Most people don't realize just how critical micronutrients are to their health. Vitamins and minerals regulate reactions that occur in metabolism, unlike dietary macronutrients which are basically substrate fuel. If the body doesn't get the vitamins and minerals it needs (the US RDA is just a fraction of what you need each day), cellular processes can run ineffectively impacting energy manufacturing, hormone signaling, and immune system function. Absence of just a single vitamin or mineral blocks one or more specific metabolic reactions in a cell and eventually may disrupt the metabolic balance within a cell and in our entire body. No longer can you trust your generic multivitamin to provide these critical needs, because the dosing of ingredients is based on an average RDA (now DRI) values – and there are no average needs! These generic vitamin manufacturers accept the fact that their formulation isn’t right for anyone, so they try to peddle it to everyone using tricks and gimmicky names. Don’t fall for fancy laser shows, hair sampling, or urinalysis – not very accurate measures of need – and many offer the same vitamin no matter what your “test” results show.

The following diagram compares the different methods the leading custom supplement makers use to try to determine your specific needs.

An Overview of Testing Methods

Hair Tests
Hair testing has been used for years by forensic drug testers, and requires about 40 correctly harvested hairs to get any result. Since hair is non-living, there is no way to get anything but a historical account of toxins that have been processed by the body. It is not valid for vitamin or mineral analysis, and those who claimed it to be, have been dealt with by the legal system quite harshly.

Saliva Tests
Saliva testing is quite good for some things, namely hormone levels, and to detect HIV status. It is not a proper method to detect vitamin and mineral states. Some feel that it can be correlated with blood serum vitamin and mineral testing, but at best can only give a static estimate of nutrients at moment the test was collected.

Urine Tests
There are currently two major attempts to utilize urine to estimate vitamin and mineral status. Neither are capable or even remotely attempting to predict specific nutrient amounts. Whether it is a single or set of samples, or a 24 hour collection sample, only a rough estimate of limited nutrients can be generated. There is no evidence to support that any fat soluble vitamins would be reachable by any urine test whatsoever, so it is extremely limited in scope and accuracy.

Blood Serum Tests
The traditional standard for medical testing works well for many systems, such as determining cell counts and organ function. But since nutrients don't remain in the blood for more than 48 hours, the test is very susceptible to environmental effect. Experts know that the serum is not the proper reservoir to check nutrient status, and extrapolations are simply poor predictors of cellular need or usage. At best you can derive a static number of the amount of nutrients remaining in the blood.

DNA Snippets
Gene sequences are fascinating to explore and study, and every day scientists are finding defects in the genetic code that correlate with disease occurrence. Unfortunately, predisposition for disease is the only result of these tests, and no specific answers to vitamin or mineral needs are attempted.

Medical History
The medical history contains many influential factors on nutrient health, but nothing in the history can indicate specific nutrient needs.

Vitamin Science™ Cellular Analysis
The gold standard of nutrient testing, it samples the correct cellular reservoir, and determines a functional level, rather than a static vitamin or mineral value. This is the only test that provides specific deficiencies and excesses of individual nutrients. Since it utilizes cells instead of liquids, we can get a 6 month indicator of nutritional health rather than an inaccurate, biased snapshot. Your cells have only one thing in mind, and that is to perform optimally, so we relish the fact that your cells are giving us the prescription for their optimal performance..