Beyond the Basics: The Rise of Advanced Blood Testing for Personalized Health

You’ve likely already heard of Inside Tracker, the “advanced” blood testing company that’s regularly advertised on biohacking, longevity, or of Function Health, co-founded by Dr Mark Hyman: a new category of D2C “science-backed” blood testing companies are popping up across the US and Europe, claiming they can help you “understand and optimize your health”. What defines these tests? Who are the key players? What’s the science underscoring their claims, and what tangible benefits do they bring? Let’s dive in.

What Are Online Preventative Health Tests?

The idea of getting comprehensive blood work for preventative health isn't novel: many family GPs recommend it during annual checkups.

Inside Tracker, launched in 2010 and advised by longevity researcher David Sinclair, pioneered a new category of "advanced" preventative blood tests that go much further: tapping into the latest clinical research, they analyze a broader spectrum of biomarkers - many of which are not typically assessed in mainstream medicine unless you’re already sick. By diving deeper into our biology, these next-gen blood testing companies deliver more personalized insights across lifestyle, nutrition and sometimes exercise, to optimize your health. Conveniently, they can be ordered online (companies either send a phlebotomist to your home or coordinate a visit to a local Quest Diagnostics). With pre-arranged pricing, they're also more cost-effective than going directly to the lab.

What’s truly innovative about these tests?

Firstly, they employ advanced biomarkers grounded in cutting-edge science - between 10 to 100. For instance, they’d measure ApoB and Lp(a) - factors that are increasingly recognized as superior predictors of cardiovascular disease over traditional lipid panels.

Second, is the way these companies run the analysis of these biomarkers:

• They compare your biomarker’s data against pre-defined categories (such as “needs work”, “good” or “great”) which sometimes depend on your gender and age-group (did you know? reference ranges from your lab tests are often derived from average values from broad populations and do not account for individual’s background such as gender, or age), which allows for a more accurate and personalized assessment of health and risk. Some companies like Inside Tracker also group biomarkers into “subgroups” (like Hormones, Nutrients, etc) and give you an overall score to avoid screening through 100+ biomarkers individually.

• Some of them may cross reference your biomarker’s data against your medical history, your family’s and your lifestyle (although not all do this).

• Then, they use machine learning to compute these

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