1) It looks at levels of nutrients inside the cell - Most tests simply look at levels of a nutrient in the blood. This doesn’t reveal how much of this nutrient actually makes it inside the cell. If nutrients don’t get inside the cells, then you won’t be feeling the benefits.

2) It’s a measurement of long term nutritional status – Levels of certain nutrients can fluctuate wildly on a daily basis, so blood levels of a nutrient at a specific point in time aren’t always helpful. The Spectracell Micronutrient Test is designed to reflect the cumulative levels of nutrients over the past 4-6 months.

3) It looks at the function of the cells - The test determines how well cells multiply as a result of their nutrient levels. The ability of cells to grow and multiply is essential to the maintenance of many body systems.

By looking at cell multiplication rather than just levels of a nutrient, it tells you practical information about which nutrient deficiencies are acting as limiting factors in your body.

4) It’s comprehensive – It measures your 31 different vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fatty acids, antioxidants and metabolites. It also measure glucose-insulin interaction, fructose sensitivity, Immunidex (a measure of immune system function) and Spectrox® (reflects total antioxidant capacity).

5) It indirectly accounts for genetic factors – Your lymphocytes (white blood cells) are used for the test. Your lymphocytes have your genetic code. This means that if your genes are causing problems with utilising nutrients in your cells, the Spectracell test will detect the poor utilisation.

When a nutrient is marked as deficient on the Spectracell test, the first instinct can be to take a supplement of that nutrient. In practice, this isn’t always the best course of action.

Why?

1) There are certain nutrients measured on the Spectracell test that are not naturally consumed in significant amounts in the diet. For example, alpha lipoic acid is one of these nutrients. Usually when alpha lipoic acid is low on the Spectracell test, this a secondary issue caused by other deficiencies or lifestyle problems. Supplements of alpha lipoic acid are available only in doses that far exceed natural intake patterns. Taking alpha lipoic acid supplements, can lead to depletions of other related nutrients which will be visible on the Spectracell. Similarly, we find that other nutrients like oleic acid are rarely deficient due to a lack of intake, but rather secondary to other issues.

2) Also, there are certain vitamins that should generally not be supplemented as studies have shown they may be associated with negative health effects. For example, one meta-analysis (study of lots of different studies) of 78 different randomised controlled trials (296,707 trial participants in total) found that people taking beta-carotene (a form of vitamin A often found in multivitamins) had a 24.3% increased risk of dying and people taking vitamin E had a 16.5% increased risk of dying (original source).

This is because certain nutrients act differently in food form compared to supplement form. Foods come packaged with other nutrients that will affect how your body handles a particular nutrient. For example, one study compared the teratogenic (birth defect causing) effects of high vitamin A doses from foods vs supplements. They found that the group consuming lamb liver had 20 times less of the birth defect causing metabolite in their blood than the group consuming the same dose of vitamin A as a supplement (original source).

For some nutrients, a whole food approach is the safest option.

In our interpretation and recommendations package, we will tell you for which deficiencies it is best to stick to whole foods instead of supplements.

There is one final reason the interpretation package is useful.

When Spectracell reports the results, they will sometimes mark the nutrients as borderline. To the untrained eye, a borderline result may not seem relevant or worth paying much attention to. In practice, for some nutrients, a borderline deficiency is more important than if it were another nutrient. As the Spectracell test is relatively new, the normal and deficient ranges are not necessarily defined in an ideal way. We have found that with certain borderline nutrient deficiencies, bumping up the levels can make a significant difference to the client.

In order to help with making more accurate interpretations and recommendations, the deluxe package looks at 57 biomarkers in your blood (in addition to the Spectracell test).

This also helps to track how nutrient deficiencies from the Spectracell Test are affecting your body and its functions.

Importantly, the deluxe package helps to also give an insight into the likelihood of iodine or iron deficiency. These are two common but important nutritional deficiencies which the Spectracell Test cannot directly measure.

Below is the list of 57 biomarkers included:

Adrenal Hormones: DHEA and Cortisol

Autoimmunity: Thyroglobulin antibodies and Thyroid peroxidase antibodies

Blood Sugar Control (Diabetes): HbA1c

Cholesterol Status: Total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, non-HDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, Total cholesterol : HDL ratio and Triglycerides

Clotting Status: Platelet count and MPV

Gout Risk: Uric acid

Hormones: FSH, LH Oestradiol (Estrogen), Testosterone, Free Testosterone (calculated), Testosterone : cortisol ratio and Prolactin

Inflammation: hs-CRP

Iron Status: Iron, TIBC, Transferrin saturation and Ferritin

Kidney Health: Urea, Creatinine and eGFR

Liver Health: Bilirubin, ALP, ALT and Gamma GT

Proteins: Total protein, Albumin, Globulin and SHBG

Red Blood Cells: Haemoglobin, Haematocrit, Red cell count, MCV, MCH, MCHC and RDW

Thyroid Hormones: TSH, Free T3 and Free Thyroxine (T4)

Vitamins: Vitamin A (Retinol), Folate (serum), Vitamin B12 (active) and Vitamin D

White Blood Cells: White cell count, Neutrophils, Lymphocytes, Monocytes, Eosinophils and Basophils

The Spectracell Micronutrient Test is great because it tells you the activity of certain nutrients within the cell. This doesn’t always reveal the cause. To achieve the best results, it’s important to work on the causes.

Poor activity of nutrients inside the cell doesn’t always mean that the problem is resolved by taking more of that nutrient. There can be many reasons, other than low intake or low blood levels, as to why the activity of the nutrient inside the cell is low. Sometimes the nutrient is high in the blood, but it isn’t being transported into the cell enough because of other deficiencies. Sometimes there are other compounds blocking the activity at a receptor level. Sometimes a lack of thyroid hormones is leading to a lack of uptake by the cell.

By looking at blood levels of vitamin A, vitamin D, folate and vitamin B12 we have a better idea of the cause of your intracellular deficiencies. This allows us to further refine our interpretations and recommendations so they are in line with what’s happening in your particular body.

We’ve had multiple clients who have high levels of one of these vitamins in the blood, but low levels on their Spectracell. This implies the solution is not to increase intake, but rather to work on other deficiencies or lifestyle factors affecting the utilisation of that nutrient at a cellular level.

The results will be delivered to your e-mail address 10-15 working days after you have been tested.