The biomarkers covered in Dr. Weatherby's book "Blood Chemistry and CBC Analysis - Clinical Laboratory Testing from a Functional Perspective" were the main biomarkers being run by Naturopathic Physicians, Functional Medicine Practitioners, etc., back when the book was written. Since then, a number of additional biomarkers have become more commonplace that give windows into different body systems and provide extra assessment information.
For instance, adding fasting insulin and C-Peptide to the standard Blood Glucose and Hemoglobin A1C gives you a deeper look into Blood Sugar Dysregulation and also opens up the possibility of calculating the HOMA scores and QUICKI calculation that tells us more about insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance.
The same could be said for adding Homocysteine, Hs-CRP, and Fibrinogen, which gives us a look at cardiovascular risk. How about adding Total Testosterone and Sex Hormone Binding Globulin, which along with Albumin, can be used to calculate Free testosterone, Bioavailable Testosterone, and the % free and % bioavailable T results? These all help with uncovering an emergent Testosterone dysfunction in our male patients.
Starting with the standard Chem Screen and CBC, you can then add biomarkers to the blood requisition form to give you a look at these discrete body systems. Using the Suggested Biomarkers for FBCA form, you can start with my Basic FBCA panel and then add biomarkers according to the body systems you want to assess:
- Blood sugar regulation biomarkers
- Inflammation / Cardiovascular risk biomarkers
- Hormone Biomarkers
- Iron biomarkers
- Thyroid regulation biomarkers
The Suggested Biomarkers form finishes with my " ultimate all-elements-comprehensive -cover-all-my-bases "panel.
You may be interested in a class I taught for Rupa Health called "Uncovering The Hidden Intelligence in the Chemistry Screen and CBC". I cover the most commonly found metabolic patterns found within the results from a Complete Metabolic panel and CBC.
So, in summary, you can get a ton of information from just a Comprehensive Metabolic Panel and CBC but if you are looking to gather more information on different body systems, then adding additional markers can only enhance your assessment. Please note, the more biomarkers you have, the more information the blood chemistry analysis software at Optimal DX will give you.