Oh hello, welcome to Healthy Ish. Thanks for joining us today on the Body and Soul podcast. I'm the host of Felicity Harley. Now, when was the last time you went for a blood test, or perhaps you have never
had one? Well, there are many questions around how often we should get them, what we should ask for, and to clear it all up today I am joined by nutritionist Eduena Ekins from Performance for Nutrition, and she discusses the importance of regular blood tests, how to actually ask for them if you do, front up to a reluctant doctor. Plus you lists the exact ones you should get. Now make sure you're listening to Extra Healthy Ish, where Eduena talks about well how you can be a more confident
cook and nail your nutrition. At the same time, you can listen in to Extra Healthy Ish wherever you get your podcasts. Hey Donner, welcome back to health you shan well, back to Australia.
Thank you, Felicity, happy to be here.
Yes, now I want to ask you all about your trip, but perhaps we should talk about blood tests.
That's what you're here for.
Tell us about why a blood test so important.
Blood tests are a key tool used by medical professionals and allied health professionals for diagnosing, monitoring, and assessing health conditions and changes. They give us an insight into what's occurring internally in the body, for example, organ function, immune system, hormone imbalance, and nutritional deficiencies. And I really recommend them, particularly post forty on an annual basis, as part of preventative practice for maintaining long term health.
They're not when you're going to see your GP. Often you know you have to mention it not your GP. You're a nutritionist, why are they important for you? Talk to us about what they can tell us about the nutritional status.
Yes, I recognize there is some nervousness about requesting blood tests. I give people a list to ask their GPS. One of the reasons is one of the ways we assess nutritional status is dietary information, so we ask what you know, what do we eat on a regular basis, also symptoms, but sometimes without actually having a blood test, we don't know whether you're absorbing, utilizing deficient in a particular vitamin. So, for example, something like iron or vitamin D are direct
indicators of nutritional deficiency. So blood test is really the only way to diagnose that.
What back to my point about I suppose i'm when you know, I've had many instances where I've walked into with my GP before forty and after forty where I've had to almost not dare, I say, beg for a blood test. How do we go about asking our GP if they are reluctant, because I know that you know, if you go in every six months, if you're twenty five and fit and healthy, they can clog up the whole care system.
Yes. Well, my personal view on that is, if you're a taxpayer, you have a right to access Medicare in the same way other people do. But I think if you think about it in a way that if you track trends and changes in blood markers, you're actually saving Medicare or the medical system costs in the long term because you can pick up diagnose issues before they become a chronic condition, which costs Medicare way more than a simple blood test. So I recommend people go in and
talk to their GP about what's going on. So there might be commencing training for half marathon or marathon, or feeling particularly fatigued or even anxious or nervous about the health status is enough to warrant a blood test, So it's just having the confidence to ask, and if the GP says no, then just saying why not, because look, we have to be a little bit cognizant of cost,
because every individual test does cost. But most gps you know, are fairly reasonable in listening to you and action in blood tests.
If you ask, what about if you're under forty? I mean, should we be having them regularly or is it only if you're feeling certain symptoms?
My general recommendation is, you know, under forty every couple of years, so at least every two to three years, but more regularly if you've got a family history of a condition, or if you've got symptoms like if you are feeling particularly fatigued and sleep is not improving that, or if you've got a really unhappy gut or there's something else going on, then it definitely warrants having a blood test.
What should we ask for?
So I have a list, Yes, I have my fairly standard list. So that list includes red blood cells, vitamin D, thyroid lipids which is your cholesterol, druge lycerites, et cetera, vitamin B twelve, iron, liver function, and kidney function. And then anything in addition to that, if you've got again
a family history or particular symptoms. So for example, if you had suddenly an increased thirst or weight gain, you might look at some of the pre diabetic markers like fasting glucose, fasting insulin, or HbA one C, which is the three month average of glucose.
The initial ones you said, they're pretty they're the standard, aren't they. Like often doctors will just put you through all those and they are covert in medicare.
Yes, they may not. It really is at the GP's discretion. So for example, if you went in and said you had your suffering fatigue and history of low iron, they may just check iron markers. So again it's really at that discretion, but it kind of makes sense to test a few more things out of the one sample of blood.
Yeah, And I think that it comes down to you. You know, we are in charge of our own health and we can't just rely on the GP to know everything that's going on. And you know, if you've got a family history of atheroscrosis or something, well then maybe you need other things checks. So I mean, I now, after hosting this podcast, go with a long list. Yes, and the GP is like, do you really need that? Yes, I do need that. You know, my father has that heart disease.
I need this.
So I think that you know you are in charge of your own health.
Definitely, you are your own first doctor, and your GP may not be aware of your family history or your family health issues. So having a long list.
Is a really good idea when it comes to results. Now this is something that you know, perhaps this is a personal question for me to you. How can we get better at understanding our results because often, you know, you walk in and they and your GP might say, okay, check me, everything's fine, or they might say what about this measurement? You iron measurements lower? I mean, how how do we as our own first doctor but not a doctor?
Yes, yes, no, I do see in my clinic frequently I'll ask people if they've had a blood test and they'll say yes, and I'll say okay, can I see them? Or what were the results and they'll say, well, I
don't know. The GP didn't call me. So they do fall through the cracks sometimes, So it's really important to actually get a copy of those blood tests and ask you go back to the GP if anything's out of the range, So there are reference ranges next to each particular blood marker and if you're above all below that, we want to know why. There is also a really good site called Pathology Tests Explained dot org dot au show.
Yeah, okay, and it's a good one.
It's not for profit, run by a board of a number of really credible organizations, including the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, and you can actually go in there and search either a condition and the associated blood markers or the particular tests. So for example, what does one of the liver enzymes ALP actually mean and it will describe what might be causing it to be high or low.
So it's a good way of just educating yourself. But as you said, it is a good idea to understand what all those acronyms on the blood test actually mean and keep a copy of them because you might then be going on to a specialist and it's really important information to pass on to a specialist.
And then I mean I over folder at home, collected over time, and then you can look back at you know, what's been going on.
Yeah, that's really important because the trends are really important. The change is often a trigger for either concern or delight, depending which way it's going. But it's the change that's important, not actually the actual number.
Yeah, Aduina, thank you for coming on.
Healthy, Thank you for having me.
Hey, if you did enjoy this chat with a Duenna, if you walked away and thought, yes, I know exactly what to ask for when it comes to a blood test. Listening to her on extra Healthy Use. Last time she was in the studio, we talked about whether your current
health routine is doing more harm than good. If you did enjoy this chat, tell us rate and review this episode, subscribe to this podcast anything else, head to Body and Soul dot com, dot you follows on socials, Grab our print edition, which is our your local Sunday paper, and until tomorrow, stay healthy ish