Health Panel

Education

The research behind why we test

We built Health Panel around what the evidence supports, not around what sounds good in an ad. Here is real published research on why knowing your biomarkers matters, what can happen when a marker goes unaddressed, and what the evidence says about improving one. This page is educational, not medical advice. Always talk to a licensed physician about your specific results.

Disclaimer

This page summarizes published research for general educational purposes. It is not medical advice, and it does not describe guaranteed outcomes. These studies looked at specific populations under specific conditions, your situation may be different. Always discuss your own results and any changes to diet, supplements, or treatment with a licensed physician. If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.

  1. 1Does routine testing help?

    Testing works best with a purpose, rather than on autopilot

    You might expect research to say "the more you test, the better." The evidence is more specific than that. A major 2019 Cochrane review pooling 15 randomized trials and over 250,000 adults found that offering healthy, unselected adults a general multi-condition health check did not reduce deaths from any cause, heart disease, or cancer, and increased the number of new diagnoses without a matching improvement in health outcomes. That's exactly why Health Panel does not push blanket "test everything, constantly" messaging. We think testing is most useful when it is tied to your specific risk factors, symptoms, or something you are actively tracking over time (like a hormone or nutrient level after a change in diet or training), and discussed with a clinician who can put your specific numbers in context, rather than treated as a one-size-fits-all routine.

    Citation

    Krogsbøll LT, Jørgensen KJ, Gøtzsche PC. "General health checks in adults for reducing morbidity and mortality from disease." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2019;1(1):CD009009.

    View source(PubMed 30699470)

    Honest scope: This review covers unselected, general health checks in average-risk adults, not targeted testing in people with known risk factors, symptoms, or an existing condition being monitored. It does not evaluate the value of trend-tracking over time for someone already managing a specific marker.

  2. 2What you cannot feel

    What an unaddressed marker can mean

    Some of the most important values in a blood panel do not come with symptoms. A large 2010 study published in JAMA pooled data from 11 studies and over 55,000 people worldwide and found that more significantly elevated thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH), a marker of subclinical (often symptomless) hypothyroidism, was linked to a meaningfully higher risk of coronary heart disease. People wouldn't typically know their TSH was elevated without a blood test. That's the case for testing: a number on a page can matter for your heart even when you feel fine.

    Citation

    Rodondi N, den Elzen WPJ, Bauer DC, et al. (Thyroid Studies Collaboration). "Subclinical Hypothyroidism and the Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Mortality." JAMA. 2010;304(12):1365-1374.

    View source(PubMed 20858880)

    Honest scope: The elevated risk was concentrated in more significant TSH elevations (≥10 mIU/L); milder elevations were not shown to carry the same risk. This study shows an association between the marker and cardiovascular risk, it does not by itself prove that treating the abnormality prevents heart disease. Talk to your physician about what any specific result means for you.

  3. This is the shape that argument takes on a real panel. Every marker is placed against the reference range the lab reported it with, so a value outside that range is visible at a glance rather than buried in a table.

    Sample, for illustration

    What your results page shows

    Not real patient data
    Testosterone, total640 ng/dLIn range

    Lab reference range 264 to 916 ng/dL

    hs-CRP0.7 mg/LIn range

    Lab reference range under 3.0 mg/L

    LDL cholesterol142 mg/dLAbove range

    Lab reference range under 100 mg/dL

    Vitamin D, 25-OH24 ng/mLBelow range

    Lab reference range 30 to 100 ng/mL

    Ranges and flags are the lab's own, shown as reported, alongside the lab's full PDF report. Health Panel adds no scores, grades or interpretation of its own.

    Sample values shown for illustration only. We email you as soon as your own results are ready, and you sign in to your account to read them. What a result means for you is a conversation for a licensed clinician.

  4. 3Once you know

    Once you know, evidence-based changes can help

    Testing is only useful if there is something you can do with the result. Iron is a good example of a marker where there is real evidence behind a fix. A 2022 systematic review in the journal Nutrients looked at 14 randomized controlled trials of dietary interventions in women with confirmed iron-deficiency anemia, and found that increasing iron-rich foods, especially when paired with vitamin C to help absorption, meaningfully improved iron status in most of the trials reviewed. If your panel shows a low iron result, that is a real, evidence-backed conversation to have with your physician about diet, not merely a value to file away.

    Citation

    Skolmowska D, Głąbska D, Kołota A, Guzek D. "Effectiveness of Dietary Interventions to Treat Iron-Deficiency Anemia in Women: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials." Nutrients. 2022;14(13):2724.

    View source(doi.org/10.3390/nu14132724)

    Honest scope: This review specifically studied women of childbearing age with a confirmed iron-deficiency anemia diagnosis, not the general population or a prevention context, and it is a narrative synthesis of a moderate number of small trials, not a single pooled statistical result. Diet is not a substitute for medical evaluation of anemia, and any specific plan should come from your own clinician.