The AlphaHealthlabs full vitamin screen identifies vitamin deficiencies within your body. Knowing which vitamin’s your body requires id the first step in improving your diet and health.
The Benefits of the Full 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 a comprehensive review of your vitamin status.
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 our modern diets, or that are most commonly needed by athletes to optimize performance. However, this screen goes much further and includes a Full B Vitamin Screen plus a Vitamin D Screen. Together, these ensure that you get a comprehensive overview of your essential vitamin needs.
If you want to understand you whole micronutrient needs, why not consider our Mineral Test in combination with this, or our truly comprehensive Sports Performance Test that covers a whole range of additional health factors.
What is tested in the Full Vitamin Screen?
At Alpha Healthlabs, we believe in balancing great value, practicality, and efficacy. We recommend this test as a basic test to identify core nutritional deficiencies at an affordable price. We test:
Vitamin A (Beta Carotene and retinol)
- Background
“Vitamin A” actually refers to a group of fat-soluble retinoids. It comes in two forms, preformed vitamin A (e.g., retinol), and pro (inactive) vitamin A (e.g., beta-carotene). There are many different types of preformed vitamin A and pro-vitamin A.
- What does this vitamin do?
The main role of Vitamin A is maintaining normal vision. It also helps the heart, lungs, kidneys, and other organs work properly. Specifically, it promotes growth and repair of body tissues, reduces susceptibility to infections, aids in bone and teeth formation, and maintains smooth skin
- What are good sources?
Vitamin A is found in the following:
- Beef liver and other organ meats high in fat
- Some types of fish, (e.g., salmon)
- Green leafy vegetables
- some green, orange, and yellow fruit and vegetables such as broccoli, carrots, cantaloupe, apricots, mangos, and squash (their colour comes from the vitamin)
- Dairy products are a rich source of vitamin A
- Fortified breakfast cereals
- Click here to find out what abnormal results could mean.
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 B3 (Niacin/Niacinamide)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of B3 are (1) to help release energy from foods, and (2) to help keep the nervous and digestive systems healthy.
- 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 B9 (Red Cell Folate)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key function of B9 in adults is to work with vitamin B12 to form healthy red blood cells.
- We discuss this test in more detail as part of the Vitamin B Screen
Vitamin B12 (Cobalamin; active)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of B12 are (1) to promote growth (mainly in children), (2) to regenerate red blood cells with B9, (3) to help the body to use (metabolise) carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and (4) to maintain a healthy nervous system.
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin B12 Test page
Vitamin C
Vitamin D (25-OH)
- Summary: What does this vitamin do?
The key functions of vitamin D are (1) to improve calcium and phosphorous absorption for healthy bones and teeth, and (2) to maintain a healthy nervous system.
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin D Test page
Vitamin E (Alpha-tocopherol)
- 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:
Vitamin A
- The symptoms of excess levels
High intakes can be harmful. Excessive preformed vitamin A can cause dizziness, nausea, headaches, coma, and even death. It is also dangerous in pregnancy. Excessive beta-carotene is harmless, but can turn the skin yellow-orange!
- The symptoms of deficiency (low levels)
The main symptom of vitamin A deficiency is nigh blindness (called xerophthalmia), which is the inability to see in low light. It can eventually lead to blindness.
Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B9
- We discuss these tests in detail on the Vitamin B Screen page
Vitamin B12
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin B12 Test page
Vitamin C
- The symptoms of excess levels
In all practical senses, vitamin C has low toxicity and causes few unwanted effects, even at high doses. However, at very high levels it will irritate the bowels, causing diarrhoea, nausea, abdominal cramps, bloating, flatulence (wind), and other problems.
- The symptoms of deficiency (low levels)
Because we cannot make or store vitamin C, signs of deficiency can appear within 1 month of little or no vitamin C intake! Symptoms occur in stages:
- Initial symptoms: fatigue, illness, and gum inflammation.
- Later symptoms: When tissue repair fails, you bruise easily and can develop bruising rashes (known as petechiae, ecchymoses, and purpura), joint pain, poor wound healing, thickening of the skin, and corkscrew shaped hairs. Also, iron deficiency anaemia, depression, swollen and bleeding gums, and tooth loss can occur.
Vitamin D (25-OH)
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin D Test page
Vitamin E
- We discuss this test in detail on the Vitamin E Test page
