Low Cost Blood Testing: The Health Check USA Blog » The importance of good nutrition

Posted by David | Posted on 03-03-2010

The importance of good nutrition

Tags: nutrition, nutrition lab test, nutrition panel, test your nutrition

Since ancient times, healers have been fascinated with the notion of our human uniqueness. Certainly, the idea of personalizing a nutritional plan to an individual is nothing new. The traditional Greek, Chinese and Ayurvedic traditions all prescribed food-based remedies based on highly detailed observations and intuitive knowledge gathered about the individual patient. And of course, modern health professionals regularly identify individual nutritional deficiencies and suggest dietary solutions.

Suddenly though, “individualized nutrition” and “personalized medicine” have become the phrases on the lips of many of today’s most visionary health, wellness and fitness professionals. In fact, many insist that personalized nutrition is poised to become the next diet megatrend. Thanks to breakthroughs in genetic research and clinical testing, this custom-tailored approach to nutrition is becoming more practical, more sophisticated and vastly more promising – not just for the acutely ill or severely deficient, but for average individuals who want to maintain their ideal weight, maximize vitality, slow aging and steer their bodies out of genetic danger zones.

OK, so you wouldn’t normally associate a blood testing service with nutrition. However, HealthCheckUSA offers several blood tests that can help you stay on the right path of your nutritonal goals. For the entire month of March we are celebrating nutrtion by offering you a 10% discount on all of our selected nutritional panels. (See selected tests below)

Comprehensive Vitamin Deficiency Panel
Our newest and most comprehensive vitamin panel that includes everything you need to assess your vitamin levels.

Tests Included: Super Chemistry (complete metabolic panel with CBC), Vitamin D, 25 Hyrdroxy, Vitamin B-12 with Folate and Magnesium

Magnesium (Mg) Blood Test
Magnesium can identify the amount of magnesium in the body. Normal levels of magnesium are good for strong bones, steady heart rhythm, and keeping blood pressure low. Magnesium deficiency can lead to irritation of the nervous system and muscular cramps, and an excess of magnesium is dangerous and sometimes fatal.

Tests included: Magnesium (Mg) Blood Test

Nutrition Panel
A nutrition panel from HealthCheckUSA is a great way to understand how your body uses the food you eat. In many instances, medical conditions can be treated simply by eating better.

Tests Included: Chem-26, Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid and TIBC

Vitamin B12 and Folate Deficiency Blood Profile
Vitamin B12 and folate are B complex vitamins that are necessary for normal red blood cell formation, tissue and cellular repair, and DNA synthesis. A B12 and/or folate deficiency reflects a chronic shortage of one or both of these vitamins. Since the body stores 3 to 5 years worth of B12 and several months’ supply of folate in the liver, deficiencies and their associated symptoms can take months to years to manifest in adults.

Tests included: Vitamin B12 with Folate and Comprehensive Metabolic Panel with Complete Blood Count (CBC) Blood Tests

Vitamin B12 with Folate Blood Tests
B-12 is a vitamin that is important for the normal formation of red blood cells and important to the health of the nerve tissues. Vitamin B-12 is used by the body to release energy stored in food components like carbohydrates, fat, and protein.

Tests included: Vitamin B12 with Folate Blood Test

Vitamin D, 25 Hydroxy
Vital to healthy bones. Deficiency can be related to prostate, breast and colon cancers; heart disease, type 1 diabetes and hypertension.

Tests included: Vitamin D, 25 Hydroxy

Posted by beth | Posted on 07-07-2008

Nutrition to Live Better

Category : health tests

Tags: health, health check, healthy, lab, lab tests, nutrition, nutrition panel, physician, test, testing

Nutrition is the Foundation of Good Health

Nutrition has many more important factors to your health than just your weight. Although maintaining a healthy weight or losing those extra pounds are also important for good health; proper nutrition leads to less illness, stronger immune systems and overall better health. Nutrition is very important as a foundation to health; and, in many cases, medical conditions can be treated simply by eating better.

Total Nutrition Panel

HealthCheckUSA has a nutrition panel that will allow you to work with your doctor to build a nutrition and diet plan that is just right for you. The nutritional panel consists of three different parts: CHEM-26, Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid, and TIBC.

Nutrition Panel: CHEM-26

CHEM-26 is the part of the Nutrition panel known as the “Super Chemistry” test. This lab test will check your kidney, heart, and liver functions. CHEM-26 checks your cholesterol and triglycerides, as well as your glucose, calcium, uric acid, electrolyte and iron levels. Cholesterol and triglyceride levels may indicate a need for dietary changes and possibly medications. High glucose levels could indicate diabetes, and high levels of iron could indicate a serious genetic disorder.

Nutrition Panel: Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid

The Vitamin B12 with Folic Acid gives you a thorough analysis of your body’s metabolic functions. B12 levels can help physicians determine if your body is generating enough energy to power all the organs. Low levels of B12 can be an indication of a high-risk of organ damage. This part of the nutritional panel also determines how much folic acid your body is getting. A lack of folic acid can impair protein synthesis and cell division.

Nutrition Panel: TIBC

Finally, the last lab test in the nutritional panel is the TIBC or the total iron binding capacity. Elevated levels of TIBC can indicate that you have an iron deficiency, which means that you need to incorporate more green vegetables and possibly red meat in your diet. TIBC measures how efficiently your blood transports iron through the rest of your body.

Make sure that you are eating properly and getting the right nutrition, call and order a nutrition panel test today.

Posted by brian | Posted on 01-02-2008

Nutrition Panel Targets Potential Health Problems

Category : lab tests

Tags: buy nutrition panel, buy nutrition test, check your diet, check your nutrition, get nutrition test, health check, health check usa, health tests, healthcheckusa, lab test, lab tests, nutrients, nutrition, nutrition panel, nutrition test, test your diet, test your nutrition, vitamin b12 test

Nutrition Panels are Great Preventative Medicine

A nutrition panel could be your best preventative medicine. A nutrition panel consists of a simple blood test that examines the way your body processes food. Even though adhering to a good diet and exercise regimen is the best way to stay healthy, each body’s chemistry is unique and breaks down nutrients in different ways. Most diseases are caused by a lack of proper nutrition or an inefficient breakdown of the nutrition that the body receives. At under $100, a nutrition panel is an affordable, comprehensive way to prevent potential health problems.

Fast Before a Nutrition Panel

Fasting for 10 hours prior to the nutrition panel is recommended for the best lab test results, though drinking water or black coffee doesn’t adversely affect the panel’s results. Therefore, it is usually best to schedule the panel in the morning.

Test your diet with a nutrition panel

Nutrition panels focus on three specific areas: CHEM-26, vitamin B12 with folic acid, and total iron binding capacity (TIBC).

The CHEM-26 portion analyzes the body’s total cholesterol (HDL & HDL), triglycerides, glucose, calcium, uric acid, electrolyte, and iron, as well as kidney, heart and liver functions. Glucose levels indicate how the body processes sugar, so it’s good to keep tabs on them if your family has a history of diabetes. Too much or too little iron can be a sign of various health problems.

The vitamin B12 and folic acid portion of the panel can provide information on the body’s metabolic functions. The body uses B vitamins to access and mobilize the energy stored in carbohydrates, fat, and protein. Without B vitamins, the risk of organ damage is heightened. Folic acid is in the B vitamin family and works hand-in-hand with B12 to unlock the nutritional value of the foods you eat. Folic acid also helps to synthesize DNA in the production of new cells.

The total iron binding capacity or TIBC portion checks the blood’s ability to transport iron throughout the body. If your iron levels are low, eating more iron-rich foods like dark green vegetables is recommended.

All three sections of the nutrition panel provide information on which functions of the body are efficient and which need more attention.

What if a nutrition panel comes back with abnormal results?

If a nutrition panel produces abnormal results, share them with your doctor. He or she may recommend different health tests, a change in diet or exercise regimen, or another nutrition panel to double-check the results.