How blood testing can help clients achieve longevity
By Jonathan Cohen, FunctionalDX Founder
As a country, the UK is facing an ageing population crisis. Life expectancy has increased over the past decades and it is now estimated that by 2036, one in four of the population will be over 65. Meanwhile, in 50 years over-65s will outnumber the current population of London. Add in decreasing birth rates and you can see why in 2020 the mean general population age hit over 40, when just 10 years ago it was 35.
This might not be so bad if we were actually ageing healthily and living a life full of vitality, but that doesn’t seem to be the case – modern Western medicine may be helping us prolong life, but often at the expense of quality of life.
Recent data suggests most of us will live in good health until the age of 63. If you take into account the average living age of men and women in the UK, that means a man may live in ill health for a fifth of their lives. Women’s increased life expectancy means that figure can increase to a quarter of their lives. I find those shocking statistics and am committed to doing something about them.
At FunctionalDX we believe that people should be able to approach ageing with the same verve and vigour they had in their earlier years. By achieving that, we can also help with another associated problem: reducing the long-term care cost associated with ill health in an aging population.
Ageing is a natural part of the human life cycle, where a degeneration of the body occurs. As we age, damage occurs at a molecular and cellular level, particularly regarding lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), making it more difficult for the body to heal and regulate homeostasis.
As of yet, we can’t reverse age-related decline (we’re good, but not that good), but we can certainly help slow it down by providing FunctionalDX practitioners with the ability to notice dysfunction before it properly takes hold thanks to the power of our comprehensive blood testing and our proprietary reporting.
To explain. Conventional blood tests come with reference ranges that we are all familiar with. But ill-health is never an on-off switch. You don’t go from being healthy to unhealthy when a marker jumps from one column of numbers into another. In reality, ill health – and good health for that matter – is a continuum, a steady progression from one state to another. Our tests allow practitioners to look more closely at those fuzzy edges between states, functional ranges that can help identify tell-tale trends before they actually lead to ill health. We don’t just look at these markers in isolation either. Our reports seek out the interaction between associated biomarkers to offer a fuller picture for the practitioner and their client, as well as comprehensive associated optimal health improvement plans.
Our test range includes a large number of different panels, including thyroid, male and female health, fertility and weight-aware among others, as well as Age Well specific tests such as our Brain Check and Male and Female Reset panels.
These help identify the main culprits of aging – consistent low-grade inflammation, the effects of stress (whether physical, psychological or oxidative), the effects of diet, nutrient availability and absorption, poor sugar management, lipid regulation, detoxification, mitochondrial function and much more – allowing you the practitioner to remove guesswork and replace it with highly targeted advice.
If it’s numbers you’re after, our sophisticated AI reporting analyses 13 body systems, 7 accessory systems, 7 macro systems, 14 nutrient assessments and more than 40 clinical dysfunction assessments to provide the most advanced, comprehensive reporting on the market today. In short, we can provide you with the ultimate tools to understand your client’s ageing status, vitality and longevity.
What’s more, we provide you with the support you need to make our tests work for you: comprehensive walk-throughs of your client test results with one of our team, webinars to help you better understand the role of blood biomarkers, and even business support to help your practice grow.
If you’d like to discuss how we can help you, your practice and, ultimately, your clients, we’re exhibiting at this year’s ANP Naturopathic Summit. Come by and say ‘hello’ and let’s see how we can serve you best.
