S1: In this episode of the Ben Greenfield Life podcast. The
S1: Official Guide to testing your Body my recommended blood, saliva, urine,
S1: poop gene, micronutrient hormone, food allergy tests, and a whole
S1: lot more. Fitness, nutrition, biohacking, longevity, life optimization, spirituality and
S1: a whole lot more. Welcome to the Ben Greenfield Life Show.
S1: Are you ready to hack your life? Let's do this.
S1: Welcome to a pretty special episode of the show. I've
S1: been getting so many questions from people about how to
S1: actually decode the process of poking and prodding the body
S1: to figure out what's going on with your blood, with
S1: your biomarkers, with your gut, with your hormones, your food allergy,
S1: food intolerances, even your genes, and a whole lot more.
S1: And of course, in this era of readily available self-quantification,
S1: I'll admit there are a lot of different tests out there.
S1: I mean, probably thousands at this point. I could think
S1: of just a dozen plus genetic tests alone. I've been
S1: working pretty hard behind the scenes to put together a
S1: page that has all of my gold standard recommended tests
S1: on it that I come back to over and over
S1: again is kind of the test that would be at
S1: the top of the totem pole, so to speak. When
S1: it comes to deciphering what's going on in your body,
S1: giving you actionable information that allows you to actually make
S1: targeted nutrition changes, supplementation choices, uh, exercise modifications, lifestyle modifications,
S1: bio hacks, and beyond. And so that's what I want
S1: to get into on today's show. Now the show notes
S1: are going to be pretty juicy. They'll be at Bengreenfieldlife.com
S1: forward slash testing podcast. And if you go to Bengreenfieldlife.com
S1: slash testing podcast, you'll get access to all of the
S1: different tests that I mentioned, uh, resources, additional podcasts, etc..
S1: So that being said, I figured we should dive right in.
S1: So if you were to go to the page that
S1: I'll link to in the show notes, you'll see a
S1: whole range of tests categorized under gut health, hormone health, DNA,
S1: general health and longevity, food intolerance and allergy testing, and metals,
S1: molds and toxins. That's kind of all the different categories
S1: that I chunk things into. And I just want to
S1: walk you through what some of these tests are and
S1: what they involve, because I realize this can be confusing
S1: to a lot of folks, uh, the actual interpretation of
S1: many of these tests, by the way, it's actually becoming
S1: a lot easier than it used to be. I mean,
S1: I recently had a podcast with Doctor Matt Dawson at
S1: Wild Health, and I'll release that podcast soon, but he's
S1: been working on AI behind the scenes. That will really
S1: take a lot of the guesswork out of lab interpretation,
S1: and they're already rolling that out with some of their clients.
S1: At Wild Health, I spend typically 10 to 15 hours
S1: a week on the phone with people reviewing their lab results,
S1: walking them through their reports, giving them recommendations. Uh, not
S1: that I'm a doctor. I don't give out medical advice,
S1: but I basically tell people what I would do if
S1: I were looking at the same labs that they're holding
S1: in their hands or looking at on their computers or
S1: their screens. But if you're pretty, like, self-motivated and you
S1: like to learn, you're a little bit autodidactic. Uh, I
S1: believe that word means self-learning or something like that. Um,
S1: that or you're a really good car repairman. Uh, or
S1: repair woman, as the case may be an autodidact. That's
S1: the only joke you're going to get the whole podcast. Um,
S1: you can actually read through the PDFs that you typically
S1: get in the email within a few weeks after you
S1: do tests like this. And a lot of times, the
S1: PDF or the dashboard via which you view the test
S1: gives you pretty targeted and really helpful recommendations. Sometimes those
S1: need to be taken with a grain of salt. You know,
S1: a lot of times reference ranges are not as accurate
S1: as I think they should be. So they take like,
S1: you know, vitamin D reference ranges in my opinion, tend
S1: to be a little bit low. Uh, thyroid stimulating hormone
S1: reference ranges tend to not be accurate enough to actually
S1: dictate or tell you if something's actually wrong with your thyroid,
S1: when in fact, a lot of times there is something
S1: wrong with your thyroid. If you're just paying attention to
S1: the TSH of say something that is um, below for
S1: I like a value below two. For example. And those
S1: are those are just a couple examples. I won't go
S1: on and on, but but the general idea is that
S1: you do want to take the whole reference range thing
S1: with a grain of salt, and sometimes the reference ranges
S1: are for absence of disease and not actual personal optimization.
S1: So anyways, that all being said, that aside, let's jump
S1: into what some of these tests are. So the first
S1: test would be just a basic blood panel that will
S1: tell you a little bit more than the average panel
S1: that your doctor might order for you. Now, as I
S1: go through all the these tests, know that most of
S1: them can be ordered directly to your home. Uh, and
S1: are a lot of times done via a basic blood spot.
S1: So this first one, this advanced health panel, I like
S1: the one by LabCorp. This is one of the few
S1: tests that you actually do have to go to the
S1: lab for a blood draw for, or have a phlebotomist
S1: come to your home to actually do a blood draw for.
S1: Most the other tests I'm going to talk to you about.
S1: They can be done from the comfort of your own home.
S1: But this basic blood panel, or as the case may be,
S1: advanced health panel, goes over C-reactive proteins, the same comprehensive
S1: metabolic panel and what's called complete blood count, like red
S1: blood cells, white blood cells, etc. that your doctor might
S1: order for you. But then a whole bunch of other
S1: things vitamin D, vitamin B12, a full thyroid panel, uh,
S1: reverse T3, which is important when you're looking at thyroid
S1: to see how much of the thyroid is actually not
S1: being made active. Omega three and omega six fatty acids,
S1: full lipid panel, fasting insulin, homocysteine, iron and total iron
S1: binding capacity GT uh, other markers of liver and kidney function.
S1: Cortisol Cystatin C another good marker of kidney function DHEA
S1: as related to hormones. So this is kind of like
S1: what your doctor would normally order on a blood panel,
S1: but way fancier. So just so you have your head
S1: wrapped around what a, what a test like that would
S1: actually cost. It is typically around 540 bucks or so.
S1: Now some of that stuff can be billed to insurance,
S1: but many people are now ordering these tests out of
S1: pocket because frankly, when you order them online, you can
S1: get pretty good deals. But this would be a full
S1: blood panel that I would typically recommend someone run on
S1: anywhere from a quarterly to an annual basis. It's called
S1: an advanced health panel. Uh, and if you did not
S1: want to do the advanced health panel on a regular
S1: basis because it is, you know, 500 plus bucks, you
S1: could look at another, more basic panel that I have
S1: on that testing page called a cardio metabolic profile, a
S1: cardio metabolic profile. And this is less expensive. Uh, I
S1: believe that one's, uh, under $200 for the cardio metabolic profile, $180.
S1: And this just looks at some of the things that
S1: are most related to red flags when it comes to
S1: cardiovascular health or metabolism, namely insulin hs-crp a marker of inflammation,
S1: hemoglobin A, 1CA3 month snapshot of your blood sugar levels triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, LDL,
S1: and VLDL. And then the other thing that it looks
S1: into is your hormone balances like estrogen, progesterone, uh, cortisol,
S1: DHEA and testosterone. It's called a cardio metabolic profile. And
S1: as you can imagine, for the 180 bucks, it's a
S1: little bit easier to to or easier on the pocketbook,
S1: I should say, to order on a monthly basis or
S1: I'm sorry, on a quarterly basis without having to eat,
S1: you know, rice and beans all year long. But the
S1: cardio metabolic profile is kind of like a stripped down
S1: baby version of that advanced health panel that I talked about.
S1: The only thing I don't like about the cardio metabolic
S1: panel is it doesn't measure something that I think is
S1: pretty low hanging fruit when it comes to paying attention
S1: to your health. And that's vitamin D, and that's why
S1: if you go to my lab testing page and I
S1: do all my labs through this company called Rupa, by
S1: the way, you'll notice that I have the option for
S1: a vitamin D panel. Uh, and the basic blood test
S1: that I have on that page is basically just the
S1: cardiometabolic profile, plus the vitamin D. It's 199 bucks. So
S1: the vitamin D tacks on about $20 onto it. But
S1: I think that's pretty smart to measure your vitamin D
S1: along with some of these other cardio metabolic profiles. Okay.
S1: So those are like the basics for blood. But there's
S1: a lot more that you can do when it comes
S1: to what I, what I would categorize as nutritional biomarkers
S1: or micronutrients. When you're getting these blood panels, it's important
S1: to understand sometimes they aren't going to tell you things
S1: like micronutrients, fatty acids, amino acids and other important nutritional biomarkers. Now,
S1: I like to pair those with about an annual basis
S1: of a urine test to actually this this whole profile.
S1: It's a urine test mixed with a blood spot mixed
S1: with a buccal swab, which is a fancy term for
S1: basically taking a Q-Tip like object on the inside of
S1: your cheeks can all be done at home, and this
S1: same test wasn't even available at home up until a
S1: couple of years ago. Now it's pretty cool. Turnaround time
S1: is two weeks and it tells you a ton. So
S1: it's called a metabolomics. I did a whole podcast on it,
S1: by the way. I'll link to it in the show
S1: notes if you go to Bengreenfieldlife.com slash testing podcast. But
S1: what it looks at are oxidative stress biomarkers, mitochondrial function,
S1: your omega balance, your toxic exposure like lead, mercury, arsenic, cadmium, etc.
S1: and then any indications of a methylation imbalance. Now it's
S1: not a genetic test for methylation. It looks at things
S1: like arginine, glycine, serine, uh, creatinine, methionine something called methylmalonic acid.
S1: And a lot of these markers would indicate even if
S1: you do have a genetic methylation issue, whether any of
S1: this is actually manifesting biologically in your body. So a
S1: test for all of this, all your essential. Metabolic fatty acids.
S1: But if you want to kind of in addition to
S1: a blood panel, look at oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, omega balances,
S1: toxic exposure and methylation status, this metabolomics profile is the
S1: bee's knees. I mean, I do it on a yearly basis.
S1: I learn a ton, and it kind of can give
S1: you clues about things that a basic blood panel is
S1: not going to tell you. So again, it's called metabolomics
S1: with an X and it's just a small spot of blood,
S1: a little bit of urine and a buccal swab. The
S1: other cool thing about this test is it can tell
S1: you neurotransmitter metabolites, meaning it'll measure epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine.
S1: So it can tell you a lot about your brain.
S1: You know, especially for somebody who has brain fog or
S1: poor sleep. It looks at bacterial and yeast markers. So
S1: you can know if you might have a yeast or
S1: fungal infection. It looks at these metabolites produced by your
S1: gastrointestinal microbiome like I mentioned. Look at toxins. You look
S1: at oxalates. You can see if your oxalate sensitive. If
S1: you have a risk for kidney stone formation, metabolic dysfunction
S1: related to oxalates, etc., then it'll measure all your amino acids,
S1: all your essential amino acids, so you can see what
S1: essential and non-essential amino acids that you have that are
S1: being synthesized by your body or derived from dietary sources.
S1: So let's say you're having a difficult time putting on
S1: muscle or recovering or you get injured frequently. You could
S1: literally check in and see, hey, are my histidine levels
S1: low or my leucine levels low, or my methionine levels low?
S1: It'll also look at all the fatty acids omega three,
S1: omega six, omega nine, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fats, fatty acids,
S1: something called delta six desaturase activity, which assesses the efficiency
S1: of the enzyme that turns omega six into omega three seconds.
S1: And if you if you do the cheek swab part
S1: of it, it'll also do genetic testing for four basic,
S1: very important genetic markers Mthfr, Comt, TNF alpha and ApoE.
S1: So you're looking at brain health, inflammation, methylation status and
S1: dopamine metabolism when you're kind of combining all of those.
S1: So it's a pretty cool as you can imagine pretty
S1: comprehensive test. It is a little spendier than some of
S1: those other tests that I talked about. And I actually
S1: need to I gotta pull the price up here. So
S1: I remember, uh, that yeah, that was 3.99. So it's
S1: a lot of information. Um, 3.99 is not bad considering
S1: that a test like this used to be like 2000
S1: bucks a few years ago. Uh, but considering you can
S1: get all of that within the comfort of your own home,
S1: it's definitely one of those ones that I tend to
S1: recommend pretty frequently. Okay, so then we move on and
S1: we go to what I would consider to be another
S1: very important test. Now this is related to the gut.
S1: It's important to understand that there are a lot of
S1: gut testing companies out there that look at the DNA
S1: of your gut, like say, Vitrac or Viome or thorn.
S1: And these are actually assessing the genetic profile of the
S1: biome in your gut. Those are helpful. They can they
S1: can look at bacterial imbalances. They can predict the amount
S1: of metabolites that your gut is producing. They can look
S1: at the type of foods that you should or should
S1: not be eating. But what I like about a test
S1: that actually goes in and analyzes not just the DNA,
S1: but the actual metabolites in the gut, is that you
S1: can get a really, really good picture of yeast, fungus, bacteria.
S1: Even as nasty as this is to think about parasites.
S1: And I'll admit it, this test is not pleasant. It's
S1: a three day Genova Diagnostics stool profile. And yes, that
S1: involves pooping into like the equivalent of a hot dog
S1: tray for three days, taking a little spoon that it
S1: comes with, putting it into little tubes that it comes with,
S1: shaking them up, taking your poop, putting it in the refrigerator, rinsing, washing,
S1: and repeating for three days. Especially that rinsing part, folks,
S1: wash your hands. And then once all of that poop
S1: is collected for three days, you take the prepaid Fedex
S1: shipping package out of the refrigerator where your family has
S1: been having to stare at your poop, or at least
S1: your packaged poop for the past three days and you
S1: ship it off. But it's worth it. In my opinion.
S1: It is definitely worth it. So, uh, the the cost
S1: of a test like that. The Genova Diagnostics Gut panel is.
S1: Let me make sure I've got this one pulled up
S1: for you. It's 4.95. Okay. So I don't do this
S1: test frequently. Obviously I'd be spending like, you know, thousands
S1: of dollars a month or a quarter if I were
S1: to do all these tests. But this is another one
S1: I'll do annually. Or if I come back from hefty
S1: travel and my gut's just feeling messed up, and I
S1: don't know if I've had a parasite or I don't
S1: know if I have a fungal infection or if I'm
S1: symptomatic and it's concerning me, I'll do a test like this.
S1: But basically it tells you inflammation. So to look at
S1: things like blood in the stool, calprotectin, eosinophil protein, secretory IGA,
S1: it'll look at mail digesting meaning your pancreatic enzyme production,
S1: how well you're doing, breaking down proteins, fecal fats, which
S1: is yes. How much fat is in your stool. Are
S1: you a floater or a sinker? Uh, dysbiosis. Meaning the
S1: actual balance of the bacteria in your gut. Uh, the
S1: need for probiotic or probiotic support, the need for antimicrobial support,
S1: even like which parasites and little critters you have in
S1: your gut and which herbs or pharmaceuticals those might be
S1: sensitive to for an eradication profile. So, as you can imagine,
S1: you can learn a ton from a test like this.
S1: And the other thing that I like is that it
S1: will go in and basically give you a profiling of
S1: all of these different bacteria so you can see what's balanced,
S1: what's imbalanced, how you might need to adjust your diet,
S1: whether you need to take a probiotic, foods you might
S1: want to avoid, foods you might want to include, etc. like, uh,
S1: the the profile I was recently looking at last week
S1: for a client. They showed a ten for inflammation, high
S1: need for inflammation, modulation in the gut, and the actual
S1: report itself said you slippery elm bark, use aloe use
S1: uh d gel, which is a form of like a
S1: licorice acid. Zinc carnosine, glutamine, quercetin, turmeric, omega three. And then, uh,
S1: do a food sensitivity test to ensure that there were
S1: no food allergies in the diet. And I'll tell you what,
S1: my favorite food sensitivity test is here shortly. But as
S1: you can imagine, that's a ton of super useful advice
S1: by just looking at the report. And it ranks things
S1: on a 1 to 10 scale in terms of how
S1: much support you would need for different areas of your gut.
S1: So again, that's the Genova Diagnostics GI effects panel. Fantastic
S1: test for the gut. Now, in addition to that, I
S1: would say the second most important thing to realize with
S1: the gut is a ton of people have small intestine
S1: bacterial overgrowth, small intestine bacterial overgrowth. Now in a nutshell,
S1: that is a syndrome that's characterized by an increase in
S1: the number or the presence of atypical microbiota in the
S1: small intestine. It's kind of nasty to think about, but
S1: it's basically all the stuff that's supposed to be in
S1: the large intestine, or a lot of it winds up
S1: in the small intestine. You get gas, you get bloating,
S1: you get constipation from the gas build up, and you
S1: typically have a real sensitivity to foods like wheat, garlic, onions, apples,
S1: stone fruits, melons. A lot of these fermentable, not fermented,
S1: but fermentable carbohydrates, so-called FODMAPs. Fermentable. What's it stand for? Oligosaccharides, disaccharides,
S1: monosaccharides and polyols. I think I got that right. Some
S1: gastroenterologist is probably going to slap me on the wrist
S1: for mispronunciation, but the, uh, the Sibo test is a
S1: breath test in which you get this kit sent to you,
S1: and you breathe into these tubes like every 20 minutes
S1: or so for a couple of hours. And it measures
S1: the rise of hydrogen gases that occur over time. That
S1: would indicate that you might have Sibo. It'll also measure
S1: the methane that's produced over time. The CH4 carbon with
S1: four hydrogens, methane following the ingestion of a little drink
S1: that you drink right before you start all these breaths.
S1: So you're actually drinking lactulose and uh, and yes, that
S1: will break your fast. For those of you concerned about
S1: doing a Sibo test in a fasted state, but it's
S1: worth it because you actually, if you have gas or bloating,
S1: this is an important test to take. And it tells
S1: you some things that that other test I was talking about,
S1: the GI effects test can only give you clues about,
S1: but the Sibo test can give you a much, much
S1: more targeted evaluation. So it's a it's a breath test.
S1: It's mailed straight to your home. Takes about 90 minutes
S1: to do. When I do it, you know, I'm just
S1: going about and doing my regular things. And when the
S1: timer goes off to do my next breath, I breathe.
S1: And then it gets shipped off and that's it. So
S1: that's a Sibo test. Super useful. It's very, very insightful
S1: for a lot of people. It's about $260. Um, and
S1: it'll include recommendations on which foods to eliminate and which
S1: foods that you can keep eating based on the methane
S1: and the hydrogen that you're producing during that test. Okay.
S1: Next up is a thyroid panel. Now, the reason I
S1: have this included as an available test. And again, I'll
S1: link to all of these at bengreenfieldlife.com. Slash testing podcast
S1: is because sometimes you don't want to pay all the
S1: money for a blood test, because all you're wanting to
S1: do is just track the thyroid. And in this case,
S1: the test that I've chosen for the thyroid is not
S1: that fancy. It's not that expensive. It's about $175. And
S1: it looks at your TSH. So your thyroid stimulating hormone.
S1: How good a job of is your brain doing telling
S1: your thyroid to produce hormones? And is it being upregulated
S1: or downregulated by the response of your thyroid gland, your
S1: free T3 levels, your free T4 levels, and then your
S1: thyroid antibodies and the thyroid antibodies are important because a
S1: lot of disorders of the thyroid gland are frequently caused
S1: by autoimmune reactions to certain foods like, say, wheat or nuts,
S1: or dairy or soy or egg, sometimes nightshades. So a
S1: lot of times if I see that the thyroid is dysregulated,
S1: but I see elevated thyroid antibodies are called thyroid peroxidase
S1: TPO antibodies, then I can tell that. Person. Hey, your
S1: thyroid appears to be dysregulated by something that you're eating,
S1: so let's go out and do an actual food allergy
S1: panel to see if or what foods are aggravating the thyroid.
S1: And sometimes TPO antibodies are down, but uh, say uh,
S1: T4 is high but T3 is low. So there's a
S1: conversion issue. Or sometimes both are low, indicating a need
S1: for micronutrients like iodine or selenium. So there's a whole
S1: bunch of clues that that this particular test can give you.
S1: But I like to have the option of just a
S1: standalone thyroid panel. This is another one that's at home.
S1: It's a blood spot test. Right? So we're not talking
S1: about a bunch of tubes and a and a, you know,
S1: looking like you're you're vampire ING it over your kitchen table.
S1: Just a little blood spot test. And it can tell
S1: you a ton about your thyroid gland. And I will include,
S1: by the way, on the on the show notes, a
S1: link to the testing page where you can even look
S1: at sample reports to see what your report would actually
S1: look like when you were to get a test like this. Okay,
S1: so I talked briefly about a blood test that, uh,
S1: in the very beginning of this podcast could measure your hormones.
S1: The problem with the blood test for hormones is it's
S1: a one time snapshot of what's going on with your hormones.
S1: And as you probably know, your hormones fluctuate all day long.
S1: I mean, they're up and down and up and down.
S1: It's like all of us are having the equivalent of,
S1: like a menstrual cycle all day. All right. That was unfair.
S1: I realized that that us guys aren't having a menstrual
S1: cycle all day, but our testosterone is going up and down,
S1: and women's estrogen and progesterone are fluctuating. And this is
S1: where a urine test, an at home urine test in
S1: which you're peeing multiple times during a 24 hour cycle,
S1: can give you a much, much better idea of what's
S1: going on with cortisol, with estrogen, with progesterone, with testosterone.
S1: And this this Dutch test, this dried urine test by
S1: a company called Precision Analytical utilizes, as the name implies,
S1: these dried urine samples that are collected over a 24
S1: hour period. Now, what I like about this test is
S1: it's not just going to look at major hormones like
S1: estrogen or cortisol or testosterone, but it also will look
S1: at the upstream and downstream metabolites of those hormones. So
S1: let's say I don't know. Let me think of a
S1: good example. Your cortisol is high. And you could do
S1: a blood test and find out that your cortisol is high.
S1: But is it high because you're producing too much cortisol.
S1: And the precursors to cortisol are elevated. Is it high
S1: because you have poor thyroid function and you're clearing the
S1: cortisol inadequately? Um, you know, is it high because there's
S1: some kind of a low count of something else, like
S1: low testosterone or low DHEA or something like that? Is
S1: it low because you have low levels of progesterone or
S1: pregnenolone or something like that? So this Dutch test can
S1: just tell you a whole lot more than what a
S1: basic blood panel will tell you. And anybody who is
S1: struggling with energy levels, with libido, with sexual function, with
S1: erectile function, with workout recovery, with building strength, with losing fat,
S1: getting a really, really, um, thorough and timely view of
S1: what's going on with the hormones and the upstream and
S1: downstream metabolites of those hormones is a reason why I
S1: really like the Dutch test as one of the main
S1: tests for hormones that I feature on this testing page,
S1: and you can just learn so much. I mean, it'll
S1: even delve into neurotransmitters. And I will admit that urinary
S1: neurotransmitters aren't a wonderful corollary to what's actually going on
S1: in the brain, but they can give you a lot
S1: of clues, you know, like if you have a a
S1: ton of homovanillic acid or vanillyl mandelic acid, that could
S1: give you clues about your dopamine production or your serotonin
S1: production or enzymes that function in hormone processing, like like
S1: your Comt enzyme for, for for dopamine. So anyways, this
S1: Dutch test, uh, it is super useful for hormones. It's
S1: about $370, this Dutch test. But as you can imagine,
S1: if you are concerned about your hormones and you want
S1: to track them, it's a really, really great test to
S1: have in your back pocket or I suppose, in your
S1: front pocket, so to speak, because it's a urine test. Okay,
S1: so the next one is also a urine test, also
S1: an at home test. And this one is for oxidative stress,
S1: which can really give you clues into your mitochondrial function
S1: and mitochondrial health. It will measure what are called lipid peroxides.
S1: And then this other thing that kind of flies under
S1: the radar called eight oh HD G8O hdg that's reflective
S1: of oxidative damage to the DNA, whereas the lipid peroxides
S1: are reflective of oxidative damage to fatty acids in your body.
S1: So if you're concerned about inflammation, if you don't want
S1: to test anything but you just want to see, hey,
S1: does my body have a high level of toxic peroxide
S1: in it that could damage cells, proteins, lipids, and DNAs?
S1: Or I suppose I should say DNA? I don't think
S1: there is a DNA. Or do I have some sort
S1: of oxidative stress that might be causing excess aging, or
S1: some other form of inflammation that could predispose me to
S1: cardiovascular disease, or chronic pain, or poor recovery? That's where
S1: this oxidative stress profile comes in. Because straight to the chase,
S1: you're not measuring anything. Except am I inflamed? Am I inflamed?
S1: And if so, what's going on that would cause that
S1: to happen? It is, surprisingly, in my opinion, a little
S1: bit expensive for a urinary test, considering you're just looking
S1: at a couple of things. It's about $360, but it
S1: is a little bit difficult to analyze these two parameters,
S1: which is why it's a little bit more expensive test.
S1: It can also give you good information about your antioxidant reserve. Right.
S1: Do I need more vitamin C or vitamin E or
S1: polyphenols or some form of antioxidants? So it's an interesting test.
S1: It's one that I really like to use for athletes
S1: or people who have been traveling a lot, or people
S1: who want to know if they should upregulate their antioxidant intake,
S1: or people who are just curious if they're inflamed or
S1: under a lot of oxidative stress and they don't want
S1: to do all the other blood panels, so that one's
S1: called the oxidative stress 2.0 test. Now, related to inflammation, also,
S1: as you probably know is your omega fatty acid count. Now,
S1: I've done a few podcasts on this one, quite notably
S1: with Bill and Christina Harris, where we talk about how
S1: back to reference ranges, a lot of reference ranges for
S1: what your omega three and omega six fatty acid count
S1: should be. They're surprisingly low. As a matter of fact,
S1: during the podcast that I did with them, they mentioned
S1: that if you get a test of your Omega index,
S1: it should be above 8% and the reference range value
S1: tells you you're fine if you're like 5%. But what
S1: this next test is, is called an omega three index report,
S1: or also known as an omega three index. And what
S1: it looks at is the amount of EPA and DHA
S1: that you have, the omega three to omega six fatty
S1: acid balance, or the omega three to omega six ratio.
S1: And then it will also look at trans fatty acids.
S1: It will look at your monounsaturated fatty acids, your saturated
S1: fatty acids, the ratio of arachidonic acid to EPA. Again
S1: like I mentioned, the omega three to omega six fatty acids.
S1: You can basically see, hey, am I eating too much
S1: olive oil compared to saturated fats? Do I need to
S1: take more fish oil? Is the fish oil I'm taking
S1: even raising my omega index and any appreciable way. And
S1: it's a really, really good way to just see if
S1: you're getting the right type of fats and if those
S1: fats that you're eating are in the right balance. Now,
S1: of course, you could. You know, there are food. Uh, uh,
S1: what do you call them? Food tracking systems like chronometers one. Right.
S1: A dietary intake tracker that will tell you how much
S1: you're getting from your diet in terms of omegas and
S1: vitamins and micronutrients and minerals. But that doesn't necessarily show
S1: you what's going on in the body as far as
S1: the actual conversion and bioavailability of those. So I think
S1: it is a good idea to track your food, especially
S1: on a short term basis. If you just want to
S1: know how many calories you're eating or the dietary composition
S1: of your average meal intake during the week. But this
S1: omega index test would be one, you know, for example,
S1: I would do something like that yearly. Now, I think
S1: that if you were to get the metabolomics test, you
S1: might be able to skip on the Omega test. But
S1: it does. The Omega test does take a deeper dive
S1: into fatty acids and fatty acid balances. Then the metabolomics.
S1: And it's just 84 bucks, right? So it's a lot
S1: less expensive than the metabolomics considering the amount of information
S1: that you get from it, I think it's a pretty
S1: valuable test. Okay. I briefly mentioned food allergy testing. There
S1: are a lot of food allergy tests out there. But
S1: the problem with them is many tend to give you
S1: a laundry list of false positives. They don't test the
S1: food raw protein versus cooked protein in terms of the
S1: white blood cells immune reaction to that, they don't really
S1: give you a complete gold standard profiling of whether or
S1: not you're truly allergic to a food or whether, say,
S1: you have elevated antibodies because you've just been eating a
S1: lot of that food. Right? You don't know how many
S1: times someone gets a substandard food allergy test, and they're
S1: super stressed out that they're now allergic to eggs. When
S1: it turns out, the only reason those antibodies are appearing
S1: elevated on the test is because they've been having an
S1: omelette every morning, not because they're allergic to eggs. So anyways,
S1: a cyrex panel is my favored panel for food allergy testing,
S1: and cyrex can be a little bit confusing if you
S1: were to go to their website. I've basically just taken
S1: the test that I recommend from their website and put
S1: them on my testing page, because there's really only three
S1: that I tend to repeat over and over again. Uh,
S1: the array for which basically tests for all of your, uh,
S1: gluten sensitivities, gliadin cross-reactivity, gluten containing foods rye, barley, spelt, wheat, polish, wheat, rice, corn, quinoa,
S1: you name it. It'll also throw in a couple of
S1: common antigenic foods egg and soy. So it's kind of
S1: like a stripped down version of their more comprehensive food
S1: allergy test. And that one's 300. 40 bucks. I like
S1: it because it can tell you a ton about foods
S1: that a lot of people consume, and it does throw
S1: chocolate and milk and oats and a few others on there.
S1: The Cyrex array ten is way more complete, so the
S1: Cyrex array ten includes basically all your beans and legumes,
S1: your dairy, your eggs, your grains, your nuts, your seeds,
S1: your vegetables, uh, and fruits, um, fish, seafood, meat, herbs, spices.
S1: I mean, it'll tell you if you're freaking allergic to
S1: green tea or locust bean gum. I mean, it's that comprehensive.
S1: And it gives you a good color coded range of, hey,
S1: you're fine. Hey, moderate these foods, or you should probably
S1: avoid these foods. And that's the Cyrex ten test. The
S1: Cyrex ten C just combines the four and the ten.
S1: So you get really, really good wheat sensitivity testing and
S1: gluten sensitivity testing and then all these other foods as well.
S1: And so it's a full food immune reactivity screen. I
S1: think it is one of the best ones out there.
S1: The problem with the Cyrex test is they are expensive.
S1: Like if you were going to do that full Cyrex test,
S1: it is 1165 bucks, right? So, so it's it's pretty
S1: expensive if you want what I would consider to be
S1: kind of like a test that gives you, I would say, 70%
S1: of the value of that test. There is another one
S1: that I've listed on the page. If you can't afford
S1: the cyrex, you don't want to take that deep of
S1: a dive. It's called the 88 Food Dried Blood Spot test.
S1: Looks at Ige, IgG4, IgG and something called C3 b d.
S1: It identifies food sensitivities, intolerances, and allergies. It's $420 compared
S1: to being over $1,000 for the Cyrex. And it does
S1: tell you a lot. I mean, like, you know, eggs, coffee, cranberry, garlic, ginger, walnuts, cocoa,
S1: you know, grapes, squash it. Most of the foods you
S1: commonly consume. If you're just like looking for the best
S1: of the best and expenses not an issue. Get the
S1: cyrex ten-c. But if you want something that's just going
S1: to give you a pretty good idea, the 88 Food
S1: Dried Blood Spot test is a good option. So when
S1: it comes to food sensitivity and food allergy testing, those
S1: are some of my preferred go to tests. Then we
S1: get to the next issue that a lot of people
S1: are concerned about these days, and that is mold and mycotoxins. Well,
S1: it turns out that you can test mold and mycotoxins
S1: from the comfort of your own home. Oh, and I
S1: forgot to tell you about the, uh, the Cyrex test
S1: as far as whether that's an at home test. That
S1: one is a lab test. It's a lab test. So
S1: you either have to have a phlebotomist come to your home, uh,
S1: or you have to go to a lab to get
S1: that one done. So just an FYI, whereas the infinite
S1: allergies test, that other food allergy test that I talked about,
S1: that one is, um, remember, that one's at home. It's
S1: a blood spot test at home. So a little bit
S1: more convenience with that at home blood spot test versus
S1: going to the lab two. And we're looking at food allergies.
S1: But anyways urine at home mold and mycotoxin test incredibly helpful.
S1: It is called a mycotoxin profile. It looks ochratoxin gliotoxin
S1: mycophenolic acid. All the different molds and mycotoxins that can
S1: cause oxidative stress 11 of the most common. And then
S1: it will give you a rundown in the report about
S1: what to do about those. Like let's say you test
S1: high for um, trichothecenes. Right. And you'll find out as
S1: you read the test that those are found in board
S1: and wood and wallpaper and water damage buildings. They can
S1: be found in corn and popcorn, wheat flour, buckwheat, sorghum
S1: and oats and breakfast cereals as well. And they can
S1: cause inhibition of protein synthesis because of the reactive oxygen
S1: species that are produced by them. And then it will
S1: give you clinical insights, it will give you recommendations, and
S1: it'll just basically give you an idea of where you
S1: might have gotten exposed to this mold or mycotoxin, and
S1: what to do about it. And so I really like
S1: this as, as something for anybody who's suspected they've been
S1: exposed to mold and wants to actually check and see
S1: if that's really the case to get it is, um,
S1: 335 bucks for the for the mold and mycotoxin panel. Now,
S1: that of course, is not going to test for metals, right.
S1: The other kind of component that you want to bear
S1: in mind and what you can certainly get something as
S1: simple as like a hair tissue mineral analysis, if you
S1: really want to assess a little bit more completely what's
S1: going on with metals. There's one called the Mercury Tri test.
S1: The one to be the most concerned about is mercury.
S1: And the thing is, when you look at Mercury, there's
S1: two different types of mercury. There's methyl mercury, which you
S1: mostly get from seafood or amalgams basically in the mouth.
S1: And then there's inorganic mercury, which is a much more
S1: toxic form, which you might get from, I don't know,
S1: like a broken light bulb in the garage or. Brake
S1: dust or, God forbid, you know, tainted water. So this
S1: mercury tritus, which was developed by Quicksilver Scientific, it'll look
S1: at methylmercury and inorganic mercury, give you a full, super
S1: accurate account of those, and then tell you what you
S1: need to do as far as the type of things
S1: you can do to get rid of that mercury, its urine,
S1: its hair, its blood. And because it's a pretty complicated test,
S1: the urine and the hair you do at home and
S1: then the blood, you have to go to a lab
S1: to do or have a phlebotomist come to your house
S1: to do. This is not a test I recommend for everybody.
S1: This is the test that I'll recommend for people who
S1: are showing symptoms of metal toxicity, or some of their
S1: other labs are coming back, indicating that there might be
S1: high mercury. This test can give you a really good
S1: rundown of what kind of mercury it is, and then
S1: what you can do about it. So it's called a
S1: mercury try test. And this is again one that you'd
S1: get if you're really concerned about mercury. It's $275. But
S1: that and the mold and mycotoxin test that I mentioned,
S1: those are kind of like the two that I recommend
S1: if you actually want to see how, uh, how toxic
S1: your body is, so to speak. Okay. So almost done here.
S1: But then we get to the DNA and genetic piece.
S1: So I mentioned Doctor Matt Dawson earlier, and he and
S1: I had a really great discussion recently. That podcast might
S1: come out before this one. If it does I'll link
S1: to it in the show notes. If you go to
S1: Bengreenfieldlife.com slash testing podcast. But we talked about triage diagnostic.
S1: It's an at home blood spot test that is based
S1: on big data, meaning following thousands and thousands of people
S1: over a long period of time, and then drawing corollaries
S1: to the genetic profile that they determine from the blood
S1: spot that you send in and the genetic profile of
S1: thousands and thousands of people to then turn around and
S1: give you everything from your immune system age to your
S1: overall biological age, to your risk for diabetes, to your
S1: fitness age, to your your alcohol consumption risk, to your
S1: methylation status. It is a very insightful report and as
S1: a matter of fact, based on what's called a large
S1: predictive data models, you can actually eventually imagine that this
S1: test might be one of the only tests that you
S1: actually need to get, uh, which is kind of exciting.
S1: And we're probably years down the road from that. But
S1: the science is moving pretty quickly. And this true age
S1: diagnostics test, you hear about all these different biological aging
S1: tests and all the different ways of measuring rate of
S1: aging and pace of aging. This is the top of
S1: the totem pole. This is the best, most verified test
S1: based on what's called a Dunedin pace data. And it's
S1: the one that they're using in the rejuvenation Olympics. It's
S1: the one all the big biohackers and tech entrepreneurs and
S1: billionaires are using to monitor their biological pace of aging. Uh,
S1: it is a $500 test. If you go to the
S1: True Diagnostics website. I think we have a code that
S1: I believe is Ben VIP that knocks not a whole
S1: lot off of that. I think like 10% off of it.
S1: So you save 50 bucks. But basically the true age
S1: test is I would consider it to be the best test.
S1: If you want to find out what your true pace
S1: of aging is based on what are called epigenetic biomarker proxies,
S1: I'm not going to spend the hour that it would
S1: take right now on this podcast explaining to you the
S1: epigenetic biomarker proxy that drives biological age. But it's basically
S1: predictive model, as the word proxy implies. And if you
S1: listen to my podcast with Doctor Matt Dawson, we spend
S1: about 45 minutes explaining that and how this test was developed.
S1: But the main thing I want to get across to
S1: you right now is if you want to know your
S1: biological age and you want to cut through all the
S1: crap and confusion, the true age test is the way
S1: to do it. And then finally we get to the
S1: three by four genetic tests. Okay, so you've heard about
S1: these tests that will tell you, you know, are you
S1: a better responder to power versus endurance training? Um, what's
S1: your methylation status? What is your histamine tolerance. Your your
S1: sulfate tolerance. Uh, how good a job do you do
S1: producing nitric oxide. What's your collagen and joint health and
S1: how long a period of time do you probably need
S1: to recover after exercise? What's your risk of lactose intolerance?
S1: What's your need for vitamin B and antioxidants? All of
S1: this based on genetic testing. Well, I really like this
S1: company called three by four. Uh, three by four is
S1: named after the three main areas that they focus on
S1: health traits and ancestry. So it will be able to
S1: give you ancestral data as well. And what I like
S1: is the report, it's like colored. It's cartoonish. As you
S1: read through the report, it tells you all about your
S1: inflammation risk and your methylation status and the beneficial genes
S1: that you have and the genes that you should pay
S1: a lot of attention to, like methylation or inflammation versus
S1: genes that you might not be as much of a
S1: risk for, like glucose or insulin or blood clotting. Super
S1: simple report to read. I mean, it's a salivary test.
S1: And within just basically like I would say 30 minutes
S1: of reading after doing this cheek swab on your PDF,
S1: you will have your head wrapped around. All of your genetics.
S1: I mean, it's like reading a comic book to go
S1: through the report. So they did a really good job
S1: making the information and the recommendations palatable all the way
S1: down to should you train with more of endurance or power.
S1: You have high risk of injury, low risk of injury.
S1: So that one's called a three by 43X4 genetic report.
S1: It's about $375 okay. So I mean if you're doing
S1: the math as I went through all of this. Yeah,
S1: I mean, you could spend probably close to what, $8,000
S1: a little less than that on all of these tests
S1: if you get all of them. But again, most of
S1: these tests, for me, I would get on a yearly basis,
S1: like I'll do a gut test once a year. I'll
S1: do the fancy blood test once a year. The genetics
S1: test is like once in a lifetime. The other one
S1: off tests I'll do if I'm symptomatic. The food allergy
S1: test is kind of sort of a once in a
S1: lifetime one. The mold and mycotoxin and mercury would be
S1: if you're concerned that you're exposed. So I would say
S1: my own total outlay on testing expense probably comes out
S1: to around 800 bucks a quarter, 800 bucks a quarter.
S1: And considering like I would easily spend tens of thousands
S1: of dollars years ago at the Princeton Longevity Institute or
S1: some fancy health executive screening, getting all of those, um,
S1: it's a pretty good deal. And I think more of
S1: the expense would be spent on, I won't lie, like
S1: hiring a guy like me to walk you through the
S1: results or working with a doctor, you know, via tele
S1: consulting or, you know, visiting to the doctor's office to
S1: go over everything. Like, really, I think more of the
S1: expense is in the interpretation than in the actual testing.
S1: But again, like a lot of these tests, I mean,
S1: they maybe it's just because I like to read and
S1: I like to look up new words that I don't
S1: know on my Kindle and Google them and see what
S1: they mean, and then come back like, what was I
S1: reading last night? It was the word uniformitarianism. And I'm
S1: reading a book with my sons and I thought, gosh,
S1: I don't even know what that means. I'll have to
S1: look it up. This doctrine that states that the physical,
S1: chemical and biological processes that are currently at work on
S1: and within the Earth have appeared with general uniformity over
S1: a period of time. That's uniformitarianism. And honestly, it's kind of, uh,
S1: it's kind of related to this podcast because the absence
S1: of uniformitarianism in the human body is why we test.
S1: There you have it. The biggest word I'll use all day.
S1: So anyways, um, that's that's really what I wanted to
S1: do in this show, was just decode all these tests
S1: for you and walk you through why I recommend certain tests,
S1: and why certain tests do or do not appear on
S1: my own recommended lab testing page at Ben Greenfield Life.
S1: If you have questions, if you have comments, if you
S1: have feedback, you can go to bengreenfieldlife.com. Uh, slash testing
S1: podcast and leave your notes there. I'll link to the
S1: The Lab shop where you can check out all these
S1: tests if you have questions. You know, my coaching team
S1: is very helpful at Ben Greenfield Coaching. Com most of
S1: the clients I work with get these kind of tests.
S1: And then I walk them through the results. I spend
S1: a lot of time on the phone with people who
S1: will get consults at Ben Greenfield Coaching. Com to go
S1: over the results of tests like this, but anyways, I
S1: just wanted to give you a real good overview to
S1: to decode this sometimes complex world of self-quantification. And so, um,
S1: in addition to that, I'm working on a brand new
S1: updated version of my book, boundless. It will be out
S1: in January of 2025, and I've got some deep, deep
S1: dives into tracking, stress tracking, sleep, um, tracking, fitness parameters,
S1: tracking a whole lot that I didn't even talk about
S1: in this podcast all the way down to like, lung
S1: CT scans and retinal scans and AI powered skin cancer
S1: screens and balance tracking and neurocognitive testing like that book
S1: takes a deep dive. I'm literally writing for like 2
S1: or 3 hours a morning right now, just trying to
S1: finish up that bad boy on deadline that the publisher
S1: has given me. So anyways, there'll be plenty in there
S1: as well when that book, uh, gets republished. And in
S1: the current version, honestly, chapter 16 of the current version
S1: has a ton on Self-quantification as well. So that's the
S1: book boundless. So anyway, I'm going to wrap it up.
S1: Show notes are at bengreenfieldlife.com slash testing podcast. Uh, bonus
S1: points drinking game if you can use the word uniformitarianism
S1: in a conversation today. And till next time I'm Ben
S1: Greenfield signing out. Have an amazing week! Do you want
S1: free access to comprehensive show notes? My weekly round up newsletter,
S1: cutting edge research and articles. Top recommendations from me for
S1: everything that you need to hack your life and a
S1: whole lot more. Check out bengreenfieldlife.com. It's all there Bengreenfieldlife.com
S1: see you over there! Most of you who listen don't subscribe, like,
S1: or rate this show. If you're one of those people
S1: who do, then huge thank you. But here's why. It's
S1: important to subscribe, like and or rate this show. If
S1: you do that, that means we get more eyeballs, we
S1: get higher rankings, and the bigger the Ben Greenfield Life
S1: Show gets, the bigger and better the guests get and
S1: the better the content I'm able to deliver to you.
S1: So hit subscribe. Leave a ranking. Leave a review if
S1: you got a little extra time. It means way more
S1: than you might think. Thank you so much. In compliance
S1: with the FTC guidelines, please assume the following about links
S1: and posts on this site. Most of the links going
S1: to products are often affiliate links, of which I receive
S1: a small commission from sales of certain items, but the
S1: price is the same for you. And sometimes I even
S1: get to share a unique and somewhat significant discount with you.
S1: In some cases, I might also be an investor in
S1: a company I mention. I'm the founder, for example, of
S1: Kian LLC, the makers of Kian branded supplements and products,
S1: which I talk about quite a bit. Regardless of the relationship,
S1: if I post or talk about an affiliate link to
S1: a product, it is indeed something I personally use. Support
S1: and with full authenticity and transparency, recommend in good conscience.
S1: I personally vet each and every product that I talk about.
S1: My first priority is providing valuable information and resources to
S1: you that help you positively optimize your mind, body, and spirit.
S1: And I'll only ever link to products or resources, affiliate
S1: or otherwise, that fit within this purpose. So there's your
S1: fancy legal disclaimer.