The Benefits of the Basic Vitamin Screen
Vitamins are a group of essential nutrients that you get from food. Over the last century, we have learnt that these nutrients are essential to our existence. More importantly, we must eat to take vitamins on board – if you don’t eat you don’t get! Today, intense exercise and poor diets can leave your levels of these key nutrients low (deficient). Use this test to get an affordable review of your essential vitamins.
Because vitamins are essential, you need to eat them to prevent the symptoms of low levels. These symptoms all result from the lack of the vitamin doing its basic job. So, with each test below, we give you some information about the functions of that vitamin. The Basic Vitamin Screen will look at the vitamins that are most commonly reduced in modern diets, or that are most commonly needed by athletes to optimize performance.
If you want a more detailed understanding, consider our Full Vitamin Screen, which includes the Full B Vitamin Screen plus the Vitamin D Screen.
What is tested in The Basic Vitamin Screen?
At Alpha Healthlabs, we believe in balancing great value, practicality, and efficacy. We recommend this test to identify core nutritional deficiencies at an affordable price. We test:
Vitamin A (Beta Carotene and retinoic acid)
- What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of vitamin A are (1) to promote growth and repair of body tissues, (2) to reduce susceptibility to infection, (3) to aid bone and teeth formation, and (4) to maintain healthy, smooth skin.
- We discuss this test in detail on the Full Vitamin Screenage
Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of B1 are (1) to work with other B-group vitamins to break down and release energy from food, and (2) to keep nerves and muscle tissue healthy.
- We discuss this test in more detail as part of the Vitamin B Screen
Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of B2 are (1) to keep skin, eye, and nervous tissue healthy, and (2) to help the body release energy from carbohydrates.
- We discuss this test in more detail as part of the Vitamin B Screen
Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of B6 are (1) to help the body use and store energy from proteins and carbohydrates, and (2) to help make haemoglobin to carry oxygen around the body.
- We discuss this test in more detail as part of the Vitamin B Screen
Vitamin C
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
Along with vitamin E, it is a major antioxidant. The other key functions of vitamin C are (1) to maintain healthy teeth, gums, and bones, (2) to help heal wounds, fractures, and scar tissue, and (3) to protect against and fight infection (including the common cold).
- We discuss this test in detail on the Full Vitamin Screenage
Vitamin E
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
Along with vitamin C, it is a major antioxidant. The other key functions of vitamin E are (1) to aid the supply of oxygen to the blood, (2) to help to nourish cells and slow cellular aging, and (3) to prevent blood clots.
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin E Test page
What Will the Test Involve?
This test involves taking a small blood sample from a vein. We describe the process here .
What Could Abnormal Results Mean?*
On its own, no test can provide a definitive diagnosis, and can only provide important “clues” about possible problems. Normal results cannot entirely exclude disease: for example, normal results can exist in patients with serious disease, and occasionally, abnormal results can arise without any health problems. The normal ranges of tests can also vary between different laboratories, so it is not always possible to compare results directly.
At Alpha Healthlabs, we believe in giving you an unparalleled and ethically sound service. Therefore, the meaning of all your results will be explained and we will suggest the most appropriate next course of action. It is important that you do not initiate any action based on these results without first consulting your General Practitioner.
The common issues raised by this test include, but are not limited to:
Vitamins A and C
- We discuss the symptoms of excess and deficiency in detail on the Full Vitamin Screen page
Vitamins B1, B2, and B6
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin B Screen page
Vitamin E
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin E Test page
