Ask the Doctor: Check Your Health with Lab Tests

Lab tests can assess a wide array of health concerns and point the way to potential solutions.

In this interview, Dr. Scott Fogle, ND, discusses some of the best tests available to help you and your physician understand your current health status.

LE: With the annual lab test sale happening, people are wondering: What are some must-have tests Life Extension offers?

Dr. Fogle: We work with nine different labs, which provide us with amazing options. Our most popular tests remain our Male and Female Panels. If you got those tests from a commercial lab, you would pay around $2,500, but during our sale we offer them at $224. These are valuable, comprehensive tests.

LE: What's one of your favorite tests?

Dr. Fogle: The GI360 Stool Analysis for gastrointestinal (GI) issues looks for dysbiosis of your gut flora and the major pathogens that cause trouble in your gut. It also offers an excellent assessment of your digestive abilities.

LE: Is that test different from the popular SIBO Home Breath Kit?

Dr. Fogle: Yes, the GI360 is a stool test that takes a broad and comprehensive look at your GI health. The SIBO kit is a breath test looking for bacteria that have overgrown and proliferated in your small intestine. This bacterial overgrowth can cause gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and cramping.

LE: Food allergies also affect your GI health. Can you test for those?

Dr. Fogle: Food allergies and sensitivities can cause systemic inflammation, headaches, migraine, foggy brain, musculoskeletal problems, fatigue, skin issues, mood disturbances, and more. We offer both food allergy profiles and food sensitivity panels. Food allergies are tested via IgE antibody reactions, while sensitivities are tested via IgG and IgA antibodies. Our Advanced Food Sensitivity Panel tests for IgG sensitivities to 240 foods and is our most popular choice during the sale. For those suspecting numerous possible food reactions, our Elite Food Sensitivity Panel adds IgA testing for a closer look at sensitivities to those foods.

LE: More news keeps coming out about environmental pollutants and toxins. What tests can help identify them in our bodies?

Dr. Fogle: We offer an Environmental Pollutants Profile, a convenient at-home urine test that reveals levels of harmful toxins such as xylene, toluene, benzene, trimethylbenzene, styrene, phthalates, parabens, and MTBE. For harmful heavy metals we offer the Toxic Metals Panel fecal test, which looks at the worst offenders including arsenic, lead, mercury, uranium, and many more. Annual testing for toxin exposure is a good idea.

LE: What new tests are being offered during the annual sale?

Dr. Fogle: Let me start with hair loss. It's not just a genetic issue; you can test for medical conditions that contribute to or accelerate it. We created two panels, a Basic and Comprehensive Hair Loss Panel. The basic panel looks at the most common causes, such as excessive DHT (dihydrotestosterone), which has a negative effect on hair follicles. It also measures thyroid-stimulating hormone to check thyroid health, low ferritin (an iron marker) for anemia, C-reactive protein for excessive inflammation, and low or high cortisol related to acute or chronic stress, all of which can be factors in hair loss.

LE: What does the Comprehensive Hair Loss Panel offer?

Dr. Fogle: It includes everything in the basic panel plus additional tests that delve deeper. It checks antinuclear antibodies (ANA) as a general autoimmune screening test and has more advanced thyroid testing to look for hormone imbalances or significantly high or low levels.

LE: You mentioned that stress can contribute to hair loss?

Dr. Fogle: Yes. The good news is that often that type of hair loss can be recovered, and tests provide clues of current or ongoing stress. The stress hormone cortisol rises during acute stress, and low levels can point to chronic stress and implication in hair loss. Also, stress can cause an increase in what's known as reverse T3 hormone levels. The Reverse T3 blood test and Cortisol blood or urine tests can indicate various stages and degrees of stress.

LE: Do you have other new tests?

Dr. Fogle: People are concerned about mold at home, work, or school. We finally have a lab that can deliver good testing for mold and mycotoxins (the toxins molds secrete). We are now offering a Mold Exposure Mycotoxin urine test to see what mycotoxins are present in the urine, indicating the body's exposure to mycotoxins from food and environment. We also offer an EMMA (Environmental Mold & Mycotoxin Analysis) test that checks for mold and mycotoxins in a suspected environment by swabbing dust from any area of concern.

LE: How dangerous are mycotoxins?

Dr. Fogle: They are associated with a wide range of symptoms and diseases including immune dysfunction and even cancer. Common complaints are respiratory and sinus concerns, cognitive dysfunction, neurological issues, significant fatigue, changes in mood, and more.

LE: Testing urine can identify which mycotoxins may be causing these symptoms?

Dr. Fogle: Correct. The Mold Exposure Mycotoxin test checks for exposure to 16 of the worst-of-the-worst mycotoxins. Knowing which one is most prevalent in your body is helpful to identify foods to avoid or which mold may be lurking behind the walls in your home.

LE: Are foods or moldy environments more likely sources of mycotoxins?

Dr. Fogle: Both can be, but most issues stem from water-damaged buildings. This makes it important to use the EMMA test along with the mycotoxin urine test. Dust is collected from a suspected location to directly examine the mold and mycotoxins in that environment. EMMA results can be compared to urinary mycotoxin results to see if your body's mycotoxin exposure aligns with the mold and mycotoxins in a building. Doing both tests provides a more complete picture of mold exposure, which can help confirm the source of mycotoxins in the urine.

LE: Do different mycotoxins cause different health issues?

Dr. Fogle: Yes, some specific symptoms are related to different mycotoxins. For example, ochratoxin A from the common Aspergillus mold family is associated with fatigue, dermatitis, and irritated bowel issues. Satratoxins from black mold are associated with fatigue, breathing issues, and nervous system dysregulation. Black mold is difficult to directly test for because it is heavy and sticky and doesn't circulate in the air easily. But what does circulate are the satratoxins it produces, and now we can test for those.

Dr. Scott Fogle is Executive Director of Clinical Information and Laboratory Services at Life Extension.

If you have any questions on the scientific content of this article, please call a Life Extension^®Wellness Specialist at 1-866-864-3027.