Micronutrient testing measures 31 specific micronutrients—vitamins, minerals, amino acids, antioxidants and metabolites—and how they affect cellular function in a person. If someone is deficient in a particular nutrient, the MNT will uncover this deficiency so that it can be effectively treated, thus facilitating real prevention. Not only will correcting intracellular deficiencies slow aging and degenerative disease progression, but it can also prevent as well as repair cellular dysfunction, and by extension disease.
What makes the MNT particularly relevant is that it takes into consideration a person’s biochemical individuality when assessing nutritional status. The MNT is performed intracellularly—it is not a static serum measurement—thus taking into account cellular absorption, metabolism and utilization in its nutritional evaluation of cell function, which correlates with tissue health and systemic health. Serum (extracellular) nutrients fluctuate wildly, are only a snapshot and tell you nothing about the functional health of cells. The MNT measures nutrient status, in the context of cellular function, over a period of 4-6 months. No other nutritional test compares.
Regardless of cause, the MNT will uncover micronutrient deficiencies if they exist. All the factors that affect nutritional needs for each person—age, lifestyle, illness, injury, drugs, circumstance, genetics—are reflected in the MNT results. No amount of modern medicine can totally correct an improperly nourished cell. Correcting these deficiencies is preventative and personalized medicine at its finest.
There are two key principles on which the Micronutrient Test (MNT) is based:
- Micronutrient deficiencies cause disease.
- Targeted repletion is the solution.
Micronutrients are the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and chemicals our bodies use to perform every biological function necessary to survive and thrive. If we become deficient, we get sick. But the manifestations of nutrient deficiency are incredibly diverse.
Case in point: magnesium deficiency. This mineral is a cofactor for over 300 metabolic reactions in the body. A deficiency could manifest in any number of ways:
- No clinical symptom: Mg deficiency can lower bone density which is often asymptomatic.
- Subtle clinical symptom: Mg deficiency can increase bone pain and cause fatigue.
- Acute clinical symptom: Mg deficiency can result in a bone fracture.
The point here is that nutrient deficiencies manifest very differently. If there is not an obvious or acute issue, it would be referred to as a subclinical micronutrient deficiency. When untreated, subclinical deficiencies will usually progress to overt sometimes critical deficiencies. Micronutrient Testing allows you to determine nutrient deficiencies regardless of how they manifest clinically. This is important because in many cases the clinical symptoms are subtle (fatigue, pain, immune dysfunction) but often become more pronounced over time.
For more information feel free to schedule a consultation with Align Body & Wellness today.