Vitamin/Mineral test advice

[Luvsadonut]

Hi,
Im looking to take a break from supplement regime and get a quality test to indicate the levels of vitamins and minerals in my body, can anybody suggest a reliable test, i.e blood, stool etc, Im based in the UK.

Darren

[jimmylegs]

hey refresher on the regimen until now? you'll potentially want to look at things you've been taking, but also things those supplements might have affected, so details of amounts and so on would be informative.

suggestions:
1. complete a three day diet diary (ie check up on how this will perform maintenance-wise)
2. serum tests (yes there can be 'better' tests but they are more expensive and when you understand the flaws in serum test interpretation these can be quite telling)

besides nutrients, have you been assessing status on other signs and symptoms as well?

[Luvsadonut]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply..

My daily supplement list is -
2 probiotics
50mg zinc picolante
600 mg Magnesium Citrate
800 mg Calcium
1200mg dha/epa (Omega 3) capsules
10,000 Vit D
Vit B complex
5,000 Vit 12
800 mg q10

Diet is fairly similar most days

Breakfast - kale/spinach, celery, apple, cucumber, ginger, lime smoothie - Chicken breast
Lunch - Tuna,tahini, spinach, beetroot, sun-ripe tomatoes, gherkins, suarkraut, seeds, red onion
Dinner - meat (pork, steak, lamb) or fish (salmon, cod) with 2 sets of vegetables

All meat is organic grass fed for Omega 3's

Snacks - seeds and nuts, occasional high cocoa solids/low sugar chocolate, bananas, apples, paleo date bars

drinks - freshly ground black coffee twice a day, water, coconut milk, occasional kombucha

thanks
Darren

[jimmylegs]

k so besides testing the vits and mins you're taking, to see if your levels are meeting desired targets, consider asking for serum ferritin and serum copper (due to interactions with zinc and calcium; will be good to check ratios in the results).
i don't have any suggestions re pbx and q10.

with serving size details for each food, you could do an assessment on diet for the food contribution once you go into your washout period. with food you can get a solid idea of the O3:O6 ratio as well.

to get serving size, i usually just ballpark it using the preprogrammed info given on nutritiondata.com

[Luvsadonut]

After what seems like ages, Ive finally had my blood tested for minerals, vitamins and others with the results as follows..

Cholesterol 4.5 nmol/L
HDL cholesterol 1.62 nmol/L
triglycerides 0.61 nmol/L
LDL cholesterol 2.6 nmol/L
non HDL cholesterol 2.9 nmol/L

ALT level 27 u/L
alk phos liver enzyme 48 u/L
total bilirubin 13 umol/L
albumin 44 g/L
gamma GT 15 u/L
total protein 75 g/L
globulin 31 g/L


urea 6.5 nmol/L
creatinine 96 umol/L
GFR calculated abbv MDRD 74 mL/min

Neutrophil count 1.81 10*9/L
Lymphocyte count 1.96 10*9/L
Monocyte count 0.31 10*9/L
Eosinophil count 0.07 10*9/L
Basophil count 0.05 10*9/L

Free T4 level 15.2 pmol/L
TSH level 0.94 mu/L

ferritin 185 ug/L
folate 15.4 ug/L



white cell count 4.2 10*9/L
red blood cell count 4.72 10*12/L
Haemoglobin est 145 g/L
Mean corpuscular volume 91.7 fL
Mean corpuscular haemoglobin 30.7 pg
Platelet count 198 10*9/L


Vitamins
Vit D 25-oh 311 nmol/L

Vitamin A (Retinol) 1.82 umol/l

Vitamin B12 1214 ng/L

Beta Carotene 1.56 umol/L

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine) 29.3 ug/l

Vitamin B2 74.2 ug/l

Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) 48.0 ug

Vitamin C 65.3 umol/L

Vitamin E (alpha Tocopherol) 25.1 umol/l


Minerals

Calcium Serum 2.39 mmol/l

Iron Serum 14.3 umol/l

Chromium Serum <0.5 ug/l

Copper Serum 23.1umol/L

Magnesium Serum 0.91 mmol/l

Manganese Serum 1.4 ug/l

Zinc Serum 765 ug/l

potassium 4.9 nmol/L

sodium 146 nmol/L


Theres obvious highs with Vit D, Vit B6, Vit B12. But after the obvious highs Im unsure what all the rest mean, I hope that Im not coming across as lazy but does anybody have any ideas what the other figures mean? I could try to look on the internet but Im aware that recommended levels dont quite fit when youre trying to solve or piece together puzzles of MS.

Thanks
Darren