Why blood testing?

Blood has a lot to tell us (GPs and practitioners) about your state of health and blood chemistry. Blood tests (Complete blood count (CBC) or specific markers, as listed below) are an integral part of Western clinical medicine and are used to aid in the diagnostic decision-making process and establish dysfunction if any. Therefore, patients understand the need for blood testing and specific markers (e.g., liver and kidney function, oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT), commonly known as fasting blood glucose, or vitamin D levels).

The issue with a blood test is that it is a snapshot of a moment in time, a bit like a polaroid picture. Once the picture is revealed, it shows what you intended to capture inside a frame. Anything outside the frame is not included (e.g., your environment, the cause(s) of dysfunction or malaise), and the picture may show someone smiling even though there was nothing to smile about at that moment. This is why blood testing needs to be included in the diagnostic decision-making process, which must also include the medical history and any other factors or symptoms you may be presenting at the time of the test (the reason why the tests were ordered in the first place).

Furthermore, many, many people start to feel unwell long before a traditional blood test reveals any sort of dysfunction and more often than not, patients may be told by their physician that everything on their blood test looks ‘normal’.

If you insist, he or she may even tell you that “it is all in your head,” as it is often the case for unexplained pain or chronic fatigue or even chronic UTIs.

"NORMAL" IS NOT OPTIMAL

Most patients who feel "unwell" have a "normal" blood test and be told that the tested markers are “within range”. However, clinical experience suggests that these individuals are not "normal" and are far from being functionally optimal. They may be in the early stages of dis-ease and are yet to progress to a known disease state, at which time it may be too late to do something about it. These individuals are what we call dysfunctional (the causes/triggering factors and mediators are pushing their body into the red zone, their physiological systems are no longer functioning properly and, as a result, they’re starting to feel un-well.

This doesn’t mean in any way that the blood test is a poor diagnostic tool, far from it.

What we know is that the ranges used on a traditional lab test are based on statistics, not on whether a certain value represents good health or optimal physiological function. Plus, they may have too wide a range to give any insight. For example, neutrophils range is from 1.5 - 10.0, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR): 1.0 - 12.0 mm/hr, ferritin: (males) 25 – 350 ng/mL and (females) 10 – 300 ng/mL. In the latter, 11 may be in range, while 289 is too, but the effect on the body is not the same. Such a wide range may, therefore, give little insight if your physician is only looking at the “in-range” results and missing out on the interpretation and global diagnostic vision.

Additionally, the "normal" reference ranges are typical "averages" for a certain population rather than the optimal level required to maintain your good health. And again, most "normal" ranges are too broad to adequately detect health problems before they become pathology and are not useful for detecting the emergence of dysfunction. The physician may thus miss (or disregard) the early signs of dysfunction and may even misdiagnose you as a result.

The naturopathic, functional and integrative approaches

The functional approach to blood testing is oriented around changes in physiology (e.g., unbalances and disturbances) and not pathology.

It is thus important to rely on blood tests that are more accurate and not based on averages or the ‘normal’ population. Ranges should be based on optimal physiology. This means that more specific test ranges allow us to evaluate the area within the "normal" range that may be used to understand that something is not quite right in the physiological systems associated with specific biomarkers. We can, therefore, identify the factors that obstruct you from achieving optimal physiological, biochemical, and metabolic functioning in your body; something your regular blood test won’t reveal.

Also, it is key to take into consideration the cost of testing. While a test on the NHS may cost a few pounds, it may cost a couple of hundred pounds from a private laboratory. Laboratories have so much on the line that they have to provide excellent and reliable services and are under tremendous scrutiny. Plus, they may use the latest technology and detect biomarkers that are not on the NHS (again because of cost or because it would reveal a completely different picture that the pharma industry is not interested in — remember pills are designed to suppress the symptoms, not deal with the cause — and your functional optimal health is also of no interest).

Let’s look at the perfect example": a chicken from Tesco and a chicken from an organic farm. One may be horribly cheap (perhaps, £3-4) while the other may cost up to £18. It is still chicken but one is definitely more nutritious and also contains no nasty. Gustatively, the difference is also noticeable, even the texture. To be sold on the cheap the farmer relies on quantity and cheap feed (and also routinely give antibiotics to healthy animals to prevent disease due to overcrowded and poorly sanitary facilities). The organic farm is concerned with the well-being of the animal and give much care and attention to each animal.

Blood testing is no longer simply a part of disease or injury management. It’s a vital component of your comprehensive report and plays a vital role in uncovering hidden health trends and disease prevention, and supporting (or improving) your health and the functioning of your body.

Unhappy with your GP’s diagnosis or been told: “it is all in your head,” and you are looking to understand what is “wrong” with you, then book a consultation today.

If we believe we need to do further testing, we will discuss this with you and give you the options that are best for you.

Blood Chemistry

Blood is a unique tissue, transporting:

• Nutrients

• Gases

• Waste products and various toxicants brought by diet and breathing (e.g., pollutants, BPA, PFAs, NO2, SO2)

• Enzymes

• Proteins (albumin, globulins, fibrinogen) and lipoproteins

• Hormones

Blood tests allow practitioners to see a snapshot of these things travelling in the bloodstream on any given day and time. However, your body is always changing. Your age, diet, hormonal cycles, physical activity level, alcohol intake, and even a change of season can cause alterations in your body chemistry that will show up on a test result. If you add a pinch of stress or anxiety here and there and you may well fall outside of the range.

Understanding references range

As discussed, the medical reference ranges can be quite wide and you may have a normal result and still have symptoms or you may have out-of-range results and not experience symptoms.

Reference ranges are based on statistics and are usually established by collecting results from a large population and determining from the data an expected average (mean) result and expected differences from that average (standard deviation). Typically, reference ranges cover 95% of the results for a healthy population. Statistically speaking, it means 5% of people in that same population will have results that fall outside the limits.

Also, some laboratories use different ranges, so you must always refer to their ranges to evaluate whether your results are "within normal limits."

Interpreting results

A normal result does not mean optimum health. If you keep in mind that reference ranges are statistically created, there may be a lot of overlap among results from healthy people and those with diseases, especially in the early stages of a disease. If your test results are within range but feel unwell (or have for a while), there is still a chance that there could be an undetected problem.

An abnormal result does not mean you are sick. Again, any test result outside the reference range may or may not indicate a problem. Since many reference values are based on statistical ranges in healthy people, you may be one of the healthy people falling outside this range, especially if your value is close to the expected reference range. However, if you fall far outside the expected values, this will alert your healthcare provider to a possible problem.

What is a Complete Blood Count (CBC)

A full blood count measures the status of a number of different markers in the blood, which include:

• The amount of haemoglobin in the blood,

• The number of red blood cells (red cell count),

• The percentage of blood cells as a proportion of the total blood volume (haematocrit or packed cell volume),

• The volume of red blood cells (mean cell volume),

• The average amount of haemoglobin in the red blood cells (known as mean cell

  haemoglobin),

• The number of white blood cells (white cell count),

• The percentages of the different types of white blood cells (leukocyte differential count), and

• The number of platelets.

The ranges and information contained within this sheet are for informational and educational purposes only.
Consult your healthcare practitioner before making any changes to your current lifestyle. The ranges featured below are nutritional ranges, they are not designed to diagnose, treat, or cure any disease. Acceptance of these ranges varies among practitioners and laboratories used — always refer to the reference ranges featured on your test result.