metals
- Hair 500 biocompatibility test
- Adrenal Stress Test- cortisol and melatonin
- DUTCH test: Full hormonal assessment including cortisol levels, hormone metabolites, neurotransmitter metabolites and oxidative stress markers
- Organic Acids Testing (OAT)
- Metabolic testing
- Food intolerance testing
- Neurotransmitter testing
- Pyroluria testing
- Genetic SNP testing and reports
- And many others
