A Comprehensive Metabolic Snapshot of your Overall Health with 76 Markers!

The Organic Acids Lab Test measures 76 urinary metabolic markers that are highly useful in discovering the underlying causes of chronic illness.

It is a pioneering test that very few people have ever considered running to understand their function. There’s an enormous potential of information here to help understand so much more about how different systems and functions are performing in the body.

On one hand, it’s a specialist test, that only a select few Laboratories have researched into to provide the best marker profiles for practitioners and patients.

Yet – on the other – The Organic Acids Lab Test is really just insight into some fundamental functions of the body, that could be considered as almost basic and good practice to investigate!

For this reason this is one of the most frequently run Functional Lab Tests at the Functional Health Clinic.

WHO is the Test For?

There are many who would benefit from this insight.  The Functional Approach is always concerned with assessing ‘function’ and ascertaining whether the optimal blueprint for it is being expressed in the body. Hence, whenever we identify anything that is sub-optimal, imbalanced and/or dysfunctional – it is key to understand it and consider an intervention.  The goal is therefore always to enhance the function.

This is of course, quite broad!

So, in general the type of situations it supports in the Functional Health Clinic are Chronic Health Challenges related to:

What are Organic Acids?

There are so many ways that functional medicine assessments can uncover the pieces of the puzzle, when your conventional testing has all come back ‘normal’.  Organic Acids are another way of understanding this feedback that the body is giving us to solve our health challenges.

Organic acids are chemical compounds that are excreted in the urine. They are products of our metabolism.

Metabolism is the sum of chemical reactions that carry out the body’s physiological functions.  For example, building new molecules, breaking down molecules, eliminating waste products and produce energy.

It may sound obvious – Organic Acids are organic compounds that are acidic.  We can measure the amounts and presence of these substances in our urine to understand how well certain biochemical pathways and functions are performing.

We might see a particular organic acid present that normally would not be there, or be at levels too low and too high.

This quickly and accurately identify a dysfunction, dysregulation and imbalances.

Let’s look at Page 1 of the test report.  Here we can identify imbalances in Intestinal Microbes.  Specifically Yeast and Fungi, Bacterial and Clostridia Overgrowths.

This is essential insight and will complement any other diagnostics regarding Gut and Digestive Health, such as stool and breath testing.

Mitochondria – Cellular Engines

The Mitochondria are the cellular engines.  Their biochemical pathways churn out ATP – the energy currency of the cell.  Therefore Mitochondrial function is often valuable when investigating energy and fatigue challenges.

But there’s more!  This kind of information is essential for many other health challenges as well, because as soon as the ATP production diminishes, so too will the functions of that cell.  Whichever tissue, organ, gland or system that cell belongs to will be impacted (e.g. liver, muscle, adrenals, etc).

Here’s some insight into the Mitochondrial and Energy System markers on Page 2 of the Organic Acid Lab test report.

The Neurotransmitters markers are also on page 2 above.  Neurotransmitters are the chemical messengers of the body.  These markers will educate us about the levels of neurotransmitters such as Dopamine, Serotonin and Adrenalin, as well as identify potential levels of inflammation, infection, stress and toxicity.

Nutrient Markers

Certain organic acids will be indicative of our nutrient status.  Whilst this is not a direct measurement of the actual nutrient in the urine sample, it is a functional marker of the biochemical pathway that is related to a particular vitamin or mineral.

Have a look at Page 3 of the report below to see how you can find out about nutrients such as Folate, Vitamin B12, Vitamin B6, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B2, Vitamin C, CoQ10, Glutathione and Biotin.

Check out this Case Study demonstrating the huge value of the Organic Acids Lab Test in Practice

Detoxification Pathways

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the organic acids lab test is the section on Detoxification pathways. You can see Page 4 below highlighting markers that look into Glutathione – the greatest antioxidant in the body and key player in detoxification.

In some chronic health cases, it’s information like this that makes the difference.

That’s because the answer is not always about how to treat the symptom!  Sometimes the successful process is understanding the cause of the symptom and also establishing why we haven’t healed and bounced-back as quickly as we expected?

Yes – we could have a digestive infection.  We could have a heavy metal toxicity.  We may have high levels of inflammation.  But – going after those findings and chasing them round the body may only exacerbate the issue, if we didn’t address a significant detoxification dysfunction.

A Technical Explanation – According to the Great Plains Laboratory…..

“The accumulation of an organic acid in cells and fluids (plasma, cerebrospinal fluid, or urine) leads to a disease called organic acidemia or organic aciduria.

Organic acidemias are disorders of intermediary metabolism that lead to the accumulation of toxic compounds that derange multiple intracellular biochemical pathways including glucose catabolism (glycolysis), glucose synthesis (gluconeogenesis), amino acid and ammonia metabolism, purine and pyrimidine metabolism, and fat metabolism. 

A number of organic acids directly or indirectly indicate deficiencies of critical vitamins such as vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, biotin, and other nutrients.

One of the most important uses of the organic acids test is as an indicator of dysbiosis, an abnormal overgrowth of yeast and bacteria in the intestinal tract. Some of these bacterial byproducts from the intestine enter the blood stream and may alter the metabolism of neurotransmitters such as dopamine.

Abnormally high levels of these microorganisms can cause or worsen behavior disorders, hyperactivity, movement disorders, fatigue and immune function.

Many people with chronic illnesses and neurological disorders often excrete several abnormal organic acids in their urine and our Organic Acids Lab Test includes markers for oxidative stress, neurotransmitter levels, and oxalates, which are highly correlated with many chronic illnesses.

Clinical presentations of organic acidemias vary widely and may include failure to thrive, mental and/or developmen­tal retardation, hypo- or hyperglycemia, encephalopathy, lethargy, hyperactivity, seizures, dermatitis, dysmorphic facial features, microcephaly, macrocephaly, anemia and/or immune deficiency with frequent infections, ketosis and/or lactic acidosis, hearing, speech, or visual impairment, peripheral neuropathy, sudden cardiorespiratory arrest, nau­sea and coma [GPL].”