Essential
29
The planned baseline: lipids and ratios, glucose, liver, kidney, thyroid, and inflammation markers.
Planned panel menu
A focused 29-marker Essential baseline and the 53-marker Complete clinic panel, organized by type. Exact analytes and collection needs are finalized before orders open.
Essential
29
The planned baseline: lipids and ratios, glucose, liver, kidney, thyroid, and inflammation markers.
Complete
53
The planned clinic panel: everything in Essential plus blood count, full chemistry, iron studies, hormones, full thyroid, and nutrients.
How this is organized
By marker type
Insulin sits with glucose. hs-CRP sits with inflammation. Lipids, liver, kidney, blood count, thyroid, hormones, and nutrients each have their own section.
09 markers
Cholesterol, particle count, ratios, and circulating fat
The circulating cholesterol inventory
Total cholesterol is the combined amount of cholesterol carried in the blood by LDL, HDL, and other lipoproteins. It is a headline number, not a complete cardiovascular picture on its own.
Cholesterol carried on atherogenic particles
LDL cholesterol estimates the cholesterol mass inside low-density lipoprotein particles. Those particles can enter artery walls; the cholesterol number is a proxy, not a particle count.
Cholesterol on return-path particles
HDL cholesterol is the cholesterol carried on high-density lipoproteins. HDL particles participate in reverse cholesterol transport, but a higher HDL number is not automatically protective.
Circulating fat after meals and overnight
Triglycerides are the main form of stored and circulating fat. The fasting value reflects recent intake, alcohol, insulin action, and how the liver packages fat into lipoproteins.
All cholesterol on atherogenic particles, in one number
Non-HDL cholesterol is total cholesterol minus HDL cholesterol. It is calculated, not separately measured, and captures the cholesterol on every particle type that can contribute to plaque — LDL, VLDL, IDL, and Lp(a).
Total cholesterol relative to the return path
The total-cholesterol-to-HDL ratio divides total cholesterol by HDL cholesterol. It is a calculated proportion, not a new measurement, and condenses the balance of the lipid panel into one number.
A quick window into insulin-resistance patterns
The triglyceride-to-HDL ratio divides fasting triglycerides by HDL cholesterol. It is calculated from two measured markers on the same draw and rises when triglycerides climb while HDL falls.
The atherogenic particle count
Apolipoprotein B is one protein per atherogenic lipoprotein particle (LDL, VLDL, IDL, and Lp(a)). The ApoB number is therefore a particle count, not a cholesterol mass.
The inherited particle-risk marker
Lipoprotein(a) is an LDL-like particle with an attached apolipoprotein(a). Blood levels are largely genetic and stay relatively stable across adult life.
04 markers
The sugar average and the insulin demand behind it
The three-month glucose average
Hemoglobin A1c is the percentage of hemoglobin with glucose attached. It estimates average blood glucose over roughly the previous two to three months.
Your HbA1c translated into everyday glucose units
Estimated average glucose converts the HbA1c percentage into the same mg/dL units a glucose meter shows. It is calculated from HbA1c, not separately measured, using a standard published formula.
Morning blood sugar after an overnight fast
Fasting glucose is the blood sugar concentration after a defined overnight fast. It is a snapshot, not a three-month average.
The insulin demand behind the glucose number
Fasting insulin is the insulin concentration after an overnight fast. It estimates how much insulin the pancreas is using to keep fasting glucose in range.
01 markers
A sensitive signal that can rise with illness, training, or chronic load
06 markers
Enzymes, clearance, and the proteins the liver builds
The most liver-specific routine enzyme
Alanine aminotransferase is an enzyme concentrated in liver cells. When liver cells are stressed or injured, ALT leaks into the blood, making it the most liver-specific enzyme on a routine panel.
A liver and muscle enzyme, read as a pair with ALT
Aspartate aminotransferase is an enzyme found in the liver and also in muscle, heart, and red blood cells. It rises with liver-cell stress but is less liver-specific than ALT.
An enzyme from bile ducts and bone
Alkaline phosphatase is an enzyme made mainly in the bile ducts of the liver and in bone. A blood level reflects contributions from both sources.
The recycled pigment the liver clears
Bilirubin is a yellow pigment produced when old red blood cells are recycled. The liver processes it and sends it out with bile; the blood level shows how that pipeline is flowing.
The liver's main transport and volume protein
Albumin is the most abundant blood protein, made by the liver. It carries hormones, nutrients, and medications and helps hold fluid inside blood vessels.
Albumin plus antibodies and carrier proteins
Total protein is the combined concentration of albumin and globulins — the antibody and carrier proteins — in blood. It summarizes two different protein families in one number.
08 markers
Filtration, hydration, and the minerals held in tight bands
The muscle byproduct your kidneys clear
Creatinine is a waste product of normal muscle metabolism that the kidneys filter out at a steady rate. The blood level reflects the balance between muscle mass and kidney clearance.
The standard estimate of kidney filtration
Estimated glomerular filtration rate converts creatinine, age, and sex into an estimate of how many milliliters of blood the kidneys filter per minute. It is calculated, not directly measured.
Protein waste shaped by kidneys and hydration
Blood urea nitrogen measures urea, the waste product the liver makes from protein breakdown and the kidneys excrete. It reflects protein intake, hydration, and kidney clearance together.
The primary water-balance electrolyte
Sodium is the main electrolyte in the fluid outside cells. The kidneys and thirst hormones keep it in a tight band, so the blood value is really a water-balance gauge.
The heart-rhythm electrolyte inside cells
Potassium is the main electrolyte inside cells, with only a small, tightly regulated amount in blood. Nerves, muscles, and especially heart rhythm depend on that narrow blood range.
Sodium's counterpart in fluid and acid balance
Chloride is the major negatively charged electrolyte in blood. It moves with sodium and shifts opposite bicarbonate, tying it to both hydration and acid-base balance.
The blood's main acid buffer
The CO2 test on a metabolic panel measures mostly bicarbonate, the blood's primary buffer against acid. Lungs and kidneys adjust it continuously to hold pH steady.
The tightly defended bone-and-signal mineral
Blood calcium is the small circulating share of the body's calcium, held in a narrow band by parathyroid hormone and vitamin D. About half rides on albumin, so the protein level shapes the reading.
09 markers
Oxygen carriers, immune cells, and clotting fragments
The circulating immune force
The white blood cell count measures the immune cells circulating in blood — neutrophils, lymphocytes, and their relatives. It rises and falls with infection, stress, and inflammation.
The oxygen-carrier headcount
The red blood cell count is the number of oxygen-carrying cells per unit of blood. It is read together with hemoglobin and hematocrit as one oxygen-transport story.
The oxygen-carrying protein itself
Hemoglobin is the iron-containing protein inside red cells that binds and delivers oxygen. It is the primary number used to define anemia.
The share of blood that is red cells
Hematocrit is the percentage of blood volume occupied by red blood cells. It moves with red-cell count and hydration status.
The average size of your red cells
Mean corpuscular volume is the average size of red blood cells. Size classifies anemia: small cells suggest one set of causes, large cells another.
Average hemoglobin per red cell
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin is the average amount of hemoglobin inside each red blood cell. It usually moves together with cell size (MCV).
How concentrated the hemoglobin is in each cell
Mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration measures how densely hemoglobin is packed inside red cells, independent of cell size.
How uniform your red cells are in size
Red cell distribution width measures the variation in red-cell size. A uniform population reads low; a mix of small and large cells reads high.
The clotting-response cell count
Platelets are small cell fragments that initiate clotting. The count reflects bone-marrow production, consumption, and how the spleen holds them.
04 markers
The control signal, the circulating hormones, and autoimmune activity
The pituitary signal that drives the thyroid
Thyroid-stimulating hormone is released by the pituitary to tell the thyroid how much hormone to make. It is a control signal, not the thyroid hormone itself.
The active thyroid hormone in circulation
Free T3 is the unbound, biologically active fraction of triiodothyronine. Most T3 is converted from T4 in tissues; the blood value is one window into that process.
The circulating thyroid reserve hormone
Free T4 is the unbound thyroxine available in blood. The thyroid releases mostly T4; tissues convert it to T3 as needed.
An autoimmune thyroid activity marker
Thyroid peroxidase antibodies are immune proteins directed at an enzyme the thyroid uses to make hormone. A positive result is a pattern, not a symptom.
06 markers
Androgens, binding proteins, estradiol, cortisol, and adrenal reserve
Bound plus unbound circulating androgen
Total testosterone is the combined bound and unbound testosterone in blood. Most is carried on SHBG and albumin; only a small fraction is immediately available to tissues.
The unbound androgen available to tissues
Free testosterone is the small unbound fraction of testosterone not attached to SHBG or albumin. It is the portion immediately available to act on tissues.
The protein that decides how much hormone is free
Sex hormone-binding globulin is a liver-made protein that binds testosterone and estradiol tightly. Its level determines how much of each hormone circulates free versus bound.
The primary estrogen, relevant in every body
Estradiol is the most active estrogen. In men it is made largely by converting testosterone via aromatase; in women it follows the ovarian cycle. Bone, brain, and vessels all use it.
The morning stress-adaptive hormone
Cortisol is the primary glucocorticoid from the adrenal cortex. A blood value is time-of-day dependent; morning and afternoon results are not interchangeable.
Adrenal androgen reserve
DHEA-S is the sulfated, longer-lived form of DHEA made mainly by the adrenal glands. It is more stable through the day than cortisol or DHEA itself.
06 markers
Vitamin D, B12, and the complete iron studies
The hormone-like nutrient from sun, food, and stores
25-hydroxy vitamin D is the storage form used to judge vitamin D status. It reflects sun exposure, intake, absorption, and season more than a single day’s weather.
The nerve-and-blood vitamin from animal foods
Vitamin B12 supports red-cell production and nerve function. Blood levels reflect intake — mostly from animal foods or supplements — and absorption, which needs stomach acid and intrinsic factor.
Stored iron, with an inflammation caveat
Ferritin is the blood protein that reflects stored iron. It also rises as an acute-phase reactant, so inflammation can lift the number without adding iron.
Iron in transit at the moment of the draw
Serum iron measures the iron traveling through blood bound to transferrin at the moment of collection. It swings with meals, time of day, and recent supplements.
The blood's total capacity to carry iron
Total iron-binding capacity measures how much iron the blood's transferrin could carry if fully loaded. It reflects how much transferrin the liver is producing.
How full the iron-transport system is
Transferrin (iron) saturation is serum iron divided by total iron-binding capacity, expressed as a percentage. It shows how loaded the transport system actually is.
Sample analysis