Nutritional balance plays a key role in optimal wellness, chronic disease prevention and managing the aging process.
Eating a balanced diet, exercising and taking a multivitamin is simply not enough. Each person’s body is unique in its own way. Due to the complexity of the human body, an individualized healthcare approach is the only way to guarantee optimal results.
The Functional Medicine Center utilizes Micronutrient testing that measures the function of 35 nutritional components including vitamins, antioxidants, minerals and amino acids within our white blood cells. Scientific evidence shows us that analyzing the white blood cells gives us the most accurate analysis of a body’s deficiencies.
Micronutrient testing offers the most accurate, scientifically proven method of assessing nutritional deficiencies.
Our office has partnered with Spectracell, a clinical laboratory that specializes in micronutrient testing. This patented process resulted from 18 years of research at the University of Texas. The micronutrient tests measures how micronutrients are actually functioning within your patients’ white blood cells. These tests allow nutritional assessment of your patients for a broad variety of clinical conditions including arthritis, cancer, cardiovascular risk, diabetes, various immunological disorders, metabolic disorders and micronutrient deficiencies.
This Method of Testing is More Advanced Than other Laboratory Tests
Before the introduction of our tests, many diagnosis and risk assessments were based on clinical observation and measurements of static levels of certain nutrients in serum. Static serum levels are not always representative indicators for assessing cell metabolism and utilization.
Micronutrient testing offers a unique means to scientifically assess the intracellular requirements of micronutrients that play an important role in overall health and wellness of your patients. Our tests measure the biochemical function of vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants, providing a powerful clinical assessment tool for your practice.
Our panels are designed to provide you with the most comprehensive nutritional analysis available. As the only lab that can offer a truly functional intracellular testing, we also provide you with targeted nutrient repletion recommendations for those vitamins and minerals found to be deficient.
Patented Technology
SpectraCell’s patented, chemically-defined control media contains the minimal amount of each essential micronutrient that is needed to support optimal lymphocyte growth or mitogenic response. The functional intracellular status of micronutrients involved in cell metabolism is evaluated by manipulation of the individual micronutrients in the media followed by mitogenic stimulation and measurement of DNA synthesis.
The same technology also provides a total antioxidant function test (SPECTROX™) which assesses the ability of cells to resist damage caused by free radicals and other forms of oxidative stress. Due to the considerable number of cellular antioxidants with extensive interactions, redundancies, repair and recharging capabilities, measuring total function is the most accurate and clinically useful way to assess your patients’ capacity to resist oxidative damage.
Since lymphocytes are produced in the bone marrow and stored in the peripheral locations for long periods of time (the average life span of a lymphocyte is approximately four to six months), SpectraCell’s measurements provide a powerful portrait of each patients’ long-term nutrient status. This is analogous to the use of a glycosylated hemoglobin test to evaluate blood glucose levels over a one to three month period.
Interpreting Test Results
We provide easy-to-read test reports incorporating numerical and graphic representations for each result and we offer repletion suggestions based on each patient’s deficiencies. We’ve included easy-to-understand supplement information that explains the role of each nutrient found deficient, deficiency symptoms, how to obtain that nutrient in food and toxicity and RDI standards for adults.
IMMUNIDEX™ Immune Response Score
A patient’s IMMUNIDEX™ score is one measurement to evaluate a person’s cell-mediated immune system performance. Specifically, it measures T-cell lymphocyte proliferation. Since immune function is a systemic measure of general health, a higher IMMUNIDEX™ score is generally desired since it means a person can respond efficiently not only to exogenous threats such as pathogens or allergens, but also to endogenous threats like tumors. The immune system, comprised of both cell-mediated (Th1) and humoral (Th2) components, when balanced and performing optimally, affords us critical protection and promotes health and wellness.
Micronutrient deficiencies will undermine a person’s immune function, and thus lower the IMMUNIDEX™. Since the highly complex immune system is dependent on the intracellular availability of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, correcting specific micronutrient deficiencies typically raises the IMMUNIDEX™ and contributes to tangible clinical benefits, such as reduced infections and may assist in achieving Th1/Th2 balance.
Clinical Applications
Our diagnostic profiles offer a window to the cell that can provide improved healthcare for anyone. However, the potential for clinical benefit is particularly evident in these patient groups:
DISEASE THERAPY AND MANAGEMENT: Diagnose and treat nutritional risk factors that contribute to the therapy/management of many degenerative disease conditions.
FAMILY HISTORY: Provide prevention measures for patients with family history of common chronic disease conditions.
HIGH RISK GROUPS: Certain high risk groups are more susceptible to vitamin, mineral and antioxidant deficiencies that can affect treatment outcomes and overall health.
PROACTIVE RISK ASSESSMENT: Provide customized prevention by early detection of nutritional deficiencies for proactive patients.
CHALLENGING CASES: Gain insight into generalized complaints with no apparent specific disease source and to provide treatment options based on biochemical individuality.
OUR TESTING IS COMPREHENSIVE AND INCLUDES:
VITAMINS
Vitamin A
Vitamin B1
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B3
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B12
Biotin
Folate
Pantothenate
Vitamin C
Vitamin D
Vitamin K
MINERALS
Calcium
Magnesium
Manganese
Zinc
Copper
AMINO ACIDS
Asparagine
Glutamine
Serine
ANTIOXIDANTS
Alpha Lipoic Acid
Coenzyme Q10
Cysteine
Glutathione
Selenium
Vitamin E
SPECTROX™
for Total Antioxidant Function
IMMUNIDEX™
Immune Response Score
CARBOHYDRATE METABOLISM
Chromium
Fructose Sensitivity
Glucose-Insulin Metabolism
FATTY ACIDS
Oleic Acid
METABOLITES
Choline
Inositol
Carnitine