Functional Lab Testing: Helpful or Overused?

By Dr. Christopher Lepisto

Functional medicine has made advanced laboratory testing increasingly popular. Hormones, stool testing, organic acids, food sensitivity panels, micronutrients, genetics—the list seems almost endless.

And much of this testing can be valuable. But what do we actually need?

A functional approach may require $2,000–$4,000 up front for testing and visits, with the explanation that the practitioner wants to “get all the information up front.” I understand the appeal, but I don’t practice that way. I prefer to develop an impression of your health challenges and then use laboratory testing to confirm or refine it.

Sometimes that means conventional blood work, which I regularly order in my office and which can be a convenient way to skip the line at a local lab. Sometimes it means looking more deeply at hormones, digestive function, nutrient status, or other specialty markers.

But more testing doesn’t automatically mean better medicine. The more information we collect, the greater the possibility of finding something technically outside a reference range but with little clinical significance. Suddenly, you have ten “problems” to treat instead of one meaningful problem to understand.

This is why I don’t treat lab values; I treat patients.

When testing is warranted, I want it to help guide what we do next to support your body’s ability to heal itself.

More information isn’t always better. The value lies in knowing what to do with it.