Metabolic testing & analysis is now a fundamental cornerstone of the most advanced medical systems available today. Paragon’s metabolic and medical testing plans and protocols are designed for:
Paragon and its medical research partners work with the doctors of:
to provide those doctors & patients with the most advanced:
Paragon also designs metabolic testing protocols for clinical research trials to establish the overall biochemical efficacy of any therapeutic intervention.
Metabolic testing & analysis indicates how well the body is functioning, and uncovers important biochemical issues not found through conventional medical testing.
It is used to determine the balance of key nutrient levels, energy production potential, protein synthesis potential, the balance between the pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, hormone balance, detoxification potential, and many other critical biochemical functions necessary for full health and performance.
See the links on this page for the different types of testing and analysis best suited to one’s specific needs.
Metabolic testing provides advantages not possible with conventional medical testing alone. This is because conventional blood tests look primarily for evidence of existing disease. They can tell you about the condition of your arteries, pancreas, kidneys, and the blood that feeds your cells. But while helpful to detect many serious health issues, because blood is found outside the body’s cell walls (extracellular), blood tests alone can only give you limited information about what is actually going on inside the cells themselves, which are responsible for the body’s health.
One of the reasons conventional blood tests aren’t more useful in determining the bio-chemical cause of disease is that homeostasis very carefully regulates & filters the blood to provide critically important organs (brain, heart, etc.) with a chemically stable flow of blood. For example, our body’s cells will alter their internal cellular balance of various nutrients in an attempt to maintain constant and ideal blood nutrient levels and pH.
However while blood PH and nutrient levels may appear normal, intracellular pH and nutrient levels may not be — and that will not show up in a blood test.
For example, because less than 2% of the body’s stores of magnesium and potassium are found in the blood, blood tests can not reveal potentially critical magnesium or potassium irregularities. Magnesium and potassium imbalances are at the root of many cardiovascular problems and may be a major cause of fatal cardiac arrhythmia, hyper tension, and sudden cardiac arrest. They can also contribute to asthma, other pulmonary disorders, cancers, chronic fatigue, chronic pain syndrome, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome, and may also contribute to the formation of kidney stones.
As magnesium, potassium and certain other minerals are not found in high concentrations in the blood, testing of hair tissue and/or red blood cells must be done to determine such deficiencies or imbalances. Therefore, intracellular element screening should be routine testing, as such intracellular imbalances make almost every disease state worse.
Homeostatic regulation keeps our extracellular blood relatively “clean” & balanced. This filtering & balancing is done by the body’s organs and tissue cells, all of which can become chemically imbalanced and/or dirty when exposed to poor nutrition and/or toxic exposure.
The body quickly moves excess toxins from the blood into storage within the cells. Poisonous heavy metals like lead, cadmium, arsenic, mercury, uranium, and many others, as well as other persistent organic pollutants (POPs) like PCBs, dioxins and other toxins & carcinogens are stored this way. This makes it important to test tissue cells, and not blood alone, for nutritional balance and toxins.
In summary, the effective homeostatic self-regulation of the body’s blood makes it a poor testing sample for many nutrients, elements, and toxins that the body intentionally keeps out of our blood supply. This is why comprehensive medical and metabolic testing is the most accurate way to determine the body’s overall nutritional status and exposure to toxins.
Paragon metabolic testing & analysis is organized and carried out in 3 steps:
Includes all information gleaned from patient phone interviews, Paragon’s diet & lifestyle questionnaire, and previous medical records & test results.
These records should include:
After doing a preliminary analysis of the Patient File, Paragon advises the patient’s doctor on which additional conventional blood work and metabolic diagnostics might be ordered to gather more information. Together Paragon and a patient’s doctor can custom design the testing needed from the many options found under the link below. This usually involves testing of whole blood, red blood cells, hair, and urine. In certain cases, stool may also be collected for analysis.
All together, Paragon usually analyzes 215+ biomarkers: including 46 organic acids indicating overall cellular function, environmental toxin exposure markers, and intestinal microbial balance markers; 23 plasma amino acids & ratios; 38 fatty acids and ratios; 7 fat soluble vitamins & anti-oxidants; 37 nutrient mineral markers in hair and blood; 13 toxic mineral markers in hair and blood; as well as 20-30 traditional blood tests and 15 - 20 other less common conventional medical tests.
Paragon also does analysis of porphyrins testing to determine health disruptions due to heavy metals & organotoxins, and the most sophisticated and accurate Gastrointestinal testing that provides DNA analysis to identify microbiota with 100% accuracy, including anaerobes.
For details see: Biomarkers Used in Paragon Testing & Analysis
The data & analysis are assembled in a logical, orderly manner for the doctor and patient, with a brief summary of the findings, and in-depth analysis that both patient and doctor can understand.
The report explains how any nutritional and biochemical imbalances affect specific disease states related to the function, synthesis, and metabolism of the biomarkers tested. It is designed to anticipate questions the doctor might have. This also keeps the patient better informed, and provides answers to questions they might otherwise ask their doctor.
The analysis and report are also effective preventive medical tools that can spot unrecognized issues before they potentially develop into more serious health problems.
The report’s ultimate objective is to provide the patient’s doctor with dietary recommendations determined by the test results and other patient information in the background file, and if necessary a balanced list of nutrients and supplements. Where the elimination of Rx drug use is desired, the report also specifies non-Rx nutritional strategies for controlling the irregular metabolism, and follow up testing plans to confirm such strategy is working as expected.
When additional Research Services For Patients with Acute Disease are also provided, Paragon includes excerpts from peer-reviewed research that provides evidence for various therapeutic approaches for your doctor and you. Additional relevant research and reports are attached as appendixes.