InsideTracker Metabolism blood test - 11 blood values

TSH is thyroid-stimulating hormone. The pituitary gland makes it, and uses it to drive your thyroid. At the laboratory that runs the test the usual adult range runs from 0.27 to 4.20 mE/L. A high TSH usually fits an underactive thyroid. A low value usually fits an overactive one. That direction feels inverted, and it is. TSH is the pituitary signal, not the thyroid hormone itself. Laboratories use slightly different limits from one another. Always read the reference value printed on your own result. And a single measurement is never a diagnosis.

Fasting glucose measures the level of sugar (glucose) in your blood after an overnight fast. It is one of the primary tests used to screen for and monitor diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Fasting insulin measures the amount of insulin in your blood after an overnight fast. It helps assess how efficiently your body manages blood sugar and can reveal insulin resistance before glucose levels become abnormal.

HbA1c (glycated haemoglobin) reflects your average blood sugar levels over the past 2-3 months. It is the gold standard for long-term blood sugar monitoring and diabetes management.

Apolipoprotein B (ApoB) is the main protein on LDL and other atherogenic lipoproteins. Each atherogenic particle carries exactly one ApoB molecule, making it a precise measure of the total number of particles that can contribute to plaque formation.

HDL cholesterol is the amount of cholesterol carried inside the HDL particles in your blood. Those particles pick cholesterol up from your tissues and from the artery wall and take it back to the liver. That transport is what earned HDL the nickname good cholesterol. The nickname is misleading. HDL is above all a mirror of your metabolism: the value drops with excess weight, insulin resistance, smoking and inactivity, and it is those factors that carry the risk. Drugs that raise HDL substantially do not reduce the number of cardiovascular events. And more is not always better: at very high values, mortality in large population studies turns back upwards. So never read your HDL on its own. It only takes on meaning alongside your triglycerides, your LDL and your overall risk profile.

LDL cholesterol is the amount of cholesterol carried inside LDL particles, the particles that can build up in the artery wall. That is where its nickname comes from: the bad cholesterol. Two things rarely appear on a report. First, in a routine lipid panel LDL is usually not measured but calculated from your total cholesterol, your HDL and your triglycerides. Second, the 3.0 mmol/l upper limit is a population reference interval, not a target. What counts as a good LDL for you is decided by your overall cardiovascular risk, not by the line printed on the page.

Total cholesterol measures the combined amount of HDL, LDL, and VLDL cholesterol in your blood. It provides an overview of your lipid status but should be interpreted alongside individual components for a complete cardiovascular risk picture.

Triglycerides are the most common type of fat in the body, used for energy storage. Elevated levels may be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular disease, especially when combined with other lipid abnormalities.

Your ALT value shows how much alanine aminotransferase is in your blood. This enzyme sits mainly in the liver. That makes ALT the most liver-specific of the routine enzymes. When it reaches the blood, liver cells have been damaged. In adult men the reference range runs to 45 u/l, and in women to 34 u/l. A mildly raised result is common and has several causes. Fatty liver leads that list, well ahead of alcohol and hepatitis.

HOMA-IR (Homeostatic Model Assessment for Insulin Resistance) is a calculated index derived from fasting glucose and fasting insulin levels. It is widely used to estimate insulin resistance, a condition where the body's cells respond less effectively to insulin.