I had blood drawn for three micronutrient tests from Spectracell, vibrant, and Cell Science Systems on the same day and time. Of the three, Vibrant had the most deficiencies and Cell Science had the least. No deficiencies in the Spectracell test but it had 4 markers with borderline score.
My markers with deficiencies/borderline are as follows:
Vibrant:
WBC: B5 & vitamin A were deficient
Serum: Vitamin C was deficient.
RBC: omega 3 index was 5.32 which they consider average. AA/EPA was 36.6 which is considered high. I will consider taking fish oil.
Serum: B12 and vitamin D , 25-OH were high. Vitamin D was also confirmed by Labcorp to be high.
My manganese serum and WBC zinc are right at the minimum reference values so I consider those a deficiency just like with Spectracell (as you’ll see below)
Serum Inositol, WBC inositol, and WBC carnitine were also at or barely above the minimum reference values so I consider those deficient.
Spectracell:
Chromium, Glucose-Insulin Interaction, Manganese, and Zinc were all borderline. Vitamin A is at 75 which is barely above borderline so I consider it borderline or deficient. Apparently I need a lot of preformed vitamin A because of a gene snp. B2, magnesium, selenium, carnitine, vitamin E are barely above the borderline so I consider those a deficiency.
Cell Science:
Asparagine, calcium, oleic acid (omega 9) were the only markers with borderline.
Magnesium was the only marker with a deficiency.
My diet at the time was about 25 - 35% lean animal protein, 45-60% carbs mostly from fruits, and 10-20% fat mostly from nuts and animal protein.
No supplements two days before the test.
My usual supplement stack consists of b vitamins, multivitamin, amino acids, minerals, vitamin D, and choline with inositol. I wasn’t taking any fish oil supplements prior.
Overall, each test has its advantages and disadvantages. I really like all including Genova NutrEval. However, if I could only afford one test I’ll probably go with Vibrant because they measure both short term and long term micronutrient reserves.
This was such a fascinating read. Is there any chance that you have an issue with acetaldehyde levels? I recently read a pub med study that stated “We found that chronic exposure of NCM460 human colonic epithelial cells as well as human differentiated colonoid monolayers, to alcohol metabolites (acetaldehyde, ethyl palmitate, ethyl oleate) significantly inhibited biotin uptake and SMVT expression”. I do not drink alcohol ever but this seems to be the explanation for my chronically low biotin and vitamin A (retinoic acid) levels. Maybe I have reduced function of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase? I was addressing this with niacin but correcting my vitamin A with the recent large dose seems to have greatly reduced my need for biotin and opened up the way for me to take B6 which just might allow me to put niacin on the shelf. Just my current theory. Thanks for giving us a front seat to all this great data. It’s so helpful in getting a clearer understanding of the relationships between nutrients.
So many questions! Are they now directly measuring K2? I moved to the desert for access to sun and have gotten increasingly unwell. Could it be folate-related even though my folate levels are always too high to measure in LabCorp-type tests. I also have discovered by trial and error that I need far more vitamin A than is usually recommended. I would like to take the vibrant test.
I just finished listening to your two part series on Pantothenic Acid. It was excellent, as usual.
With regard to B5, you state:
"...the best marker of, in fact, the only legitimate marker of nutritional status is urine concentrations, and that blood concentrations are not a useful marker of nutritional status.
In fact, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for my Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. I am going to have to remove the recommendation to use blood levels of pantothenic acid that are offered by LabCorp."
Yet in Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet you recommend testing plasma levels of pantothenate as it declines in nutritional status.
Did you change your mind?
Can you clarify where you stand on the utility of urine vs. blood for testing B5 status?
Such a great comparison. THANKS for doing this! Sorry for this question but I got a little confused: Are you saying that Vibrant might be a good option to ADD on to what's in your nutritional cheat sheet (which has the Genova ION /organic acids plus all the different B's and other single line-items?). Or did you mean Vibrant can REPLACE Genova ION... I am not seeing organic acids on Vibrant Micronutrient Panel...
I had blood drawn for three micronutrient tests from Spectracell, vibrant, and Cell Science Systems on the same day and time. Of the three, Vibrant had the most deficiencies and Cell Science had the least. No deficiencies in the Spectracell test but it had 4 markers with borderline score.
My markers with deficiencies/borderline are as follows:
Vibrant:
WBC: B5 & vitamin A were deficient
Serum: Vitamin C was deficient.
RBC: omega 3 index was 5.32 which they consider average. AA/EPA was 36.6 which is considered high. I will consider taking fish oil.
Serum: B12 and vitamin D , 25-OH were high. Vitamin D was also confirmed by Labcorp to be high.
My manganese serum and WBC zinc are right at the minimum reference values so I consider those a deficiency just like with Spectracell (as you’ll see below)
Serum Inositol, WBC inositol, and WBC carnitine were also at or barely above the minimum reference values so I consider those deficient.
Spectracell:
Chromium, Glucose-Insulin Interaction, Manganese, and Zinc were all borderline. Vitamin A is at 75 which is barely above borderline so I consider it borderline or deficient. Apparently I need a lot of preformed vitamin A because of a gene snp. B2, magnesium, selenium, carnitine, vitamin E are barely above the borderline so I consider those a deficiency.
Cell Science:
Asparagine, calcium, oleic acid (omega 9) were the only markers with borderline.
Magnesium was the only marker with a deficiency.
My diet at the time was about 25 - 35% lean animal protein, 45-60% carbs mostly from fruits, and 10-20% fat mostly from nuts and animal protein.
No supplements two days before the test.
My usual supplement stack consists of b vitamins, multivitamin, amino acids, minerals, vitamin D, and choline with inositol. I wasn’t taking any fish oil supplements prior.
Overall, each test has its advantages and disadvantages. I really like all including Genova NutrEval. However, if I could only afford one test I’ll probably go with Vibrant because they measure both short term and long term micronutrient reserves.
I hope that helps someone!
This was such a fascinating read. Is there any chance that you have an issue with acetaldehyde levels? I recently read a pub med study that stated “We found that chronic exposure of NCM460 human colonic epithelial cells as well as human differentiated colonoid monolayers, to alcohol metabolites (acetaldehyde, ethyl palmitate, ethyl oleate) significantly inhibited biotin uptake and SMVT expression”. I do not drink alcohol ever but this seems to be the explanation for my chronically low biotin and vitamin A (retinoic acid) levels. Maybe I have reduced function of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase? I was addressing this with niacin but correcting my vitamin A with the recent large dose seems to have greatly reduced my need for biotin and opened up the way for me to take B6 which just might allow me to put niacin on the shelf. Just my current theory. Thanks for giving us a front seat to all this great data. It’s so helpful in getting a clearer understanding of the relationships between nutrients.
Interesting comparison. Thanks for sharing it.
Have you checked your genetic data for biotinadase (BTD) variants? https://www.geneticlifehacks.com/genetics-of-biotin-deficiency/
So many questions! Are they now directly measuring K2? I moved to the desert for access to sun and have gotten increasingly unwell. Could it be folate-related even though my folate levels are always too high to measure in LabCorp-type tests. I also have discovered by trial and error that I need far more vitamin A than is usually recommended. I would like to take the vibrant test.
I just finished listening to your two part series on Pantothenic Acid. It was excellent, as usual.
With regard to B5, you state:
"...the best marker of, in fact, the only legitimate marker of nutritional status is urine concentrations, and that blood concentrations are not a useful marker of nutritional status.
In fact, I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do for my Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet. I am going to have to remove the recommendation to use blood levels of pantothenic acid that are offered by LabCorp."
Yet in Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet you recommend testing plasma levels of pantothenate as it declines in nutritional status.
Did you change your mind?
Can you clarify where you stand on the utility of urine vs. blood for testing B5 status?
Thanks.
Such a great comparison. THANKS for doing this! Sorry for this question but I got a little confused: Are you saying that Vibrant might be a good option to ADD on to what's in your nutritional cheat sheet (which has the Genova ION /organic acids plus all the different B's and other single line-items?). Or did you mean Vibrant can REPLACE Genova ION... I am not seeing organic acids on Vibrant Micronutrient Panel...
Could you comment on the costs of the Vibrant snd Spectracell test for out of pocket costs?
I am interested, but my insurance won’t pay.