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Start with the full story
Your symptoms, health history, medications, lifestyle, prior results, and goals guide the starting point—not a one-size-fits-all panel.
Lab Testing at The Fork
Testing with a clear purpose.
At The Fork Functional Medicine, testing is selected to help us understand your health more clearly—not to create a longer list of numbers. We connect conventional laboratory work, advanced diagnostics, your history, and your goals to build a more useful picture of what may be shaping how you feel.
A purposeful starting point
A testing plan built around your questions.
Not every patient needs every test. We determine which assessments are most relevant to your concerns, your goals, and the decisions we need to make together.
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Test to answer a question
Every test is chosen because its results can inform a clinical decision, refine a recommendation, or give us a meaningful baseline to follow.
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Translate results into a plan
Results are reviewed in plain language and connected to a prioritized plan you can understand and use in real life.
Tier 1: Foundation Panel
The essential blueprint.
These cornerstone assessments establish a detailed baseline of metabolic health, hormonal balance, biological age, and gut function. Your provider will determine which are appropriate for you.
Advanced Blood Chemistry Panel — comprehensive metabolic, thyroid, hormone, cardiovascular, inflammation, nutrient, and immune markers.
TruAge Biological Age Test — epigenetic measurement of biological age and aging trajectory.
DUTCH Complete Hormone Panel — comprehensive hormone metabolites, adrenal hormones, cortisol patterns, and functional markers.
Comprehensive Stool Analysis — GI360 (Doctor’s Data) or GI Effects Comprehensive (Genova), with relevant zonulin and H. pylori assessment.
Tier 1: Foundation Panel
The essential blueprint, explained.
These four assessments are recommended as the foundational starting point in the testing guide. Together, they provide a detailed view of metabolic health, hormonal balance, biological age, and gut function.
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Advanced Blood Chemistry Panel
Overview: Our advanced blood chemistry includes more than 85 biomarkers—far beyond a standard annual physical—to look at metabolic health, complete thyroid function, sex hormones, adrenal markers, cardiovascular risk, inflammation, nutrient status, and immune function.
Complete panel includes: CBC with differential/platelets and comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP); complete thyroid assessment with TSH, total T4, free T4, total T3, free T3, reverse T3, TBG, TPO antibodies, and thyroglobulin antibodies; comprehensive hormone panel with testosterone, free testosterone, SHBG, FSH, LH, estradiol, progesterone, pregnenolone, and DHT.
Cardiovascular, metabolic, nutrient & immune markers: Cardio IQ Advanced Lipid Panel with inflammation—including particle size, Lp(a), ApoB, and Lp-PLA2—plus homocysteine, fibrinogen, hs-CRP, fasting insulin, C-peptide, insulin-resistance score, iron, TIBC, ferritin, vitamin D, B12, folic acid, B6, iodine, RBC magnesium, and ANA with reflex.
Why we use it: Standard panels can miss patterns in thyroid conversion, insulin regulation, advanced cardiovascular risk, inflammation, nutrient status, and autoimmune markers. This broader panel gives us a more useful baseline for a clinical conversation.
What it helps us understand: Patterns related to insulin resistance, cardiovascular risk, thyroid and hormone function, inflammation, nutrient status, and early autoimmune screening—always interpreted alongside your history, symptoms, and other relevant care.
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TruAge Biological Age Test
Overview: Chronological age tells us how many birthdays you have had; biological age helps describe how your cells and systems are aging. TruAge uses epigenetic analysis of DNA methylation patterns to estimate biological age.
Why we use it: It creates a clear baseline for longevity-focused care and can show which systems appear to be aging faster or slower than expected. Biological-age measures can also be followed over time as lifestyle and clinical plans evolve.
What it helps us understand: Your estimated biological age compared with chronological age, system-level aging patterns, and a longitudinal benchmark for tracking an individualized longevity plan.
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DUTCH Complete Hormone Panel
Overview: The Dried Urine Test for Comprehensive Hormones (DUTCH) looks beyond a single blood draw by assessing hormone metabolites, sex hormones, adrenal hormones, cortisol patterns, and selected organic-acid markers.
Why we use it: It can offer a broader view of how hormones are being processed and cleared throughout the day, including estrogen metabolism, testosterone pathways, and the cortisol curve—not only one point-in-time measurement.
What it helps us understand: Sex-hormone patterns and metabolic pathways, adrenal and stress-response patterns, estrogen metabolism and detoxification capacity, melatonin-related sleep patterns, and functional markers related to methylation, B vitamins, and cellular stress.
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Comprehensive Stool Analysis
Overview: GI360 from Doctor’s Data or GI Effects Comprehensive from Genova is a multi-method stool assessment. It may include PCR/DNA testing, culture, and microscopy, with relevant zonulin and H. pylori assessment.
Why we use it: Digestive health can influence immune function, hormone metabolism, inflammation, nutrient absorption, and how a person feels day to day. Combining methods can provide more context than a single-method gut test when a deeper evaluation is clinically useful.
What it helps us understand: Pathogenic bacteria, viruses, parasites, and yeast; beneficial-bacteria balance and diversity; intestinal-permeability markers; digestive function such as enzyme production and fat absorption; inflammation markers; and, when available, antimicrobial sensitivity information to inform an individualized clinical plan.
Conventional blood work
Testing that works with your logistics.
In-house blood work can be collected through the clinic and sent to Labcorp. For cash-pay patients, Access Labs may be used when appropriate. Your provider can also order testing for collection at an outside lab, including Labcorp, Quest, Ulta, or another lab that is convenient for you.
We will help you understand the practical next step for your recommended testing, including where it can be drawn and how it fits into your care plan.
Functional diagnostics
When a deeper look is useful.
Functional testing may be ordered when it helps investigate a meaningful pattern beyond routine blood work. Depending on your needs, this can include comprehensive hormone assessment, digestive and stool analysis, SIBO testing, organic acids, toxic-element or mycotoxin testing, food reactivity, genetic insight, or advanced immune and longevity assessments.
These tests are not used as a substitute for sound clinical care. They are selected selectively, interpreted in context, and used only when they can help guide a more useful next step.
A thoughtful progression
Testing that evolves with your care.
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Foundation
A baseline of relevant conventional and advanced testing helps establish the starting point and shape an initial plan.
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Targeted assessment
Additional tests may be selected when your initial findings, symptoms, or health goals point to a more specific question.
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Advanced & specialized
For complex, chronic, or treatment-resistant concerns, deeper specialty testing may be considered when clinically appropriate.
The Fork testing philosophy
Useful data, not testing for testing’s sake.
The value of testing is in what it changes: a clearer understanding, a better-informed plan, and a way to measure progress over time.
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Actionable insight
We recommend an assessment when it can reasonably inform a decision, not simply because more data is available.
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Context matters
A result is one part of the story. We interpret it alongside your history, symptoms, examination, goals, and other relevant care.
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Measure progress
Selected markers may be repeated as needed to assess response, guide adjustments, and document meaningful change over time.
Tier 2
Targeted assessments.
These tests may be recommended after an initial review when a specific clinical question calls for deeper investigation.
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Genova 3-Hour SIBO Breath Test
Hydrogen and methane testing for suspected SIBO or intestinal methanogen overgrowth (IMO).
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ProdromeSCAN
A plasmalogen assessment used to explore brain-health and longevity markers.
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Organic Acids Test (OAT)
A urine-based assessment of cellular metabolism, mitochondrial patterns, nutrient status, and oxidative stress markers.
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Genetic Testing
Selected genetic panels may evaluate methylation, hormone and neurotransmitter processing, detoxification, cardiovascular, and cognitive-risk patterns.
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MosaicDX Toxic + Nutrient Elements
A 24-hour urine assessment for toxic-element and nutrient patterns when clinically indicated.
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MosaicDX MycoTOX Profile
A mycotoxin panel that may be considered when an exposure history or symptom pattern warrants investigation.
Tier 3
Advanced & specialized testing.
For complex, chronic, or treatment-resistant concerns, we may consider more specialized immune, food-reactivity, neurological, and environmental assessments.
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Cyrex Laboratories
Arrays 2, 3X, 4, 5, and Alzheimer’s LINX may be considered for intestinal permeability, gluten/wheat reactivity, food cross-reactivity, autoimmune patterns, and neurological immune concerns.
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ALCAT Platinum Plus
Cell Science Systems testing for selected immune-mediated food, additive, and chemical reactions.
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CICA & MethylDetox Profile
Cell Science Systems panels for selected celiac, IBS, Crohn’s, and methylation questions.
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IGeneX
Lyme ImmunoBlot (IgG/IgM) and tick-borne disease panels when history and presentation warrant a focused evaluation.
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Additional patient-specific diagnostics
May include CAC score, CIMT, specialty hormone panels, neurotransmitter testing, and other individualized diagnostics as clinically appropriate.
Functional testing partners
Specific laboratories and panels we use.
Availability and selection depend on your clinical needs, testing goals, and the plan you build with your provider.
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MosaicDX
MycoTOX Profile and Metals—Toxic + Nutrient Elements.
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Cyrex Laboratories
Arrays 2, 3X, 4, 5, and Alzheimer’s LINX.
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SpectraCell Laboratories
Micronutrient Test (MNT) and Telomere Genetic Test.
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Boston Heart
Lipid, metabolic, cardiac, and fatty-acid-balance testing.
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Cell Science Systems
ALCAT, CICA (Celiac, IBS, and Crohn’s Array), and MethylDetox Profile.
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Doctor’s Data
GI360 and Toxic + Essential Elements Urine.
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Gemelli Biotech
Trio-Smart and IBS-Smart.
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Genova Diagnostics
NutrEval or Metabolomix+.
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IGeneX
Lyme ImmunoBlot (IgG/IgM) and Tick-Borne Disease panels.
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Precision Analytical
DUTCH hormone testing.
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TruDiagnostic
TruAge Complete.
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ZRT
4-Point Salivary Cortisol and Salivary Hormone Panels.
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GlycanAge
GlycanAge Test.
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Prodrome Sciences
ProdromeSCAN.
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Vibrant Wellness
Mycotoxins/Toxin Zoomer, Wheat Zoomer, Gut Zoomer, Total Tox Burden, and Neural Zoomer Plus.
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Quicksilver Scientific
Mercury Tri-Test.
Connected care
Testing is part of a whole-person plan.
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Functional Medicine
A detailed health story and purposeful testing can help clarify the patterns and root contributors worth addressing.
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Preventive Wellness & Longevity
Baseline and follow-up testing can support thoughtful planning for metabolic, cardiovascular, hormonal, and cellular health.
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Hormones, thyroid, gut & immune care
Testing can help connect the systems that influence energy, metabolism, digestion, inflammation, and how you feel day to day.
A first step
Ready to understand your health picture more clearly?
Begin with an informative consultation. We will talk through your history, your concerns, and whether a conventional or functional testing plan may be an appropriate next step.