Many choose to ignore symptoms such as increased tiredness, dizziness, and hair loss, assuming they’re the effects of stress and work pressure. They don’t realize that these can be signs of a vitamin deficiency. Vitamin deficiencies can show up in thousands of other ways, from vision changes and brittle nails to nerve tingling or even unexplained bruising all over your body.
Interestingly, vitamin deficiency is more common than we think. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 10% of the U.S. population is deficient in vitamin B6 and vitamin D.
As a PhD-trained biomedical scientist and health communicator, I would advise you to listen to the subtle signals your body is giving. Don’t wait for the symptoms to become severe.
My goal here is to help you understand the role of vitamins and why we become vitamin-deficient. You will also get a quick preview of the vitamin deficiency tests available in the market. Based on my comparison, you can decide which works best for you.
How do you decide what works best for you? I’ll share my experience and expertise in this article so that you can make a more informed choice.
Topic Contents
The Short Answer
My top four picks for vitamin deficiency tests include:
SpectraCell Laboratories: Best if you want to check all the vitamins and relevant minerals in a single test panel. Does not include consultation with experts. Good value for money.
Quest Diagnostics: Best if you want to check for specific vitamins and get a free consultation. Economical and reliable option.
LetGetChecked: Best if you want to run a quick test at home, along with free clinical support.
Lifeforce: Best if you want to monitor all your relevant biomarkers (not just vitamins and minerals) to live a longer and healthier life. Offers long-term support from certified clinicians and health coaches.
Before I dig deeper into my top 4 picks, let’s understand a bit about vitamins and vitamin deficiencies.
Why do we need vitamin testing?
Vitamins and minerals help in making and using energy in our bodies. They regulate our brain cells, antioxidant defenses, and the chemical messengers of our body. In short, they coordinate everything from our mood and focus to our memory.
Usually, minerals are also included as part of vitamin tests, as they regulate the functioning of vitamins in our body in different ways.
Deficiency in one vitamin can disturb the functioning of all the vitamins. It’s like building a Lego bridge; remove one support piece, and the entire structure falls down. Hence, testing all the vital vitamins is important.
Expert Insight: Excess or insufficient vitamins in your body can disrupt the balance and affect your health.
What Causes Vitamin Deficiencies?
If you’re wondering how we get a vitamin deficiency, here’s your quick guide.
- Drinking too much alcohol can interfere with vitamin absorption.
- Having a genetic change can stop vitamin absorption.
- Being on a vegetarian or vegan diet can make it difficult to get vitamin B12.
- Getting inadequate sunlight can cause vitamin D deficiency.
- Medications such as antibiotics, diuretics, and metformin can interfere with vitamin processing.
- Liver disease or an eating disorder can cause a vitamin deficiency.
- Having undergone weight-reduction surgery can reduce the vitamin absorption in your body.
Expert Insight: You can reverse mild deficiencies of vitamin D, B12, and folate with early diagnosis and taking vitamin supplements to restore their levels.
Four Best Vitamin Tests: A Quick Comparison
| Company | Vitamins and Minerals | Finger-prick kit vs. Blood draw | Single vitamin test vs. Full panel | Expert Consultation & Treatment | Price |
| SpectraCell Laboratories | Vitamins: AllMinerals: calcium, magnesium, manganese,zinc, and copper | Finger-prick test followed by a blood draw at home or at a lab | Micronutrient Test | Does not offer consultation | $549 |
| Quest Diagnostics | Vitamins: B9, B12, and D, Minerals: zinc, magnesium,iodine | Blood is drawn at home or at a lab Home collection kits are also available | Core Vitamin & Micronutrient Test Panel Single vitamin tests | Independent physician with no extra cost Treatment options available | $239 for the panel $49 to $75 for single vitamin tests |
| LetsGetChecked | Vitamins: B12, D and E | Home collection kit | Essential Vitamin Test Single test for vitamin D | Free support from the clinical team | $109 for the panel $89 for single vitamin tests |
| Lifeforce | Vitamins: D, B-complex.Minerals: magnesium | Blood draw at home or at a lab | Included in 50+ biomarker panel test | Board-certified clinicians and health coaches included in the membership | Membership $400 monthly$2387 annually |
What Were the Decision Factors?
To ensure that you get good value for your money, I have picked these four vitamin tests considering the following factors:
- Vitamins and minerals included
- Finger-prick home tests or a blood draw at a lab
- Single vitamin tests or a full panel of vitamins
- Expert consultation and treatment options
- Price
Let’s discuss the four vitamin test providers in detail in terms of these factors.
What Vitamins and Minerals Are Included?
The first thing I checked while choosing the test providers was the list of vitamins and minerals included in the test. SpectraCell Laboratories is your one-stop solution. Their micronutrient test includes all the fat-soluble (A, D, E, and K) and water-soluble (B and C) vitamins and relevant minerals.
Quest Diagnostics, LetsGetChecked, and Lifeforce only offer specific vitamin tests. However, Lifeforce does offer several add-on tests to the core diagnostic panels. For example, you can include all the fat-soluble vitamins in the biomarker panel test since they are missing.
Home Kit vs. Blood Draw
The vitamin tests can be done through a telehealth panel or at clinical labs. You can order a finger-prick test online through a telehealth provider’s website; a kit is delivered to your doorstep, the collected sample is sent to a certified lab, and the results are sent within days or weeks online. LetsGetChecked, along with the home collection kit, offers free clinical support to discuss the results.
Alternatively, you’ll have to visit a clinical lab or get your blood drawn at home through SpectraCell Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics, and Lifeforce. After you get your results back, you can see an independent physician in the case of SpectraCell Laboratories, or the package might include a consultation with a clinician to discuss the next steps (Quest, LetsGetChecked, and Lifeforce).
I like the fact that Quest Diagnostics provides both home kits and blood draw options, providing more flexibility to the users.
While finger-prick vitamin tests offer a quick and easy way to get your vitals tested and delivered at your doorstep, a blood draw (phlebotomy) has several benefits.
- A blood draw allows the collection of a large volume of blood, providing enough blood for all the diagnostic tests and giving accurate results.
- A larger volume allows the technician to separate the blood components (serum and plasma) and to assess the different types of vitamins in the body.
- Your blood can be stored for future assessments of your vitals, without additional blood draws and painful needles, providing accurate, reliable, and fast results.
- Lastly, for patients with small or difficult-to-find veins, clinicians can choose alternative veins to draw their blood to avoid complications and discomfort.
SpectraCell Laboratories, Quest Diagnostics, and Lifeforce include blood draws and certainly have the advantage of providing you with more accurate and comprehensive tests.
Single Vitamin Tests or Full Vitamin Panel Tests?
Your physician may ask you to undergo a specific vitamin test if you have an existing vitamin deficiency or are experiencing specific symptoms. For example, frequent bone issues can indicate vitamin D deficiency, or extreme fatigue and muscle weakness can be a sign of vitamin B12 deficiency. In this case, Lifeforce, Quest Diagnostics or LetsGetChecked (if you prefer home kits) can be good options for you.
Are you in your 40s and want to improve your overall health? Have you not been feeling your best for the past few weeks? Then you might opt for a complete vitamin test from SpectraCell Laboratories. A complete vitamin panel includes testing for vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E, and K, and minerals like magnesium and zinc.
Expert Insight: Be proactive and get a comprehensive vitamin/mineral test done every 1-3 years, and consult your physician if you suspect anything is wrong.
Value For Money
You can improve your overall health by assessing all the relevant indicators in your body. Lifeforce includes vitamin tests as part of a comprehensive biomarker panel where more than 50 biomarkers are tested. Biomarkers are indicators of our overall health and can be measured in our blood, urine, tissues, or even through imaging like MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging).
Examples of biomarkers for vitamins are
- 25-Hydroxy (25-OH) is a form of vitamin D produced in your liver and is measured to determine vitamin D levels in the body.
- Homocysteine is a byproduct of amino acids that is regulated by the vitamin B complex. High levels of homocysteine indicate a deficiency of vitamins B2, B6, B9, and B12.
Both of these biomarkers are included in Lifeforce’s biomarker panel for more reliable results.
Price-wise, Lifeforce is expensive, but the membership includes much more than just vitamins and mineral tests. It offers a long-term comprehensive plan for you, which includes scheduling your first blood draw by a phlebotomist, meeting virtually with your clinician, getting a personalized plan from a health coach, and retesting of biomarkers on a quarterly basis. This saves you from the hassles of booking an appointment with a physician, showing your reports, and planning your follow-up. LifeForce membership takes care of all of this.
While you can get all your vitamins and minerals tested at an economical price from SpectraCell Laboratories, it does not include consultation and treatment options like Quest Diagnostics and Let’sGetChecked.
Unlike Quest Diagnostics and LetsGetChecked, Lifeforce includes filling out a health questionnaire. This provides your clinicians with your medical history and possible reasons behind your vitamin deficiency so that they can make a personalized health plan for you. A bonus is that they even send your prescribed medicines/vitamin supplements to your home. Yes, it’s included in the membership plan.
Conclusion
Unless there’s a preexisting vitamin deficiency, I would go for a comprehensive vitamin and mineral test with additional biomarkers to improve overall health. Many users choose LifeForce because it monitors all the relevant biomarkers for hormonal imbalance, critical nutrients (including vitamins and minerals), metabolic conditions, key risk factors, and organ health. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good option for you. You need to assess your goals and needs to choose the best vitamin test for you.
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