Red Blood Cell, Elements

Note: This is a test kit that will be mailed to you and requires a blood draw.

Fasting Required: Yes – Overnight

Specimen: Blood

It is your responsibility to arrange the blood draw for your kit.

Special Instructions: Ship to lab Monday-Thursday only.
Specimen must be drawn before breakfast after an overnight fast. Other collection times can cause deviations in patient results.
Please refrain from taking non-essential medications, and dietary supplements that contain minerals for 72 hours prior to the specimen collection, unless otherwise instructed by your physician.

Results: 7-10 Business Days

Description: Red blood cell (RBC) analysis is an invaluable method for assessing insufficiency or excess of elements that have important functions within cells or on blood cell membranes. An important feature of this analysis is that the cells are not washed, because this would result in partial loss of some important elements, such as calcium, that bind to the plasma membrane.
Disorders specifically associated with zinc deficiency are also addressed by this analysis. These disorders include loss of visual acuity, dysgeusia, dermatitis and poor wound healing, alopecia, amino acid malabsorption, sexual impotence, decreased production of testosterone, depressed immune function and growth retardation. The absorption, transport and metabolism of essential elements is highly integrated and regulated. Inappropriate supplementation or dietary imbalance of elements can have significant adverse health effects. For example, excess intake of zinc or molybdenum can result in copper deficiency and, although essential, excess retention of manganese can have serious neurotoxic effects.

RBC element analysis is also useful for the assessment of ongoing or very recent exposure to specific toxic elements that accumulate preferentially in erythrocytes. These toxic elements include arsenic, cadmium, lead, methylmercury and thallium. It is important to keep in mind that elevated levels of the toxic elements in these cells reflect only recent or ongoing exposure and do not provide information about the net retention of the metals in the body.

Includes:

  • Arsenic
  • Boron
  • Cadmium
  • Calcium
  • Chromium
  • Copper
  • Iron
  • Lead
  • Magnesium
  • Manganese
  • Mercury
  • Molybdenum
  • Phosphorus
  • Potassium
  • Selenium
  • Thallium
  • Zinc

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