Cadmium is a dangerous heavy metal and a known carcinogen. Even though daily exposure is usually relatively low compared to toxins like arsenic, cadmium bioaccumulates with a half-life in the body of 25-30 years. Essentially, the older you are, the more cadmium you have stored in your body. When cadmium exposure is high, it increases cellular oxidation products that deplete antioxidants like…
Tags: Dried Urine Testing, Heavy Metals, Cadmium, Fertility
The hypothalamus is directly innervated by neuronal systems that produce neurotransmitters, such as serotonin (5-HT), dopamine and norepinephrine (NE), that are involved in mood regulation and play various other roles in cognitive health. During the acute stress crisis, the mesolimbic dopaminergic reward system is stimulated to help maintain morale. However, during chronic stress or depression, the reward system is down-regulated by stress mediators, resulting in anhedonia.…
Tags: HPA Axis, Hormone Balance, Stress, Neurotransmitters, Depression
Influenced by our environment, we are constantly being exposed to elements, whether nutritional or toxic. They are a big contribution to the yin yang dualism of health and disease. With heavy metals, contamination is so extensive nowadays that it is no longer a question of whether exposure took place, but rather what the level of exposure was or continues to be. Toxicity from low levels of exposure…
Tags: Neurotransmitters, Mental Health, Heavy Metals, Elements Testing, Toxins, Arsenic, Mercury, Cadmium
Glutamate (L-glutamic acid) and GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) are, respectively, the principal excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters in the CNS and play a significant role in HPA axis function and mood. These two amino acid-based neurotransmitters account for over 50% of the synapses in the brain, while the monoamines (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine) account for only about 5%.…
Tags: HPA Axis, Hormone Balance, Stress, Neurotransmitters, Depression
I remember my great-grandmother’s hands. So capable, big and warm, covered in freckles, ready to comfort, unbending the clawed rigidity to softly wipe my tears. I remember her powerful, beautiful mind, endless with patience, tirelessly reading my favorite story over and over from a tattered book. I remember her, trapped in a creaky body, moving slowly around the kitchen in a sort of graceful dance…
Tags: Menopause, Estrogen, Microbiome
Why are Mitochondria Important? Mitochondria are organelles that are present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Probably everyone reading this learned about these little guys in high school biology, where they were described as "the energy packs of the cells."About 20% of our body weight is mitochondria. This translates to about 250 quadrillion of these organelles. There are 37.2…
Tags: Neurotransmitters, Depression, Mental Health
Medical Laboratory Professionals Week (MLPW) is a chance to bring awareness and to spotlight the achievements of medical laboratory professionals, whose work is essential to patient testing and fundamental to overall patient health care. There are 18 national organizations that sponsor MLPW, with approximately 300,000 practitioners of clinical laboratory science in the United States…
Tags: Laboratory Quality
In 2008 ZRT Laboratory introduced the Fertility Profile to assist women in identifying possible hormonal causes of infertility. More recently ZRT launched the Menstrual Cycle Mapping (MCM) test that allows women to map time points throughout their menstrual cycle, measuring levels of estrogen, progesterone and luteinizing hormone (LH). Since the MCM test was introduced there has been some confusion…
Tags: Menstruation, Fertility
Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower front part of your neck. Its job is to secrete hormones that control growth/development during childhood, regulate your metabolism and body temperature, and drive the production of many neurotransmitters in your brain. Specifically, the ones that help you feel good and enough have motivation to accomplish your goals: serotonin,…
Tags: Thyroid Health, Mental Health
When we talk about “stress,” or allostatic load, in terms of the perception of an event, we must realize that these “events” must first be translated into neurochemical signals before they trigger the HPA axis. Therefore, the sensitivity and outcome of translating these events (whether they are ongoing events, memories of past events, or stressful anticipation of unrealized events), is highly dependent upon signaling from other neurotransmitters.…
Tags: HPA Axis, Hormone Balance, Stress, Neurotransmitters, Depression
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