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www.drjustineblainey.com
Source: Mercola.com & grassrootshealth.org
September, 26, 2018
Eight Important Health Screens Commonly Overlooked
1- Vitamin D – It is recommended that you get your vitamin D level tested twice a year, once at your lowest (midwinter), and once at your highest (midsummer). This is particularly important if planning pregnancy or if you have cancer. Published data suggests a whopping 80% of breast cancer recurrences could be prevented simply by optimizing vitamin D and nothing else.
2- Omega-3 Index – Your omega-3 level is a powerful predictor of your all-cause mortality risk and plays a vital role in overall health. A higher omega-3 index is associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular events, coronary heart disease events and strokes. Omega-3 also helps improve pain, especially when combined with vitamin D. Your best sources of animal-based omega-3 are small, cold-water fatty fish such as anchovies, herring and sardines.
3- Fasting Insulin- Insulin resistance is a driving factor for virtually all chronic disease, making fasting insulin testing a really important health screen. Any meal high in grain and sugar carbs typically generates a rapid rise in your blood glucose. To compensate, your pancreas secretes insulin into your bloodstream, which lowers your blood sugar.
4- Serum Ferritin – Ferritin is the major iron storage protein in your body, so the ferritin test is ordered as an indirect way to measure the iron stores in your body. It is recommended that you get this test on an annual basis, as iron overload can be every bit as dangerous as vitamin D deficiency. While iron is necessary for biological function, when you get too much it can do tremendous harm by increasing oxidative stress.
5- High Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein (hs-CRP) – This is a highly sensitive test that measures a liver protein produced in response to inflammation in your body, and chronic inflammation is a hallmark of most chronic diseases. Eating a healthy diet low in added sugars and higher in healthy fats, optimizing your vitamin D and omega-3, lowering your insulin level and exercising on a regular basis will all help to address chronic inflammation.
6- RBC Magnesium – Magnesium deficiency is extremely common and recent research shows that it can jeopardize your heart health. Magnesium is also important for brain health, detoxification, cellular health and function, energy production, regulation of insulin sensitivity, normal cell division, the optimization of your mitochondria and much more.
7- Homocysteine – Homocysteine is an amino acid in your body and blood obtained primarily from meat consumption. Checking your homocysteine level is a great way to identify a vitamin B6, B9, and B12 deficiency. Elevated homocysteine is a risk factor for heart disease, and when combined with a low omega-3 index, it’s associated with an increased risk of brain atrophy and dementia.
8- NMR Lipoprofile – This is one of the most important tests you can get to determine your heart disease risk, as it measures your low density lipoprotein (LDL) particle number. This test also has other markers that can help determine if you have insulin resistance, which is a primary cause of elevated LDL particle number and increased heart disease risk.
