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Stop Guessing

Standard tests — cholesterol panels (Lipids), metabolic panels (CMP), complete blood counts (CBC) — measure how your organs are currently performing. They are end-result tests. And while prescribers usually need the CMP and CBC in order to ensure the body can tolerate certain prescriptions, these tests do not address nutrients that are absorpbed by the body. The CMP will have glucose, sodium, calcium, potassium scores, but these are "transport" scores where the body is moving the nutrients through the liquid part of the blood.

Instead, the Essntials tests focus on nutients, and when possible - in the case of Beneficial & Toxic Minerals and Fatty Acids - the Essentials tests use Red Blood Cells (RBCs) that have passively absorbed Essential nutrients over their ~120 day lifespan.

Essential nutrient tests measure the raw inputs your body needs to keep those organs running properly. If organ function shows up as abnormal on a standard test, most people taking this test are doing so to address any possible underlying nutrient deficiency that could be a contributing factor.

It's important to note that these tests focus on the nutrients your body cannot produce and must get from outside — because even a small, long-term shortfall can be the root cause of symptoms that look like something else entirely.

Plasma levels — what most standard blood tests check — change throughout the day based on meals, stress, hydration, and dozens of other factors. They give you a picture of right now, not of your ongoing nutritional status.

Red blood cells live for ~120 days and absorb nutrients slowly over that time. Testing them gives you a stable 3 to 4 month average — much more useful for understanding what your body has actually been working with. Most people have heard of an A1C test for blood sugar - an A1C is a test of the glucose in a Red Blood Cell (RBC) over the same period of time. In the same way that an RBC passively absorbs glucose over its lifespan, it can also absorb nutrients.

Hair testing is an excretionary testing method which can be misleading, especially when it comes to Beneficial Minerals because it can show high excretion of Beneficial Minerals, when it fact the body is low in them because it is, for some reason, shedding them. To avoid this potential issue, ESSNTL.US uses RBC analysis, which measures what the body is retaining, not excreting.

Two years ago, the answer would likely be "no", however, recently, insurance carriers have started REIMBURSING for Essentials testing. If you plan to file with your insurer for reimbursement, it is always best to ask first. They will usually tell you the information they will need, and we will certainly try to provide it.

HSA and FSA accounts can be used for payment. We do not file with Medicare.

No, we provide the requisition to the lab when you order.

You don't have to, but we strongly recommend it for your first panel. Nutrients interact. Seeing Minerals, Fatty Acids, and Aminos together at the same time gives a much clearer picture than seeing them separately. It also makes the supplementation recommendations more targeted and effective.

And of course, what is the most important Essential Nutrient? It's the one you're missing!

Retesting depends on your results and how you're responding to supplementation. Most people retest after three to six months of targeted support.

If you have a critical issue you're trying to address, you may end of retesting in 6-8 weeks - at which point you would hope to see improvement. It is hard to gauge improvement before that due to the growth cyle of the RBC during its ~120 day lifespan and the usual time it takes to address failures in Amino acids assimilation (which is a plasma test).

White blood cells are highly sensitive to changes in the body — any infection, allergy, inflammation, or health change can affect them. They can have lifespans that are very short (a few days) to very long (years). Further, unlike RBCs, they have a nucleus, which could mean that they could possibly pick an choose their nutrients, unlike RBCs, which are thought to be primarily passive in their absorption.

It is for those reasons that RBCs are considered to be a relatively more consistent cell type (with a predictable ~120-day lifespan) for gauging passive nutrient absorption.

Right now we use Plasma to test what the body is actually metabolizing. This gives the prescriber clues as to what the body has available to grow, maintain, or heal. Eventually we would like to offer RBC Amino Acid testing, but it is not readily available for all Essential Aminos at this time.

That said, even though this is a Plasma test, and it is influenced by recent dietary intake, it has proven to be extremely helpful in instances where people are experiencing symptoms or complaints, yet their Beneficial and Toxic Minerals and Fatty Acids test results are normal. It proves the maxim: the most important Essential Nutrient is the one you're missing. They all work in tandem, and rely on each other.