All too often, people who appear to have a perfect bill of health are shocked to find out there’s something going on inside their body that requires immediate attention. In fact, most people have heard (or even know!) a seemingly healthy person who went to the emergency room with stomach pain, only to find out that they have late-stage cancer — or the person in their early forties who had a sudden heart attack while playing a round of pickup basketball.
Luckily, recent advances in diagnostic testing can help detect disease much earlier, not only helping you understand what’s going on inside your body with precision — but also alerting you to any issues early enough so you can take action while the problem is still easy to solve.
There are five groundbreaking tests that are critical to helping you assess the state of your health. Three of them address the most feared and formidable killers in our society (heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer’s), while the other two can help you attain peak vitality at any age, whether you’re in your thirties or eighties.
Cleerly: Using AI to Detect Heart Disease
One of these tests, called Cleerly, uses artificial intelligence (AI) and imaging technology to read a heart scan and differentiate between safe and dangerous plaque. It is often difficult for doctors to tell the difference between plaques, and this particular approach to coronary CT angiography is extremely accurate.
What this means is that if there’s a heart attack looming in your future, AI can detect the warning signs so that you can take action to prevent it. With over 18 million people each year succumbing to cardiovascular disease, including one American every 37 seconds, this is an astounding breakthrough.
Here’s how it works: AI takes a regular CT scan and amplifies it so doctors are able to distinguish between calcified cholesterol plaques, which are stable, unlikely to rupture, and therefore safe — and noncalcified, or soft, unstable plaques which are not safe. You then get a score that indicates exactly where you stand.
By detecting your risk of heart disease early on, you know what changes you should make in terms of diet, exercise, and medication to decrease your risk, and take action.
The GRAIL Test: Detecting Cancer Early
In 2020, the American Cancer Society predicted that cancer would claim the lives of more than 600,000 people. But thanks to a game-changing blood test, the GRAIL test, cancer can be identified in its earliest stages, long before discomfort brings you to the doctor.
Before GRAIL, it was possible to screen for just 20% of cancers, which means that four of five cancers went undetected until they had grown and started causing trouble. Now as GRAIL is hitting the market, it can search for more than 50 different types of cancer with a simple blood test.
And while GRAIL cannot detect every type of cancer on its own, it can with the use of full-body MRI scans. MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is a powerful type of imaging that uses magnets, not radiation, to form high-resolution internal images of your body. Together, GRAIL and MRI full-body imaging can detect a complete spectrum of cancer at very early stages. Early detection equals early treatment, less invasive treatments, and better survival rates overall.
Detecting Early Alzheimer’s and Dementia
At any given point in time, a whopping 6 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease or mild cognitive impairment. In fact, deaths from Alzheimer’s increased by 145% between 2000 and 2019, and The National Institute of Health estimates numbers will more than double to 15 million by 2060 as the population ages.
Alzheimer’s is one of the scariest of all end-of-life diseases because of how it steals our memories, our connections with loved ones, and our independence, taking a huge toll on those we love. Anyone who has loved someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia knows how brutal and dehumanizing the end can be.
But thanks to new technology from a company called Combinostics, AI can measure 132 areas of an MRI image of the brain and determine whether you show signs of an Alzheimer’s brain, a pre-Alzheimer’s brain, and Parkinson’s disease. At the same time, it can also measure the volume of various parts of your brain, whether they are increasing or decreasing, and determine if you have any vascular disease in those areas.
All these data points taken together provide an in-depth look at your brain that reveals abnormalities or patterns of disease that indicate various types of neurological decline, including dementia and Alzheimer’s.
The Power of Blood Tests
One of the most valuable tools in today’s diagnostics arsenal is the wide range of modern-day blood tests that can accurately analyze and report on over 50 different blood biomarkers, helping you and your physician evaluate whether or not your body is operating within normal parameters.
These biomarkers can analyze everything from your vitamin nutrient levels, your insulin and glucose markers, your cholesterol, inflammatory markers, and two of the most overlooked aspects of a traditional physical health checkup: hormone levels and heavy metals.
Sex Hormones
In fact, one of the most critical parts of anyone’s health profile is sex hormones — the messengers that not only govern sexual health but also play a critical role in physiologic functions, including blood sugar regulation, inflammation, neurological status, cardiac health, muscle health, and bone metabolism. Luckily, a simple blood test, like the Lifeforce Diagnostic, can detect if your hormones are plummeting, and if they are, can be supplemented to optimal levels, providing you with life-changing outcomes.
Heavy Metals
Heavy metals are found in the environment, and also in the food that we eat. Chronic exposure to some heavy metals can be toxic, and extremely detrimental to our health, as Tony Robbins recently found. After taking a simple blood test it was revealed that he had exceptionally high levels of mercury in his blood. The mercury poisoning, caused by eating swordfish and tuna almost every day (something he thought was healthy!), caused him to lose his memory, and extremely fatigued.
Luckily, because Tony detected the mercury early on, he was able to course-correct and gradually detox his body. If he hadn't been tested, and gone on a mercury detox program, he may not be alive today.
Where to Get Tested
All these tests can be accessed by your physician, at a Fountain Life center, or through the FountainOS app. The FountainOS app can help you assess your true state of health, gain access to an AI-driven suite of diagnostics and help steer your healthspan journey. Click here to learn more about FountainOS.
Additionally, the Lifeforce Diagnostic measures 30+ biomarkers that drive your mental and physical performance, including hormone balance, critical nutrients, metabolic condition, organ health, and key health risks. Book an at-home visit to have an experienced phlebotomist come to your home or office, or opt for a walk-in visit at your local Labcorp facility. Learn more here.
