Nutrition provides you with the building blocks and energy that you need for optimal health. While most people will agree that nutrition is important, many disagree on how much is enough, and on the best ways to obtain it.

Nutrition has been a hotly debated health topic since the 1930’s. Some experts feel that a balanced diet is all that is needed for optimal nutrition. Other experts point to declining food nutrient values, modern intense farming practices, and documented farming soil depletion to support their claims that optimal nutrition requires nutritional supplements.

Many of my patients come to me with symptoms of nutritional deficiencies. Typical symptoms include rashes and skin sores that are reluctant to heal, dental problems including bleeding and poorly healing gums, easy bruising, failing eye sight, frequent infections, sore joints, intestinal cramping, … to name a few on a list that often appears to include almost every health concern.

The problem with tracking nutritional deficiencies by watching for symptoms is that symptoms are the last to come and the first to go. The “third generation effect” describes patterns of health decline that may take three generations of a nutritional deficiency to show up as an outward health problem. On the other side, symptoms of nutritional deficiencies quickly disappear when diet changes are made and supplements are taken. This situation may lead to confusion since a person who had nutritional deficiencies, but is now symptom free, may think that their poor diet is just fine when it is not.

Confusion over what is proper nutrition is a situation I see often. People come to me with health concerns and I often recommend treatment programs that include nutritional supplements. After only a month or two their problems seem to be better and they cannot be convinced to continue their health programs. The simple solution to knowing when and how much nutritional support is necessary is to just measure your nutritional status with laboratory tests.

Standard blood tests are usually used as screening tests to determine whether or not a person has a serious health condition. These tests may also be used to determine nutritional status. As an example, MCV is a blood test to determine the average size of your red blood cells. The MCV test is also used as an indicator of Vitamin B status. The normal range for this test is 80 to 100 fL, however a measurement of over 90 fL indicates a Vitamin B 12 deficiency.

Another nutritional test is the Functional Intracellular Status, or FIA test. The FIA test requires a blood sample, which is sent to a laboratory and the levels of vitamins and minerals in the red blood cells determined. The FIA test takes many weeks to complete and is costly, but it is the test of choice to determine your exact levels of vitamins and minerals.

A popular health and nutrition screening test that I have been using for the last ten years is the Biological Terrain Assessment test panel, or BTA. The BTA test panel uses a person’s urine and saliva, as well as a physical examination, to make forty-four separate measurements. These measurements determine health patterns based upon the balance or imbalance of nutrients, including minerals, essential fatty acids, sugars, and proteins. As well, the BTA panel determines your metabolic type and your patterns of energy production. These measurements and patterns are used to determine a program of nutritional supplements, as well as a computerized optimal diet from a selection of two hundred and fifty foods.

Nutrition is an essential part of regaining and maintaining good health. Laboratory tests help us to take the guesswork out of nutrition by identifying deficiencies, which allows us to design and monitor diet and nutritoinal supplementation programs.


Special Offer - Determine Your Nutritional Status and Save Money Doing It.

The BTA is the most important screening test you can order and it is a great value. As a thank-you to all my present patients and as an introduction for all my new patients I am offering a discount on BTA test panels booked during the week of May 29 to June 2, 2006. Call my office, at 250-762-8900, to book your BTA test, and receive a 25% discount off of your next BTA test.