FUNCTIONAL LAB TESTING

At Embodied Medicine, we collaborate with International Labs to offer our patients the most advanced tests, to reveal the root cause of their symptoms, detect asymptomatic underlying dysfunctions before disease manifests and to corroborate optimal function in those healthy patients who only require a well-being check up.

When it comes to lab testing, it is important to understand that Conventional and Functional Medicine have different approaches and this is going to be reflected in the biomarkers we order and the way we interpret results. While the Conventional Medicine approach is geared towards identifying pathology and focuses on the diagnosis and treatment of an stablished disease, the Functional Medicine approach focusses on preventing the establishment of diseases and creating a fertile terrain for health, well-being and longevity. The Functional Medicine approach therefore, focusses on addressing the underlying dysfunctions before they get to a pathological state of diagnosable disease.

In Functional Medicine we know that diseases don't develop overnight but are the end product of a long term dysfunction of the body systems that hasn’t been detected and addressed in time. This is the reason why symptoms, which arise to communicate the underlying dysfunction, typically begin earlier before a disease is established and can be diagnosed through conventional medical tests. This is why so many patients are evaluated as “Normal or Healthy” by their conventional health providers despite being experiencing ongoing symptoms. Just because someone does not have an identifiable, diagnosable disease, does not mean that they are healthy and functioning optimally.

The significant advantage that Functional Medicine provides is that, through its approach and advanced diagnostic tools, it enables us to detect dysfunction and address it before a disease is established. And, in those cases where the disease has already established, Functional Medicine aims to identify the underlying dysfunction (the root cause) to reverse the disease from its origin and prevent future relapses.

As we integrate both approaches, the Functional and the Conventional, we can interpret conventional labs provided by our patients and we do it through the lens of Functional Medicine looking for optimal ranges to ensure we can detect imbalances in our patient’s physiology even if they are not at a diagnosable state of Disease. These optimal ranges have been extrapolated from healthy population instead of the sick. We truly believe that, if we are aiming for health and well-being, we need to “compare” ourselves with our most optimal references.

Often times, ordering a more extended conventional lab test and reading it through the lens of Functional Medicine is enough to help our patients but, in some cases, we need to request Functional Lab Tests that provide us with a wider range of biomarkers, allowing us to reveal the deepest root causes of imbalance. These tests offer the advantage of being suitable for collection at home, diminishing any stress that patients, especially children, experience at sampling.

The Functional Labs we order more often in our practice are the following:

1. Comprehensive Stool Test:

Sample: Stool

In Functional Medicine, we believe that the health of the entire body is dependent on a healthy gut and gut microbiome and, extensive research associates an imbalanced gut microbiome with multiple disease, both within and outside of the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, the digestive system is usually the starting point when evaluating a patient’s Health status.

Gastrointestinal Stool Profiles are advanced stool tests that provide immediate and actionable clinical information for the management of, not only gastrointestinal health, but overall health. Using cutting-edge technologies and biomarkers, these profiles offer valuable insight into digestive function, the presence of intestinal inflammation and the status of the intestinal microbiome.

Comprehensive Stool Tests can reveal important information about the root cause of many common gastrointestinal symptoms and even extra-gastrointestinal conditions including:

• Gas, Bloating, Indigestion and reflux

• Abdominal pain, Diarrhea and Constipation

• Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome 

• Atopic dermatitis, Eczema and Allergies

• Autoimmune diseases

• Mood disorders, anxiety , Insomnia and Depression

• Joint aches

• Diabetes and Weight issues.

The biomarkers on the stool test reflect the 3 key functions of gut health:

1. Digestion and Absortion: It looks at the different levels of enzymes and tells us how the breakdown and absorption of carbohydrates, proteins and fats is happening.

2. Inflammation/ Inmunology: It evaluates the involvement of the inflammatory response from the gut mucosa, through measuring different markers of inflammation such as Calprotectin, Secretory IgA, Eosinophil Protein X, Lactoferin, Lysozime, Zonulin (useful to diagnose Intestinal Permeability), among other markers.

3. Gut Microbiome: It demonstrates the composition, abundance and patterns of gut organisms, showing us the breakdown of:

   • Healthy Commensal Bacteria

   • Pathological Microbes such as Bacteria, Yeast, Fungi and Parasites, measured through culture and PCR which increases sensitivity at diagnosing infections. All pathological growth is tested for both synthetic and natural antibiotic sensitivities.

   • Click here to see a Comprehensive Stool Test sample: