Assessment first, testing second
Supportive testing
What testing can tell us, what it cannot, and when it is worth considering.
What testing is for
Doing everything right and still not seeing results?
Ever feel like you’re doing everything right and still not seeing the results you’d expect? That’s often where supportive testing earns its place. Rather than guessing at what might be going on, supportive testing may be recommended to assess nutritional imbalances and inform personalised diet and lifestyle recommendations to support your wellbeing, so that what I suggest is built around your own results, not a general template.
I don’t sell tests on their own. Testing may well be discussed on a discovery call, but it is never recommended until a thorough assessment has been conducted, so that we both know whether a test would actually tell us anything useful. Plenty of people don’t need one. And where something is the kind of test your GP might be able to arrange through your surgery, I’ll say so, so that you can ask them before you pay for it privately. Whether it is available to you is their decision, based on what is clinically appropriate in your case, and it is never automatic.
Taking the guesswork out
What testing is, and what it is not
With supportive testing, I’m not relying on trial and error. Once I understand where the nutritional imbalances are, I can build a plan around your own results, so the plan starts from what is actually going on for you.
Supportive testing is not diagnostic testing, and I’m always upfront about that. It isn’t used to test for the risk, presence, cause or extent of any disease, disorder or injury, and it isn’t used to diagnose or to treat. What it does is give you a clear baseline to understand where things stand for you now, flag anything worth raising with your GP, and track genuine progress as you make changes. If a result comes back outside the normal range and looks like it needs a medical opinion, I will tell you plainly and refer you to your GP, and with your consent I will write to them and share the result so they have it in front of them.
Lifecode Gx accredited
Nutrigenomic testing
Your genes do not decide your health, but they do influence how your body handles certain things day to day, how efficiently you process folate and the B vitamins, how quickly you clear caffeine, how you respond to different types of fat, and how well you manage oxidative stress and inflammation. It is one reason two people can follow the same sensible advice and get quite different results from it.
This is a one-off saliva or cheek swab test, done once rather than repeated, since your genetics do not change. I am accredited through the Lifecode Gx Nutrigenomics Practitioner Programme and use their panels, which are built for a practitioner to interpret properly instead of handing you a long list of alarming-looking variants with no context.
What it gives us is a better informed starting point, and it earns its place most where you have already made sensible changes and they have not worked the way you expected. It tells us about tendencies rather than certainties. It does not predict, diagnose or rule out any condition, and nothing it shows changes the medical care you are already under. If what you want to understand is your risk of developing a particular disease, that is a genetic counselling question rather than a nutrition one, and the right person to see is a medical practitioner, not me. Used properly, it means less trial and error and a plan built around how your own body actually works.
Energy, weight and mood
Thyroid testing
Your thyroid is small, but it does a big job, helping regulate energy, weight, mood, metabolism and cholesterol. Standard testing usually starts with TSH, which is a reliable first check, and a fuller panel adds detail about what sits behind that result.
If you’re dealing with fatigue, unexplained weight changes, low mood, hair loss, feeling the cold more than most, or irregular periods, a fuller thyroid test can help us understand what is going on. Alongside TSH, we can look at:
- TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone): made by the pituitary gland in the brain, it tells your thyroid how much hormone to produce. It tends to rise when the thyroid is underactive and fall when it is overactive.
- T4 and Free T4: T4 is the main hormone your thyroid makes. Free T4 is the portion not bound to proteins in the blood, so it reflects what is available for your body to use.
- Free T3: the active form of thyroid hormone, the one your cells actually respond to. Most of it is made from T4 in tissues such as the liver and kidneys, rather than in the thyroid itself.
- Reverse T3: an inactive form of T3, also made from T4. Levels can rise during illness, significant stress or calorie restriction. Its value outside these situations is still debated, so I interpret it with care and alongside your other results, never on its own.
- Thyroid antibodies (TPO and thyroglobulin antibodies): these show whether your immune system is targeting your thyroid, the most common cause of an underactive thyroid in the UK. They can be present before hormone levels change.
- Selenium, iodine and zinc: iodine is the building block of thyroid hormones, and too little or too much can affect how your thyroid works. Selenium is needed for the enzymes that convert T4 into active T3, and zinc is also involved in thyroid hormone metabolism.
Understanding how your thyroid is working helps build a plan around what is going on, instead of guessing.
Digestion and inflammation
Gut health testing
Your gut microbiome plays a bigger role in overall health than many people realise, including in how your body handles inflammation, which sits closely alongside cardiometabolic health rather than apart from it. Where it is relevant to the work we are already doing, a stool test can assess the balance of bacteria and yeasts in your gut and inform personalised diet and lifestyle recommendations to support your wellbeing.
It is used as one part of that work rather than as a gut health service in its own right, and where digestive symptoms need investigating, that is a conversation for your GP rather than a test from me.
Costs
What testing costs
Testing is charged separately from your programme, at cost, with no commission taken from any laboratory, and I will always tell you what a test costs before anything is ordered. Where something is the kind of test your GP might be able to arrange through your surgery, I will say so, so that you can ask them first. Whether it is available to you is their decision, based on what is clinically appropriate in your case, and it is never automatic.
Full programme prices are on the Ways to Work Together page.
Questions
Testing questions
Where it’s clinically appropriate, testing can form part of a personalised plan, but never as a standalone service and never as a standard starting point for everyone. Testing may well be discussed on your discovery call, but it is never recommended until a thorough assessment has been conducted. Plenty of people don’t need one. Where something is the kind of test your GP might be able to arrange through your surgery, I’ll say so, so that you can ask them, though whether it is available to you is their decision and it is never automatic.
No. Tests and supplements are charged separately, at cost, with no commission taken from any laboratory, supplement company or brand, and I will always tell you the cost before anything is ordered.