One Blood Test Rarely Tells the Whole Story

One Blood Test Rarely Tells the Whole Story

We often place enormous importance on a single blood test. 

Your glucose is normal.  Your cholesterol is slightly elevated.  Your testosterone is within range.  Your inflammatory markers look fine. 

But there is an important problem with looking at health this way: 

A single result is usually a snapshot — not the whole picture. 

Imagine taking one photograph from a two-hour movie and trying to work out the entire storyline. You might learn something, but you could also completely misunderstand what is happening. 

The same principle applies to many health markers. 

For example, fasting glucose may still be within the laboratory reference range while insulin is gradually increasing to keep that glucose under control. Looking at glucose alone could therefore miss an earlier change in metabolic health. 

Similarly, total testosterone by itself provides limited information. Depending on the clinical question, testosterone may need to be considered alongside SHBG, free or calculated free testosterone, LH, FSH and sometimes oestradiol. 

The same applies to cardiovascular health. Total cholesterol alone tells us much less than considering the broader lipid profile together with blood pressure, glucose regulation, inflammation, body composition, lifestyle,  and family history. 

Look for patterns, not isolated numbers 

Good health assessment is therefore rarely about finding one magical marker. 

It is about looking for patterns. 

That may mean considering several related markers together and, importantly, looking at how those markers change over time. 

A result can also be technically within the laboratory reference interval while still deserving attention in the context of symptoms, risk factors or a changing trend. 

This is why establishing a baseline can be so valuable. 

If you make a meaningful intervention — changing your diet, starting an exercise program, improving sleep, losing weight or beginning a treatment — repeat measurements can help answer a much more useful question: 

Is your physiology actually moving in the direction we want it to? 

Measure. Intervene. Reassess. 

This is the approach we increasingly use in personalised healthcare: 

Establish the baseline → identify the important variables → intervene → measure again → adjust. 

Because ultimately, the objective isn't simply to get a blood test marked “normal.” 

The objective is to understand the person behind the numbers. 

Dr D Michael Elliott MSc. D.C. CFMP  Able Bodied Healthcare & Chiropractic