The following links all go to Life Extension, which offers very low-cost blood testing, no doctor’s orders necessary, and no extra fees for the blood draw, which is done at any LabCorp location. The cost in most cases is only about 25% or less of what you pay at a full-service clinical lab.
Blood tests provide critical health information. Following are those that are of most interest to Rogue Health readers. Click on the test to see more information or to order.
Ferritin: This test is a must for every adult man, and every woman over 50. It measures stored iron levels and is a critically important piece of health information. See my book Dumping Iron for more.
Male Basic Hormone Panel: Panel includes total and free testosterone, estradiol, PSA, and DHEA. You need to know your T and estradiol levels before you can know whether they need work.
Male Comprehensive Hormone Panel: Total and free testosterone, complete blood count and chemistry panel, estradiol, DHEA, DHT, PSA, pregnenolone, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), TSH, free T3 and T4 (thyroid hormones), cortisol.
Chemistry Panel Complete with Blood Count (CBC): Panel includes chemistry panel (liver, kidney, electrolytes), lipid panel (cholesterol, HDL, triglycerides), and complete blood count (hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cells, platelets). This is the basic combo that a doctor will order for a checkup or for diagnosis of nearly everything.
Fasting insulin and glucose: Fasting insulin and blood sugar (glucose) are critically important for health and anti-aging. You should strive for low normal numbers in both of these; insulin should be <5 and ideally 2 to 3. A fasting blood glucose of 70 to 100 is considered normal; generally, a lower number but within the normal range is better. Fasting glucose >100 may indicate a pre-diabetic condition, but if you consistently eat a low-carbohydrate diet, may indicate the “dawn phenomenon”, a benign condition in which early morning blood glucose if higher. Glucose >125 is considered to indicate diabetes.
Others: