If you’re forgetting simple things, struggling to find words, or feeling like your mind is wrapped in cotton wool, this section explores whether nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, or gut-brain imbalances could be clouding your thinking.
Do you:
- Forget things easily or lose your train of thought?
- Struggle with focus at work or reading?
- Feel mentally “sluggish” without clear reason?
2+ Yes answers may point to mitochondrial issues, nutrient depletion, gut-brain axis imbalances, or toxin exposure.
| Test | Provider | Reasoning | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organic Acids Test (OAT) | Nutripath | Screens for B-vitamin status, neurotransmitter metabolites, oxidative stress. | Lord RS, Bralley JA. Laboratory Evaluations for Integrative and Functional Medicine (2008). |
| Hair Mineral Analysis | Nutripath | Analyses the mineral and identifies heavy metal content of a hair sample to assess a person’s nutritional status and potential toxic metal exposure. It can reveal deficiencies or excesses of essential minerals and the presence of harmful heavy metals, potentially indicating long-term exposure. | Althomali et al., 2024 |
| GI-MAP + Zonulin | Nutripath | Gut imbalances can impair cognition via inflammation. Comprehensive stool DNA test with zonulin for gut permeability. Identifies gut pathogens, microbiome balance, digestion markers, and intestinal permeability (zonulin) or “leaky gut“. This is the gold-standard functional stool test. | Fasano, 2012. |
Disclaimer: These are specialised functional tests to identify root causes of your symptom(s). Functional testing should be considered as a complement to conventional medical evaluations from your healthcare provider. We recommend pursuing these specialised assessments after standard medical tests have been done to rule out common conditions, or when conventional testing indicates normal results despite your persistent symptoms.
Conventional tests may include these (not exhaustive), depending on your other symptom(s):
| Test | Reasonings |
|---|---|
| Full Blood Count (FBC) or Complete Blood Count (CBC) | Assess general basic nutritional health. Specifically, we’ll be looking for any signs of anaemia, which can impair concentration- eg. iron, B12 deficiency |
| Vitamin B12 and folate | Assess vitamin levels crucial for energy production |
| Iron profile, include ferritin | Measures Iron stores in the body- Low ferritin indicates iron deficiency anaemia, which can impair concentration. High levels is less specific and can be caused by infection, inflammation, autoimune, cancer, liver damage. |
| Thyroid function tests | Test includes Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH), T4, T3 levels. This assess the function of the thyroid gland which can affect energy level and concentrations. In the presence of normal levels, with persisting symptoms, more detailed tests (as in Fatigue) can be done |
| HbA1c | Measures average blood sugar level over the immediate 3 months prior- helpful to diagnose diabetes. However, as it is a measure of average, it does not tell us the peaks, where inflammation and metabolic damage happens. |
| Urea & Electrolyes (also known as Renal Profile, Renal Function Test) | Assess kidneys filtration health and electrolytes levels- commonly Sodium, Potassium, Urea, Chloride- Imbalances can cause fatigue and poor concentration |
| Liver Function Test | Assess liver health, by measuring enzymes produced by the liver- deranged levels can cause fatigue and poor concentration |
| Lipid Profile | Assess cardiovascular risk, which is associated with dementia risk. A standard lipid profile measures total amount of different types of fats (lipids) in the blood. However, it doesn’t assess the quality of those fats- which is more important for measure of heart health and risk of stroke or heart attack. |