Advanced Vitamins Blood Test

Yes. Every vitamin except vitamin K and vitamin C on this panel can be measured directly in blood, and the ten here cover the deficiencies that cause symptoms in the UK: vitamin D for bone, muscle and immune health; B12 and folate for blood and nerves; B1, B2, B3 and B6 for energy metabolism, skin and nerves; vitamins A and E and beta-carotene for vision, skin and antioxidant protection. Most vitamin deficiencies are silent until they are well established, and the symptoms they cause, tiredness, low mood, pins and needles, hair loss, poor skin, cracked lips, night vision problems, are easily blamed on something else.

Start from your situation. Vitamin D, B12 and folate account for the great majority of vitamin deficiencies in the UK, and our Vitamins Blood Test measures those three from £69 with a finger-prick kit. Choose this ten-vitamin panel if you have a reason to suspect the rarer ones: a restrictive, vegan or very low-fat diet; heavy alcohol use, which depletes B1, B6 and folate; malabsorption from coeliac disease, Crohn's, pancreatic problems or bariatric surgery, which affects the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and E; long-term medication such as metformin, isoniazid or anticonvulsants; nerve symptoms, unexplained anaemia, night blindness or skin and mouth changes that a basic panel has not explained.

They depend on the vitamin. Vitamin D: bone and muscle aches, weakness, tiredness, frequent infections. B12 and folate: tiredness, breathlessness, pins and needles, memory problems, low mood, a sore tongue. B1: fatigue, irritability, nerve pain, and in heavy drinkers confusion and heart failure. B2 and B3: cracked lips, mouth sores, rashes, digestive upset. B6: numbness, depression, anaemia, skin rashes. Vitamin A: poor night vision, dry eyes, frequent infections, dry skin. Vitamin E: nerve damage, muscle weakness, poor coordination. The overlap is why a panel, rather than guessing at one vitamin, is useful when symptoms are unexplained.

It is reported as 25-hydroxyvitamin D, or 25(OH)D, the storage form, in nmol/L. Below 25 nmol/L is deficient and needs treatment; 25 to 50 is insufficient for many people, particularly for bone health; above 50 is adequate; above 75 is often described as optimal; above 250 is potentially toxic, usually only from over-supplementation. Around one in six UK adults is deficient in winter, more among people with darker skin, who cover their skin, or who are housebound. Your GP report interprets your level and recommends a dose if it is low.

Yes, for 48 hours, and fast for 8 to 12 hours before the sample. Water-soluble vitamins in particular, the B group, rise in the blood within hours of a tablet and fall again quickly, so a sample taken after your morning multivitamin measures the tablet, not you. Fat-soluble vitamins and B12 are less affected by a single dose but still best measured without recent supplements. If you have been supplementing for months and want to know whether it has worked, test without a break; the result then shows your level on the supplement.

Because most of these vitamins are measured by chromatography and mass spectrometry in a specialist laboratory rather than on a standard analyser, several are light-sensitive and need protected handling, and they are run in batches. That is why results take 7 to 10 working days and why the panel costs £649. The three common vitamins, D, B12 and folate, are measured on standard analysers, which is why the basic Vitamins Blood Test is from £69 with results in 3 to 5 days.

Most, with attention. B12 is the exception: it is found only in animal foods, so vegans need fortified foods or a supplement, and deficiency is common without them. Vitamin D is hard for anyone to get from food and comes mainly from sunlight and supplements. Vitamin A in plant foods is present as beta-carotene, which the body converts, and this test measures both, so it shows whether conversion is keeping up. Riboflavin (B2) and, less often, B6 can run low on strict plant-based diets. A panel every year or two is a sensible check for anyone on a fully plant-based diet.

Yes, for the fat-soluble ones. Vitamin A excess, from high-dose supplements or very large amounts of liver, causes headaches, liver damage and, in pregnancy, birth defects. Vitamin D excess from over-supplementation causes high calcium, kidney stones and nausea. Vitamin E in high doses increases bleeding risk. Vitamin B6 in high doses over months causes nerve damage that mimics deficiency. Water-soluble B vitamins are otherwise excreted. This panel shows excess as well as deficiency, which matters for anyone taking multiple high-dose supplements.

Usually simply. Vitamin D is treated with a loading course then a maintenance dose; B12 with tablets or injections depending on the cause; folate and the other B vitamins with a course of tablets and dietary change; vitamins A and E by treating the cause of malabsorption and supplementing. Your GP report tells you which vitamins are low, how low, and what to ask your GP for. Most deficiency symptoms improve within weeks of correction, though nerve symptoms from prolonged B12 or B1 deficiency can take longer or be partly permanent, which is the reason not to wait.

At any of 250+ Goodbody clinics across the UK, or with a nurse visiting your home. This ten-vitamin panel needs a venous sample handled away from light, so it is not available as a finger-prick kit; the three-vitamin Vitamins Blood Test is. No GP referral is needed. Find your nearest clinic.

Your GP can test vitamin D, B12 and folate when you have symptoms that suggest deficiency, and will do so readily for tiredness or anaemia. The other seven vitamins are tested on the NHS only by specialists investigating specific conditions, such as malabsorption, alcohol-related illness or neurological symptoms, which is why they are rarely checked. A private panel is the practical route if you want them measured, and the GP report can be shared with your GP.

Results are emailed within 7 to 10 working days of your sample reaching the laboratory, with a GP report that interprets each of the ten vitamins, flags deficiency or excess, and sets out what to do next.