Dr. Reade utilizes various functional medicine laboratory tests to evaluate your current individual health status.

This type of testing is extremely specific compared to most traditional lab testing, and some customized panels are not available elsewhere.  Some of these panels may require blood, saliva, stool, and urine.  All lab kits and requisitions for blood labs are provided through Arizona Family Health Centre.

The specific tests that are recommended are an essential element of your customized health care and will assist in Dr. Reade in designing nutritional lifestyle protocol and recommendations specific for your health issues.

We have outlined some of these laboratory tests along with a brief description, purpose and type of sample required.

This is a very comprehensive blood test that contains a comprehensive metabolic panel, complete cell count, lipid profile, complete thyroid profile with thyroid antibodies, actual cell levels of magnesium, hemoglobin A1c to identify diabetes/insulin resistance, several inflammatory markers that can indicate potential cardiovascular and autoimmune problems.

This is a panel that most physicians would probably never order.  This test along with our computer analysis is one of the core laboratory tests to evaluate your health status and help us employ a proper lifestyle, diet and nutritional protocol for you specifically.

This is another unique blood test that measures the actual levels of 31 various vitamins, minerals, amino/fatty acids, antioxidants, and metabolites other at a cellular level and not what is merely being circulated in the blood.

What is important to understand here is what nutrients are found at the white blood cell level because that is where they are utilized not what is circulated in the blood serum. The levels in the white blood cell will reflect the general levels in all the other cells in the body.

Furthermore, it will give you a better idea of levels over a period of 4-6 months rather than hourly fluctuations based on the previous meal or daily fluctuations that would be found on a regular blood serum test.

This is a unique blood test that can measure the level of gut damage by measuring various antibodies related to the structures/proteins found in the intestinal lining.

It also measures antibodies related to a very important bacterial compound that has been shown to cause extensive body inflammation and has been linked to the formation of osteoarthritis.

See our articles on leaky gut and lipopolysaccharides (LPS).

This is a simple take home salivary profile that measures a few key hormones such as cortisol and DHEA that are key in evaluating the proper status of the adrenal glands.  Proper adrenal function is crucial to many physiological functions in the body and the adrenals could be considered the great modulator of the body. Proper immune system function and many other systems are intimately tied into adrenal gland function.

See our article on adrenal glands and stress. 

The core of finding about gluten sensitivity is investigating your genetic makeup of some of your cells.  If you have certain genetic variants you will have some level of gluten sensitivity and a propensity to develop inflammation when consuming or encountering gluten.

Commonly used for individuals with symptoms of:

• Chronic and Acute Gastroenteritis
• IBD-Inflammatory Bowel Disease
• IBS-Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Autoimmune Disease
• SIBO
• Suspected H. pylori Infection
• Fungal or Yeast Infections
• Bacterial & Parasitic Infections
• Intestinal Permeability
• Viral Pathogens

Proper function of the digestive system and the microbiome have such profound and widespread effects not only on the digestive tract but throughout the body.

In fact, 70-80% of the entire immune system is embedded in the digestive tract. The immune system is what influences and controls inflammation in all the tissues and organs in the human body.

The detailed information obtained helps in evaluating the health and function of your digestive tract and microbiome. So, these tests results are crucial in understanding many different health issues that you may be experiencing.

One of these tests utilizes state of the art, qPCR or quantitative polymerase chain reaction. (Please reference articles and videos regarding leaky gut and the microbiome throughout the website for a better understanding of this important connection of human physiology).

These tests require a stool sample are done in the privacy of your own home. Simply follow the instructions to obtain a stool sample. Fill out the appropriate information and then mail the sample.

Test results will be available in about 7-14 days. One of these tests utilize state of the art qPCR, or quantitative polymerase chain reaction. (This is not identical to COVID PCR testing).

We can best determine which one of these stool tests would be the most appropriate by setting up a brief consultation.

Below are some examples of these tests:

Hormones are powerful molecules essential for maintaining physical and mental health.

We frequently think of estrogen as being a female hormone, and testosterone as being a male hormone. But men AND women make both, plus several more that need to be in balance for optimum health.

An imbalance of any one hormone can throw your physical and mental health out of balance, causing aggravating and even serious health problems.

One size does not fit all when it comes to hormones. For decades western medicine has prescribed hormone replacement therapy as if everyone needed the same thing and the same amount. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Your hormones are like your fingerprints and in order to achieve optimal health, you need to know what your specific imbalances are. Female and male hormone tests can help identify these imbalances.

There are several ways to test for hormones (saliva, serum and urine). Saliva is the best method to test the active/bioavailable portion of hormones, which are reflective of tissue levels. 

Methylation is the second most important process in the human body besides the production of energy in your cells. As a matter of fact, this biochemical process also influences energy production and there are about a billion methylation reactions in the human body every second! 

How Do You Know If You Have a Methylation Issue?

FIRST 

Take the Functional Methylation Questionnaire (link below) – this is just a quick screening test to see where you may have potential dysfunction of the methylation process and closely related biochemical cycles/pathways. 

SECOND 

Make an appointment to have a non-invasive applied kinesiological evaluation utilizing specialized testing kits to screen for potential functional imbalances with methylation and associated biochemical pathways. This should confirm the findings on the questionnaire and determine which pathways are the most effected. After this screening, we will give you a handout listing the findings and some general diet and supplement/nutrient recommendations. 

For a deep dive into your health, perform a genetic test by using a sample tissue swab from your mouth from Ancestry or 23 and Me. Once you get your results back, we will download this folder into a secured software program that analyzes major genes that have direct influence on many of the enzymes involved with methylation, closely related biochemical pathways, and many other health related issues. This hard data gives great insight into your genetic tendencies providing our office with a tool to assess major predisposing health issues. With this analysis we can begin to see what can be done to reduce risk of potential health problems related to certain genetic variance (SNP’s – Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms).