How does the test work?
The Organic Acid Profile's 5 predominant categories

The systems of the body work together, not in isolation, so it is often difficult to know where to begin to treat a complex process. The Designs for Health Metabolic Profile provides a roadmap that recognizes these interactions and can point to metabolic blockages that lead to disease. The profile shows essential nutrient and digestive system abnormalities that reveal root causes of symptoms. The metabolic map allows the targeted use of vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients, putting you more quickly on your journey to wellness by providing specific corrections of nutritional imbalances. Avoiding costly, time-consuming, trial and error processes allow for nutritional support that is tuned to your individual needs.

How does the test work?

The Metabolic Profile utilized an organic acid technology. It is like an emission test performed on your car. The exhaust is examined to see how efficiently the engine is burning fuel. Similarly, certain compounds called “organic acids” in your urine reveal the efficiency of your body’s machinery.

Many organic acids result from the metabolic pathways, or chemical reactions, your body uses to transform food into energy, growth, maintenance, and repair of body tissue. Like spark plugs that ignite fuel in a car engine, vitamins and other essential nutrients are necessary for there chemical reactions that power your metabolic machinery. Thousands for these reactions occur in your body every second and are the basis of your level of health and vitality.

The figure below illustrates a well functioning metabolic pathway. Molecule A is converted to Molecule B by the enzyme AB. Molecule B is converted to Molecule C by the enzyme BC and so on all the way down the metabolic pathway. Many enzymes require nutrients such as specific vitamins and minerals in order to perform their functions in converting one molecule to another.

If specific nutrients are not available in adequate amounts, important reactions cannot occur as well as they should. The illustration below shows what happens when the nutrient is not present in adequate amounts causing enzyme AB to function inefficiently. A smaller amount for Molecule A is converted to Molecule B and the remainder builds up and spills into the urine. Notice that Molecules B through D downstream are also affected.

Visualize this process as a dam blocking a stream: very little water is flowing downstream and an overflow occurring upstream. The Organix Profile measures the overflow of certain organic acids in your urine to determine what blockages may be occurring in your metabolic pathways due to nutrient insufficiencies or other issues.

High levels of certain organic acids on your report indicate specific nutrient insufficiencies that may be affecting your health. Other organic acids come from toxins you have been exposed to, and still other show how your body is responding to those toxins. When these are high on your profile, you may benefit from therapies that support your body’s detoxification process.

The Organic Acid Profile looks at 5 predominant categories

1. B Vitamin Insufficiency.

Insufficiency of B-vitamins tends to be common since they are not stored as efficiently as other vitamins in the body. B-vitamins are involved in many critical processes including energy production, digestion, and muscle and nerve function. For example, production of stomach acid requires large amounts of energy. Even modest B-vitamin insufficiencies can compromise adequate energy production, leading to poor acid secretion and digestive disturbances commonly experienced as indigestion.

2. Cellular Energy

Although B vitamins impact energy production, this category measures compounds that relate most directly to how efficiently your cellular engines (called mitochondria) produce energy. All body processes depend on this key activity. Inadequate energy production at the cellular level can affect any aspect of your body’s function and can have dramatic impact on a wide range of health conditions. One of the biggest things is the inability to loose weight and this portion of the tests looks at markers for carnitine which is needed to move fatty acids into the mitochondria where they are converted to energy and burned.

3. Neural Function

This category relates to neurotransmitters, the chemicals your nervous system uses to function and communicate with your body. The first three compounds in this category are significant if they are either low or high. Abnormalities in this area can relate to symptoms of mental, emotional and behavior problems.

4. Detoxification

Not only does the body use essential nutrients to actively build and maintain itself, it also must eliminate environmental toxins and certain chemicals created in the body itself. This process of detoxification is critical to health. Like a backed-up sewer, an impaired detoxification system can lead to many problems. Brain fog, headaches, insomnia, nausea, chemical sensitivities and a variety of chronic health problems are related to toxicity issues.

5. Intestinal Microbial Balance Markers

The compounds in this category normally appear in urine only at low levels and are not normally produced in the cells of your body. However, unfriendly intestinal microorganisms can manufacture them in relatively high quantities. The compounds are then absorbed into the blood from the intestines and eventually appear in the urine. Microbial overgrowth can lead to a wide variety of symptoms from reactions to the toxins produced by bacteria, parasites, or fungi. Various patters of the compounds appear elevated in conditions of general intestinal microbial overgrowth.

6. Urine Lipid Peroxides

During the process of producing chemical energy to power your cells and fight infection, your body makes harmful chemicals called free radicals. Breakdown of the lipid components of cell membranes by free radicals leads to the formation of lipid peroxides. Antioxidant nutrients protect you again this process. The lipid peroxide test tells you if you are getting enough of these nutrients. High levels of lipid peroxides are associated with cancer, heart disease, stroke and aging.