Blood And Cellular Test Differences May Reveal Nutrient Deficiency
There are accepted differences between blood and cellular nutrient tests which may reveal interesting differences in your nutrient status.
We need the right amounts of nutrients to support our health and bodily functions every day. While most people assume that they are taking in enough nutrients on a day to day basis this may not necessarily be the case.
A third of the total global population is affected by malnutrition. As we age our nutritional status and deficiency becomes a lot more relevant too. Some individuals also require slightly more nutrients than others because of their lifestyles so could become depleted of important micronutrients.
Clinical blood tests may not reveal detailed issues with your nutrient intake either as they may not examine the full spectrum of micronutrients found in your actual body tissues. This is the most used means to look at nutrient deficiencies in a clinical setting such as a hospital. Cellular tests may offer an improved means to examine nutrient status.
The accepted differences between blood and cellular nutrient tests will be considered here to show why supporting a healthy nutrient intake each day could be important.
How Nutrient Deficiencies Could Influence Your Wellbeing
Vitamins and minerals are micronutrients which are essential in supporting the conditions within the body needed to sustain life. They support the healthy functioning of tissues and organ systems within the entire body. Most people obtain vitamins and minerals through consuming nutrient rich foods.
Some micronutrients support healthy energy production within the body including B vitamins such as thiamine or vitamin B1 while others like vitamin A have an antioxidant function. Iodine and manganese are also micronutrients which are supportive of important bodily processes including our metabolism.
Micronutrient deficiencies could have adverse effects on your overall health and wellbeing. Deficiencies in important nutrients may create conditions of immune deficiency and also oxidative stress which could damage our bodies. Micronutrients may also support the body in the prevention of developing chronic degenerative diseases.
These are all reasons why nutritionists maintain that ensuring that you eat well and have sufficient nutrition is so important in supporting optimal wellness. An accurate means of measuring nutrient intake is central to proactively monitoring nutrient status.
Could You Be Deficient In Nutrients
There are various ways to measure the amounts of nutrients in the body. Micronutrients can be measured from our blood, urine, cells, hair and nails too. Unknown to many there are differences between blood tests and a cellular test to determine nutrient status. You may be asking how they could be different.
Surely all micronutrient tests are proving a full examination of your nutrient status.
This however is not the case. Researchers accept that many standard biochemical tests are insensitive to detecting changes in micronutrient status. There is also an acceptance that there are a lot of issues in the identification of nutrient deficiencies. This is especially considering how body nutrient pools vary from circulating amounts of some nutrients.
The amounts of some nutrients stored in tissues in nutrient pools are not in exact sync with our circulatory system. Some nutrients which can be difficult to identify in their actual amounts include some fat soluble vitamins and also minerals such as zinc or calcium. Because of situations like this there can also be a lengthy amount time between the emergence of symptoms of a nutrient deficiency and the actual deficiency.
Blood And Cellular Nutrient Tests
Cellular tests are more thorough than a standard serum or blood test. A blood test is just looking at the levels of nutrients circulating within your body periphery or circulatory system at the time of testing. An accurate level of penetration of nutrients or intake of nutrients into organ tissues or cells is not really being measured in a blood test.
A cellular test looks at the micronutrients present in your cells and so looks at the penetration of nutrients into the body in a lot more detail than a blood or serum test could.
There are example nutrients such as iron, selenium, zinc, thiamin, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C which may have significant differences in cellular test compared to blood tests. These are some of the nutrients which could have subtle but still significant differences in actual amounts to the results of a blood test.
Actual Micronutrient Needs Vs Deficiency Prevention
Research is also starting to show that individuals may have different needs and that the role of some micronutrients within the body is a lot more expansive than previously thought too.
This includes the prevention of cellular damage from free radicals or aspects of cellular metabolism which may not always be considered in the prevention of classical micronutrient deficiencies.
Cellular nutrient status tests could also play an important role here in determining actual requirements of nutrient provision. Possibly far more so than blood tests which are just looking to see if there is a need to prevent a glaring nutritional deficiency.
New research has recently identified that some athletes are at a higher risk of developing a magnesium deficiency. That could influence aspects of our health including energy metabolism and muscle functioning. Athletes could also be slightly more prone to muscle fatigue and cramps as well in a magnesium depleted state.
Blood testing may not accurately detect these variations in comparison to cellular tests. This is also a really interesting example of how actual nutrient demand could vary between individual rather than just supporting a deficiency.
Why Do We Have Blood Micronutrient Tests
Blood tests are cheap and also an easy means to identify glaring or possibly life threatening problems in the nutrient status of an individual. This is one reason why they are very popular in a hospital or clinical setting. A blood test is most often the only way to look at micronutrient status clinically.
Cellular testing on the other hand is extremely expensive in comparison and requires detailed inspection of results too. Some studies suggest that cellular testing may be the future of micronutrient testing.
Cellular test could also be designed so they are more efficient than taking volumes of blood in a clinical setting. Nutritional management in the future may integrate holistic nutrient profiling with individual lifestyle habits. These sorts of practices may give a more accurate view of the nutrient status of an individual.
Overall the science shows that cellular testing could be a lot more accurate at detecting micronutrient deficiencies than blood testing. While blood tests are most often the go to test of nutrient status this means some more subtle tissue nutrient deficiencies may be overlooked.
Summary
We require micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals each day to support conditions needed within our bodies to sustain life. Micronutrients like thiamine support healthy energy production while minerals such as manganese may support our metabolism.
Micronutrient deficiencies could have consequences on our overall health and wellbeing. Deficiencies in key vitamins may cause immune deficiencies and also oxidative stress. This could cause damage to our bodies. This is also why nutritionists maintain that sufficient nutrition is so important in supporting optimal wellness. Various means of measuring the amounts of nutrients within the body include blood, urine, cells, hair and nails.
There are scientifically accepted differences between blood tests and a cellular test to determine nutrient status. Research shows standard biochemical tests are insensitive to detecting changes in micronutrient status. Blood tests look at the circulating nutrients within the body rather than tissue amounts or intake. Cellular nutrient tests are considered to be more thorough than a standard serum or blood test.
Examples of micronutrients which may differ in a cellular test include iron, selenium, zinc, thiamin, folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin C. These have been shown to have some significant variations in results from blood tests.
Certain individuals are now also being recognised as requiring more nutrients depending on their lifestyles. Nutrient management in the future may integrate holistic nutrient profiling with an individual breakdown of lifestyle habits. These sorts of practices could provide a more accurate view of the nutrient status of an individual.
Overall the science shows that cellular testing could be a lot more accurate at detecting micronutrient deficiencies than blood tests. Blood tests are usually the go to nutrient test but may overlook more subtle but significant tissue nutrient deficiencies.
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