One of advantages of functional medicine is its emphasis in advances in scientific technology - especially labs.
My three favorite labs are listed below:
Micronutrient Testing
Microbiome Testing
Comprehensive Food Allergy Testing
Micronutrient testing includes some 31 vitamins, mineral, amino acids, fatty acids, anti-oxidants and metabolites. This allows for decisions on personalized supplementation.
Microbiome Testing allows for mapping out microbiomes within our body where there is more roles of microbiome's contribution to health and diseases are being discovered. This utilizes quantitative PCR technology to detect parasites, bacteria, fungi, and more allowing better understanding of overall condition of the digestive system. If abnormalities are found, further testing such as comprehensive diagnostic stool analysis + parasitology can be used to confirm the diagnosis.'
Comprehensive Food Allergy Testing - while environmental allergies focus on IgE reaction and such tests are readily available, food allergies are much more complex. The main advantage of this test is that this can help to distinguish between food allergy and food sensitivity. In addition, it also allows for evaluating IgG4, IgG, and C3b/d (complement). This approach, while not infallible, offers most comprehensive way to evaluate food allergy.
If you are interested in above functional medicine testing, please fill out contact us form.
Yoon Hang Kim MD