Is Your Diet Putting You at Risk of Anemia?

Do you feel constant fatigue you can’t explain?
Do you frequently get dizzy or lightheaded?
Do you suffer from chest pains or shortness of breath?

These are all signs that you may have ANEMIA.

What is Anemia?

Anemia is a condition where the body does not have enough healthy red blood cells to transport oxygen from your lungs to the rest of your body. There are several types of anemia. Some, like sickle cell anemia, are hereditary, but others, specifically iron deficiency anemia, and vitamin deficiency anemia can be caused by an improper diet. For 20 years, doctors have seen a growing number of iron deficiency anemia cases in America. Iron deficiency anemia, the most common form of the condition, is caused by low levels of iron in the body. Your body needs this iron to produce hemoglobin, the protein that makes up red blood cells.

According to a recent study by the American Society for Nutrition, the rise in iron deficiency anemia coincides with a decrease in the amount of beef people are consuming. Between 1999 and 2018, Americans ate 15.3 percent less beef, an iron-rich protein, and 21.5 percent more chicken, thus not getting all the iron their bodies need.

As the name suggests, if you have vitamin deficiency anemia, your diet is deficient in the vitamins and minerals that your body needs to produce healthy red blood cells. According to the Mayo Clinic, you can develop vitamin deficiency anemia if you don’t eat enough foods containing folate, vitamin B-12, and vitamin C, or if your body has trouble absorbing and processing those nutrients.

Eating to Treat Anemia

If left untreated, anemia can cause serious health problems, such as having too little oxygen in your body, which can damage your organs. Having a diet consisting of the right foods is the first step to treating a deficiency.

Foods that can help prevent and treat iron deficiency anemia include:

Beef and other red meat
Dark, leafy greens like spinach
Beans
Seafood
Iron-fortified cereal and pasta

Foods that can help prevent and treat vitamin deficiency anemia include:

Fruits and leafy green vegetables
Eggs
Milk
Broccoli
Citrus fruits

How Do You Know If You Have Anemia?

Before you change your diet or start taking vitamin supplements, you need to make sure that the problem is anemia and not something else. The signs and symptoms of anemia may be subtle at first, so the best way to know for sure is with a simple blood test. You don’t need to wait for an appointment with your doctor in order to be tested for anemia. Any Lab Test Now offers a complete Anemia Panel for fast and accurate diagnosis.

We offer one simple blood panel that includes several tests, including a reticulocyte count to determine if your body is producing enough red blood cells. This can help determine not only if you have anemia but also the type of anemia you have. A ferritin test, that will screen your blood for the protein that indicates how much iron you have in your body. Your blood will also be checked for the levels of vitamin B-12, and folic acid to determine if you have vitamin deficiency anemia.

Where to Get Tested

Any Lab Test Now has 190+ locations nationwide, dedicated to providing you with the information about your body designed to help you Take Control of Your Health®.
You can schedule an appointment online or by phone, or walk-in for same-day testing. Each location is sanitized several times a day, in accordance with CDC protocols so you can be confident your lab work is being done in a safe, clean facility.

Any Lab Test Now is a committed partner in helping you manage your family’s healthcare. Click here to find an Any Lab Test Now location near you.

How to Use My FSA?

When it comes to flexible spending accounts or FSAs, the phrase “Use it or Lose it” is typically first to come to mind. However, it may be a surprise to learn just how much Americans actually lose in unused contributions. It’s estimated that more than $400 million is forfeited every year in FSA/HSA funds! That’s because we either miss or forget our spending deadlines. An FSA is a great deal if you use it wisely. It allows you to put away pre-tax dollars for eligible healthcare services and products — including everything from co-pays to prescriptions.

Typically, you must spend all the money in your FSA account by the end of the year or risk losing it. However, we are getting a little extension thanks to the COVID relief bill implemented late last year. This bill allows the FSA money you accrued in 2020 to still be available to you until December 31, 2021. In addition, the money you accrue in 2021 will be available to you until December 31, 2022. With the extended deadlines, you can plan out how to spend your FSA dollars on services that can directly impact your health rather than rush to spend the money on boxes of bandages and containers of calamine lotion you don’t necessarily need.

One of the services many people don’t think of using their FSA money on is lab testing. Over the past year, many of us put off an annual check-up from our primary care doctor so as not to risk exposure to COVID-19. You don’t have to wait until your next doctor’s visit for your next overall health assessment. Any Lab Test Now® has a wide variety of tests — all of which fall under the FSA guidelines — that can track different aspects of your physical well-being.

The Comprehensive Male and Female Panels are two of the best choices for men and women looking to take their health into their own hands and be smart about FSA spending. Both panels include a Complete Metabolic Panel (CMP) and a Complete Blood Count (CBC); two blood tests that offer vital health information. These tests are essential to understanding your electrolyte and hydration status, kidney function, liver function, and blood cell values. Each panel provides information for you to self-monitor your health and discuss with your doctor to better understand your body and learn to manage your healthcare proactively.

Here is a look at what else each panel includes.

Comprehensive Female Panel:

No matter what stage of life you are in, the Comprehensive Female Panel will help you recognize and address hormone imbalances and the overall condition of your health.

The Comprehensive Female Panel includes the following tests:

Cholesterol (Lipid) Panel
Estradiol
Testosterone (Free and Total)
TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)
HbA1C (Hemoglobin A1C)
Progesterone
DHEA-Sulfate
FSH (Follicle Stimulating Hormone)
LH (Luteinizing Hormone)

Comprehensive Male Panel:

An important aspect of the Comprehensive Male Panel is the inclusion of the test for prostate cancer, which is one of the most common types of cancers among men.

The Comprehensive Male Panel includes the following tests:

PSA (Prostate-Specific Antigen)
Cholesterol (Lipid) Panel
Testosterone (Free and Total)
TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)
HbA1C (Hemoglobin A1C)
DHEA-S (Helps in the evaluation of your adrenal gland function)

Be at Ease

Fasting is required for both the Male and Female Comprehensive Panels. What isn’t required is an appointment. You can walk into your nearest Any Lab Test Now location to have these tests, and any other lab tests that may be beneficial to you, completed and covered by your FSA dollars. We provide a safe and clean alternative location for lab work. Each of our 190+ stores is sanitized several times a day, in accordance with preferred CDC protocols. Any Lab Test Now is a committed partner in helping you manage your family’s healthcare so you can make educated decisions that will directly affect your quality of life. We want to help every customer feel at ease as we continue to navigate through the pandemic. We are here to help!

Find your closest Any Lab Test Now location at www.anylabtestnow.com.

What’s the One Blood Test All Student Athletes Are Required to Have?

It is no surprise that student athletes participate in high intensity workouts. Whether it’s for conditioning, during practice time or game time, an athlete is continuously placed in situations where they need to raise their heart rate and push their bodies to the limit. Because of this, it is extremely important for school athletic directors and coaches to make sure that their student athletes are healthy and that their bodies can endure the physical activity expected of them.

There is one health condition in particular that could hinder a student athlete from truly competing to their best ability. This condition is known as sickle-cell trait. Inherited from a parent, sickle-cell trait can cause red blood cells to sickle and block blood vessels, denying oxygen to muscles and organs. If a student athlete with sickle-cell trait over-exhausts their body due to physical activity, their health could be put in serious danger if their oxygen supply iscut-off.

In order to ensure that this risk never becomes a reality, colleges require their NCAA student athletes to receive a sickle-cell trait blood test. Fortunately, as long as the coaches are aware of the diagnosis and take proper precautions with their diagnosed athletes,those athletes can still enjoy a successful and healthy athletic career. And all the student athlete readers said, “Whew!”

If you are an aspiring athlete and want to check on your health before heading into your college career, especially if attending a Division I or Division II school, contact your local Any Lab Test Now® today and let us help you get the answers you need. Our Sickle Cell Anemia Screen will test you for the sickle-cell trait and give you fast, quality results that you, your doctor, and your coach can use to ensure that your athletic career has a bright and long-lasting future.

Magnesium Deficiency — Is the Culprit in Your Medicine Cabinet?

Big things can come in small packages, and one of those is the mineral magnesium. In fact, magnesium plays a role in more than 300 enzyme systems that regulate some pretty important functions in your body. These include protein synthesis, muscle and nerve function, blood glucose control, and blood pressure regulation. Your body wouldn’t be able to produce energy without it. It contributes to your body’s bone structural development. Magnesium even plays a role in the normal beating of your heart. No doubt about it, this tiny mineral plays a big role in your health, but there are a shocking number of factors that can deplete your body of magnesium. Any Lab Test Now wants you to be aware of them!

BECOMING MAGNESIUM DEFICIENT

If you are an otherwise healthy person who isn’t taking any medications, it would be almost impossible for you to become magnesium deficient. Your kidneys are at the control center of magnesium levels. If things are operating normally, you’ll actually excrete magnesium daily. If there’s not enough magnesium, then your kidneys will reduce that. (Just another good reason to keep your kidneys in good health!)

If you have habitually low intakes of dietary magnesium due to certain health conditions, then you may be at risk. People with gastrointestinal diseases like Crohn’s disease or celiac disease can be at risk. Having type 2 diabetes can be a problem because your kidneys may excrete too much magnesium. Alcoholism and the strain that puts on your body’s systems can contribute to decreased magnesium. Even the process of aging can make you more susceptible to magnesium depletion. There’s even thought that ingesting sugar, caffeine, and carbonated beverages daily could contribute to the problem.

If you are magnesium deficient, the culprit may be in your medicine cabinet. Certain medications have been shown to reduce magnesium levels in the body because they cause the kidneys to excrete more. You might be magnesium deficient if you take:

Diuretics
Heart medications
Asthma medications
Birth control pills
Estrogen replacement therapy

RECOGNIZE THE SIGNS — GET TESTED

If you are deficient of magnesium, the early symptoms are fairly vague and include loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness. As the magnesium deficiency worsens, so do the symptoms; numbness, tingling, muscle contractions and cramps, seizures, personality changes, abnormal heart rhythms, and coronary spasm can occur. You don’t want to let it get to this point! The Magnesium Test offered by Any Lab Test Now is a simple blood test that will measure the level of magnesium present in your blood. You won’t be required to fast for the test, and you’ll usually get your results within 24 to 72 hours after your specimen is collected.

DEFICIENCY AND DISEASES

Researchers believe that habitually low intakes of magnesium can cause biochemical changes that can increase the risk of illness over time. They are looking very closely at the role magnesium deficiency could play in the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, and migraine headaches. In the meantime, reduce your risk by eating plenty of magnesium-rich foods like nuts, legumes, and dark leafy vegetables. If you’re concerned you may be at risk, drop by your local Any Lab Test Now for testing today.

Hormones: The Boss of Your Body

If you think about your body as a factory, then your hormones are the “upper middle-management.” Researchers often refer to hormones as chemical messengers. That’s because they basically are in the business of telling other hormones or organs what to do! There are many different hormones, and some of them play a bigger role in your health than others.

When everything is in proper balance, the factory is working like a dream — meaning your body is at optimal health. But even a small imbalance can create serious and sometimes life-altering issues. Hormones control most of your major bodily functions from the simple to the complex: everything from reproduction to your emotions. So when it comes to weight gain and obesity, it makes sense to consider your hormones as a possible culprit. Any Lab Test Now can help you understand the message your hormones are sending.

HORMONES AND YOUR WEIGHT

The Weight Management Take Home Hormone Kit consists of a dried blood spot test and a saliva test. It will provide you and your doctor with a lot of information by measuring your bioavailable hormone levels. Your results might explain weight gain, obesity, abdominal fat, low metabolism, and a high BMI (Body Mass Index).

The Weight Management Take Home Hormone Kit is actually nine tests in one.

Estradiol (E2) – this is basically a form of estrogen. It is found in both women and men. This hormone helps to regulate metabolism and body weight. Low levels of it may lead to weight gain.
Progesterone (Pg) – another hormone found in both men and women.
Testosterone (T) – also found in both men and women. This hormone has a role in helping with muscle growth and remember — muscles burn more calories than fat.
DHEA–S (DS) – helps in evaluating your adrenal gland function.
Diurnal Cortisol (Cx4) – helps determine your level of cortisol, a steroid hormone released by your adrenal gland.
Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) – checks your body’s production of TSH, which helps regulate how your body uses energy.
Vitamin D (D2, D3) – low levels of this vitamin may lead to weight gain according to some studies.
Insulin (In) – this test measures your insulin production. Insulin is produced by the pancreas and used by the body to transport and convert glucose into usable energy.
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) – checks your blood glucose levels and can detect pre-diabetes.

If you’ve been watching what you eat and getting plenty of exercise, but you’ve still got stubborn weight and fat (particularly in the abdomen) then you should really consider the Weight Management Take Home Hormone Kit. With the results, you’ll be able to identify specific hormonal imbalances that contribute to excess weight gain or obesity, which lead to a whole host of concerning health issues. That includes things like insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes. With Any Lab Test Now’s Weight Management Take Home Hormone Kit, you’ll have early detection of these markers that will allow you and your doctor to address the issues early.

Make sure your hormones are sending the right messages to your body! Any Lab Test Now can provide you with this simple kit that you can take in the privacy of your own home. You’ll get the answers you need to take control of your journey towards better health.

Knowing The ABC’s of Hepatitis

The cases of people living with hepatitis C have reached such staggering numbers that the CDC is calling it a “silent epidemic.” They report a 150 percent increase in new cases in recent year — but that’s not the most concerning number. At least 50 percent of people living with hepatitis C don’t even know they are infected.

What is Viral Hepatitis?

Viral hepatitis can be confusing, but the good news is there have been advances that make all three types of the disease curable, but you have to be diagnosed first. First of all, there are three types of viral hepatitis. According to the CDC, each version can produce similar symptoms and they all affect the liver.

Hepatitis A is a short-term illness that is vaccine preventable. Most people who do get infected with the hepatitis A virus recover over time with little to no lasting effects. It is usually transmitted person to person when you consume food or water that has been handled in an unsanitary fashion. The symptoms usually include fatigue, loss of appetite, stomach pain, nausea, and jaundice. They usually resolve on their own within several months.

Hepatitis B is also vaccine-preventable, but can become much more serious. The hepatitis B virus is transmitted from an infected person to a non-infected person when body fluids are exchanged. This can happen through sexual contact, needle sharing, or from the birth of a baby by an infected mother. The hep B virus begins as a short-term infection of the liver. It can be mild with few, if any, symptoms or be severe enough to require hospitalization. Not everyone is able to clear the infection and they go on to develop chronic hepatitis B. That’s a lifelong infection that can lead to serious health problems, like liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and even death.

Hepatitis C is similar to hepatitis B except in one key component — it is not preventable. There is no vaccine that will protect you against the virus. People born between 1945 and 1965 are five times more likely to have hepatitis C than most, but young people who inject drugs account for the staggering rise in numbers. Most people who get infected go on to develop a chronic, lifelong infection, which can cause serious liver damage and even liver cancer over time. New treatments offer a cure for many people, but they are costly and won’t prevent you from contracting the virus again.

The keys to beating hepatitis are:

Vaccination if available.
Avoiding transmitting behaviors.
Getting tested so treatment can begin.

Hepatitis Awareness Month

The month of May is Hepatitis Awareness Month. Any Lab Test Now is working to shed light on this hidden epidemic by raising awareness of viral hepatitis and encouraging people to get tested. Our Hepatitis Panel tests for all three types of the virus. We also offer individual Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C screenings as well.

The road to treatment begins with knowing where you stand. Working together with Any Lab Test Now, let’s shine the light on this “silent epidemic” and do our part in helping KO the ABC’s of hepatitis.

Making Yourself Priority One Is Easier To Do Than You Think

Does your list of “must do” tasks seem like a mountain on the verge of a landslide? For many women, there’s a laundry list (pun intended!) of things to accomplish that feels infinite… and it’s usually sandwiched between working and raising a family. Any Lab Test Now encourages you to take a look at your “must do” list and add one more item on to it. YES! You read that right. We not only want you to add one more item to your “must do” list, but we also want you to prioritize it at the top. That’s because Any Lab Test Now wants you to prioritize your health.

MAKING TIME FOR YOU

National Women’s Health Week is celebrated May 12–18 this year and it’s all about making sure you put as much energy into taking care of yourself as you do others. We encourage you, your mother, your sister, your grandmother and your friends to get together and take steps to improve your health and to let Any Lab Test Now be a partner in your journey toward a healthier you.

So how can Any Lab Test Now help women make their health a priority? Convenience tops the list! How often do you put off getting a much-needed test because you just haven’t found the time to make an appointment? Many women are reluctant to make that appointment because they worry it will include long wait times which could mean valuable time lost at work or make you late for a carpool pickup.

With Any Lab Test Now, you don’t even have to schedule an appointment (although you can if you wish). You can simply pop in when you’re near one of our more than 170 conveniently located labs across the country. Generally, we’ll have you in and out in 15 minutes! You won’t miss the first part of the ballet recital.

TESTING WITH LADIES IN MIND

Our lab experts are always available to make sure you’re ordering the right test for your needs. A Comprehensive Female Panel is always a great place to start your journey toward better health. It’s designed to help women at all stages of life make informed decisions about their healthcare goals. It includes blood work (and cholesterol counts) that will provide you with a snapshot of your heart health. Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States. The panel also includes a metabolic panel that checks kidney and liver functions, female hormones, thyroid condition, and nutritional status. All around, a great annual panel that provides you with a wide range of information.

Some conditions affect women more than men. Take urinary tract infections (UTI) for example. How many times have you felt that distinctive burning sensation? Usually, it’s late on a Friday afternoon! Well, UTIs occur in women significantly more than in men, and we can thank our anatomy for that. You don’t have to suffer until you get in to see the doctor. Some of our locations offer convenient Saturday options. You can get a routine Urinalysis to share with your doctor so you can get to feeling better, faster!

And how many times a week do you grab a quick burger or pick up a to-go salad because you just didn’t have time to stop and sit down to a nutritious meal? A basic building block to a healthier you (man or woman!) is proper nutrition. If you’re so busy making lunches for everyone else that you neglect making one for yourself, it can lead to problems. A regular diet of quick and easy ramen noodles isn’t always best. A Basic Nutritional Panel will let you know if you’re getting enough of what you need to experience optimal health.

Making time for yourself doesn’t have to be another chore to add to the list. When you take care of your own health, you aren’t being selfish. You’ll feel better and more energized and be ready to tackle all of your “must do” list and maybe even more!

Precision Medicine – Available at Any Lab Test Now

“Precision medicine.”

It sounds like something from the future. When most of us think about “precision,” images of watches, computers, or lasers may pop into your mind. But when we talk about precision medicine, we’re talking about optimizing the treatment effectiveness of prescription drugs and minimizing the adverse reactions to them. We’re talking about pharmacogenomics.

Pharmacogenomics (or PGx) is a growing area that blends the study of pharmacology with the field of genetics. Basically, it’s taking individualized medical care down to your very genetic makeup. That’s some pretty heavy stuff, and it’s available right now at Any Lab Test Now.

One Size Does NOT Fit All

Until now, medications have been a sort of a one-size-fits-all model. Doctors try patients on one drug. If that doesn’t work, they move on to the next. If that one works, then they may fiddle with the dosage until they get that just right. Pharmacogenomics takes that time-consuming (and sometimes costly) process and tosses it out the window.

Pharmacogenomics can empower every doctor and every patient with the specific knowledge to properly prescribe to the patient’s symptoms and conditions with accurate medication for the best possible results. How is it done? It’s as easy as a simple DNA swab across your cheek.

Here at Any Lab Test Now, we are proud to offer you seven different PGx panels that address some of the most common conditions faced by patients.

They all work the same. Each kit will come with two buccal (cheek) swabs. Once you collect your DNA sample and turn it in, it will generally take 5 – 7 business days for you to receive your lab results. Simply choose from one of our more than 170 testing locations with work-friendly hours. You can schedule an appointment online, or you can walk-in. Once you receive your results, share them with your doctor and start your journey toward targeted healthcare.

Healthcare: Tailor-Made For You

The days of the trial-and-error of prescription drug prescribing are over. Now, you can have a treatment plan tailored specifically to your body type and physiology, and it’s as simple as accessing your body’s DNA. Stop in to your local Any Lab Test Now location and ask for more information about pharmacogenomics testing.

The High Cost of Hay Fever

If we took a peek inside your medicine cabinet, what would it look like? If you are like a lot of people, your cabinet would be a jumble of allergy medicines, decongestants, cough suppressants and expectorants with a few stray pain relievers and fever reducers rolling around.

Here at Any Lab Test Now, we want to help you take control of your seasonal allergies by helping you pinpoint your triggers with allergy testing. Without the right information, you are more likely to self-misdiagnose and purchase and use the wrong types of medications, medications that aren’t cheap. When your symptoms strike, will you be prepared?

HIDDEN COST OF YOUR COUGH

Let’s start with an Australian study published last year. They studied nearly 300 people who believed they had hay fever based upon their symptoms. The researchers found that only 17 percent of them selected the correct over-the-counter medications to treat their symptoms.

Those costs add up. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, the annual cost of allergies exceeds $18 billion. Allergy sufferers are also more likely to miss work – 1.7 more days lost than non-allergy sufferers. What could save you time, money and suffering? It could be as simple as allergy testing.

THE SCIENCE BEHIND YOUR SYMPTOMS

Most doctors would agree that the first step in winning your battle against seasonal allergies is to know your triggers, and that’s where your local Any Lab Test Now can help. We offer a wide range of allergy testing that will help you fight back when it seems like your body is in revolt!

The experts at the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (ACAAI) say seasonal allergies are like other types of allergies. They develop when the body’s immune system overreacts to something in the environment, usually during spring, summer or fall when certain plants pollinate. The ACAAI estimates that as many as 50 million people have allergies of some type. Usually, the symptoms include:

Sneezing
Coughing
Itchy eyes
Runny nose

If you leave them untreated, problems can worsen, so it’s a good idea to treat them — and an even better idea to avoid them altogether.

If you find that you are sneezing and coughing during certain times of the year, you may have seasonal allergies, but the best way to find relief (and save yourself some money in the process) is to pinpoint exactly what’s triggering your symptoms. The simplest way to do that is by taking advantage of the wide range of allergy testing we offer at Any Lab Test Now.

PREVENTION BEGINS WITH ALLERGY TESTING

Any Lab Test Now offers numerous types of allergy tests. One of our lab experts can help you decide which one would be best for you.

Our Environmental Allergy Test is a combination panel that measures IgG and IgE antibodies to 90 food allergens and 45 environmental allergens (will test for 45 regional environmental allergen such as grass, weeds, trees and mold.) The Basic (Pediatric) Allergy Panel is the perfect introductory test. It screens for allergies to 32 environmental substances and foods, including eight common grasses and weeds, including ragweed. There are many more to choose from and we can help guide you toward the test that is right for you.

One of the best things about allergy testing at Any Lab Test Now is the blood draw! That may sound crazy, but remember, it wasn’t that long ago that testing like this used to require hundreds of needle pricks to determine an allergy reaction. Now, one simple blood draw can look for the specific antibodies to hundreds of substances — using only one needle.

Before the sneezing and wheezing has you crawling to your local pharmacy buying everything on the shelf to find relief, stop in at Any Lab Test Now and ask about allergy testing. It will save you time, trouble, and probably even some of your hard-earned cash.

OBESITY, DIETS, AND MALNUTRITION: HOW THE THREE ARE CONNECTED

We all have an image in our minds about malnutrition and what that looks like. But, malnourishment isn’t just an issue for the very poor in third world countries. It can affect all people, both rich and poor, both hungry and satisfied, in cities around the world. What connects malnutrition to all of these different groups? More and more often, we’re finding that obesity and diets share a connection. That’s why Any Lab Test Now believes it’s now more important than ever for you to be certain you are getting enough nutrition, because you certainly cannot judge by looks alone.

What is Malnutrition?

Let’s start by making sure we understand exactly what malnutrition is. According to the World Health Organization (WHO): “Malnutrition refers to deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in a person’s intake of energy and/or nutrients.” It covers two broad areas. The first is “undernutrition.” Undernutrition includes underweight and micronutrient deficiencies or insufficiencies. The other is overweight and obesity. In plain speak, you can be malnourished even if you’re overweight, underweight, or even perfect weight, if you aren’t eating enough of a wide variety of nutritious foods. This can happen particularly if you are overweight or if you are on a diet or choosing a lifestyle that restricts or even abolishes certain foods.

Obesity and Malnourishment

Many people could look at themselves and think: “I can’t possibly be malnourished. I am getting more than enough to eat!” It has been said that Americans are overfed and undernourished. Diets of fast food and convenient processed products make life easier but aren’t able to provide a steady source of the nutrition our bodies need. But more and more, people are eating calorie dense/nutrient-poor diets. Evidence is mounting that despite excessive dietary consumption, obese individuals have high rates of micronutrient deficiencies which also appears to play an important role in the development of diabetes. Poverty also can play a role. Many of the cheapest foods available are often the highest in calories and the lowest in nutrition.

Diet and Malnourishment

On the flip side is our obsession with dieting and so-called “lifestyle diets.” Whatever you call it, many of these diets/lifestyles depend on the elimination of certain foods or even whole food groups! If you choose to follow one (or find that it’s medically necessary to follow one) it’s very important that you make sure you find acceptable sources to provide you with all the nutrition you need. Let’s take vegan/vegetarian as an example. Eating a plant-based diet offers health benefits, but if you do not make an effort to replace crucial nutrients found in meat, you can find yourself facing nutritional deficiencies.

Where do YOU Stand?

Take a critical look at your diet; if it includes a lot of fast foods, processed foods or if you are following a diet that includes food restriction you might want to consider a Basic Nutritional Panel from Any Lab Test Now. The Basic Nutritional Panel includes a variety of tests that can help you determine if you are getting enough nutrition, including:

Complete Blood Count (CBC)
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)
Iron and Total Binding Capacity (TIBC)
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin)
Folate
Vitamin D
Vitamin C
Zinc
Ferritin
Homocysteine

Remember — malnutrition may not “look” the way you expect. Some common signs are fatigue, dry hair, thin or spoon-shaped nails, dental problems, constipation, confusion or depression, and a weak immune system. The Basic Nutritional Panel offered by Any Lab Test Now can provide you with a broad picture of your health and should be considered if you are working toward a healthier diet — and a healthier self!

Also at Risk: The Elderly

It’s worth noting that our senior citizens are also prone to malnutrition for a variety of reasons. It could be because they have trouble getting to a store or a lack of money. Some seniors may feel lonely and isolated and have no desire to cook a proper meal for just themselves. Loss of appetite can also be a side effect of medications or a symptom of an illness. Any Lab Test Now encourages everyone to keep an eye on family, friends, and neighbors who may be at risk.

Remember, getting a test at Any Lab Test Now is easy. You don’t have to make an appointment and you don’t need a doctor’s orders. We are private, affordable, and convenient and there’s no better way to take control of your health.