{"id":52985,"date":"2016-10-05T11:15:02","date_gmt":"2016-10-05T15:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=52985"},"modified":"2016-10-10T18:27:53","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T22:27:53","slug":"sports-nutrition-athletes-inside-tracker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/sports-nutrition-athletes-inside-tracker\/","title":{"rendered":"Is This Pricey Blood Test Worth It for Personalized Nutrition?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is
Photo by\u00a0Wilson Magalh\u00e3es<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the past few months, I\u2019ve felt a bit out of sorts \u2014 lower energy levels<\/a> and frequent sinus infections I just can\u2019t shake. I\u2019ve had blood work done, and everything has come back fine.<\/p>\n

But I<\/em> knew I wasn\u2019t fine, at least for me. I was struggling through training runs, even skipping them altogether \u2014 which is not my style. I even dropped down to a half-marathon from my typical yearly 26.2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So I was intrigued when I heard about InsideTracker<\/a>, a health analytics company that aims to give athletes information beyond what they might get from their doctors. The goal:\u00a0to help optimize training and performance.<\/p>\n

And so, I found myself letting someone I\u2019d never met into my apartment to take my blood one Monday morning before work.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The 10 Nutrients Athletes Need Most<\/a><\/p>\n

Optimal Vs. Clinical Nutrient Levels<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\u201cA traditional blood test shows whether you are at risk for disease or not,\u201d says Ashley Reaver, a dietitian at InsideTracker. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t tell the whole story if you\u2019re an athlete.\u201d Or if you\u2019re someone trying to figure out why you\u2019re so darn tired (aka me).<\/p>\n

To yield more accurate advice, I filled out a lengthy survey about my training, nutrition and lifestyle habits (read: loves wine, can\u2019t eat dairy) before I could see my results. This questionnaire helped the system give personalized advice \u2014 it wouldn\u2019t recommend dairy for me; it wouldn\u2019t suggest red meat to a vegan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> The Benefits of Vitamin B Complex<\/a><\/p>\n

The system measures you against 30 biomarkers. It then lets you know if you are optimized, need work or are at risk, based on different nutrient levels in your blood. At-risk indicates potential for disease; needs work generally refers to safe clinical levels but below optimal levels that could improve performance; optimal means your levels are in line with your fitness and lifestyle goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe optimal levels come from\u00a0scientific, peer-reviewed literature and the NHANES<\/a> survey<\/span>,\u201d Reaver says. \u201cThey correlate nutrients with how long someone may live \u2014 a vitamin D level between 40 and 48, for example, is correlated with a longer life expectancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Is<\/h3>\n

My Surprising Results<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Speaking of vitamin D, as a runner and<\/em> a beach bum, I expected to overachieve there. I was surprised to find my levels needed work, but Reaver said that was common among athletes living in the Northeast. Low vitamin D<\/a> is associated with muscle weakness, lower bone density and depression. I knew I needed to kick my intake up a notch if I wanted to keep running happy for the rest of my life. Reaver and the site recommended more eggs and white fish, based on my preferences.<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> What You Need to Know About Vitamin D Deficiency<\/a><\/p>\n

Another nutrient I lacked (typical for most people) was ferritin, which indicates how well your body stores iron. \u201cIf you\u2019re a marathoner with a level of 11 [clinical healthy range is 10 to 154], you\u2019re not at risk for disease, but you\u2019re going to bonk,\u201d Reaver says. Iron is important for runners because it\u2019s used to hold on to oxygen and transport it to your muscle tissue \u2014 which needs all the oxygen it can get during a long run.<\/p>\n

Reaver explained that runners tend to have low iron due to the foot strike and demands of endurance training. Experts typically recommend supplements to increase ferritin, but heme iron \u2014 the type found in animal foods such as eggs<\/a>, meat, fish and poultry \u2014 helps the human body absorb significantly more iron. These foods as sources to increase your ferritin levels.<\/p>\n

Even more surprising, as a stressed-out endurance junkie who (again I say!) really loves her wine, both my cortisol<\/a> and liver functions were within optimal levels. I was encouraged to keep doing what I was already doing in those departments. Doctor\u2019s orders!<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>How to Deal with Stress and Make It Work in Your Favor<\/a><\/p>\n

Who Needs Optimal Sports Nutrition?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Because I\u2019m a long-distance runner, I was curious to see my results so I could chase down my next PR. But who else is a $500 test like this for? As it turns out, many of their users are like me. Reaver described them as worried about their health and energy. \u201cThey know something is off, and their doctors tell them everything is OK,\u201d she says. \u201cBut they know they can feel better.\u201d In addition to those just looking to get back to 100, Inside Tracker also works with professional athletes to monitor how training impacts their bodies over the course of a season.<\/p>\n

Inside Tracker recommends you take several tests to compare how your lifestyle and training regimen alter your biomarkers. The system also asks you to pick several markers you\u2019d like to concentrate on between the tests. For me, I\u2019m focusing on improving my ferritin and vitamin D levels in hopes of increased energy, better muscle recovery and you know, general world domination. I guess more egg recipes<\/a> are in my future.<\/p>\n

To learn more about Inside Tracker, head to insidetracker.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Want to know what will fuel your workouts best? This detailed blood test finds you your ideal sports nutrition plan. One writer puts it to the test.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[209,289,71,108,141,341,344,215],"class_list":["post-52985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","tag-athlete","tag-exercise","tag-nutrition","tag-running","tag-sports","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2sports-nutrition","tag-vitamins"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52985\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}