Test Don't Guess: Why functional tests are important in the 21st century
- Dr. Khush Mark PhD
- Jun 18
- 5 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
Most people think tests are just about ticking boxes: 'check my thyroid', 'check my gut.” 'check my sex hormones', 'check my blood lipids', check my calcium', 'check my iron' , etc.
With the rise in auto-immune conditions, cancer, autism, 21st-century health does not play by the old rules. You can have a 'normal' blood test and still feel exhausted, foggy, bloated, anxious, or 'just not yourself'. This is because traditional blood tests examine parameters that do not reveal subtle imbalances and early shifts. These standard tests may reveal imbalances when issues become more pronounced and serious.
Another modern trap is the overwhelm of supplements, diets, and protocols. For example:
ashwagandha for the adrenals
iodine for the thyroid
testosterone creams for post-menopause
black cohosh for hot flushes
DIM for oestrogen dominance
pumpkin seed oil for hair loss
omega 3s for ADHD
The shelves (and social media feeds) are full of 'natural fixes'. But when used blindly, they can create further imbalances; in the best case, they may calm one system while tipping another off balance.
A familiar story: a woman in peri-menopause reads online about 'oestrogen dominance' and starts taking DIM. Within weeks, her hot flushes are better but now she feels 'dry down below' because DIM can fast-forward phase one of oestrogen detox, leaving her 'high and dry' (literally) if phase two isn’t supported and her detox pathways are not analysed/understood.
That’s why we say 'test don't guess'.
At the New School of Nutritional Medicine, we don’t just teach you how to read a test. We teach you how to think like a 21st-century health detective by integrating functional testing directly into our modules. This happens right when you're learning about the body system, life stage, or clinical story it belongs to.
This is the beauty of our spiral curriculum, you don’t get a 'one-off lecture' on a lab test. You revisit topics, deepen your understanding, and apply tests in context so they make sense in real-world practice.
In practice, our students don’t order a Comprehensive Stool Analysis because it’s 'on a list'. They order it because they are in front of a client with anxiety, poor sleep, and digestive issues, and they have connected the dots between the gut microbiome, inflammation, and how that imbalance is showing up through their nervous system.
Functional and blood tests taught at the New School
The gut is your frontline defence
Tests: Comprehensive Stool Analysis
When it's taught: During the journey through the digestive system, from mouth to microbiome.
Why it matters today: Stress, antibiotics, processed food, and environmental toxins have reshaped the microbiome, driving inflammation, autoimmune triggers, and mood disorders.
Learn: How to link gut patterns to skin issues, fatigue, post-viral recovery, and immune resilience.
Cell membranes in high definition
Tests: Comprehensive Fatty Acid Profile
When it's taught: In our food group module, the cell and mitochondrial health module, and the fertility module.
Why it matters today: Industrial seed oils, poor omega-6 and 3 imbalances, and metabolic stress are changing the way our cells communicate and function.
Learn: How fatty acids and their ratios affect inflammation, brain function, mood, and metabolism.
Hair as a window into stress and resilience
Tests: Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA)
When it's taught: In our mineral metabolism, stress and nervous system physiology module and hormone module
Why it matters today: Soil depletion, chronic stress, and toxin exposure disrupt mineral balance, impacting energy, mood, and detox capacity
Learn: How to read mineral patterns through the lens of fight-flight-freeze states and toxic load.
Some people, even future students, hesitate to apply because they think a science background is required. That old-school anxiety, those old narratives, can creep in. But here’s what Emma (Cohort 2023–2025) has to say about that:
You don’t need a science background to learn science. I was so scared to sign up because I thought, “I don’t have a science brain.” What I discovered is that everyone has their own learning style. Mine was through sketching, colouring, and making things visual. That’s how to build new neural pathways.
Mental health from the inside out
Tests: Comprehensive Stool Analysis, organic acid testing
When they are taught: In our mental health, hormonal, and neurotransmitter module.
Why they matter today: Anxiety, depression, ADHD, and burnout are on the rise and both gut health and biochemical balance play central roles. A disrupted microbiome can affect neurotransmitter production, immune signalling, and stress resilience, while organic acids reveal hidden nutrient deficiencies, neurotransmitter imbalances, oxidative stress, and potential detox pathway blockages that impact mood and cognition.
Learn: How to combine stool testing and organic acids to map the gut-brain axis, spot biochemical imbalances, and create strategies that restore both mental and emotional balance.
Hormones across the lifespan
Tests: Adrenal stress test, sex hormone metabolites
When they are taught: In our nervous system and HPA axis module, and during every hormonal life stage, puberty, fertility, pregnancy, peri-menopause, and post-menopause.
Why they matter today: Modern stress patterns disrupt hormonal rhythms in ways that affect mood, metabolism, fertility, and energy.
Learn: How to read hormone patterns, match them to life stages, and guide clients through smooth transitions.
Your genes, your blueprint, but remember not necessarily your destiny
Tests: DNA tests for methylation, detox, inflammation, and oxidation SNPs
When they are taught: Methylation SNPs during our fertility module; detox and inflammation SNPs when we teach detoxification and immune health.
Why they matter today: Genetics interact with our environment and lifestyle in every chronic condition, but it’s not about 'having the gene', it IS about what you do with that information.
Learn: How to translate genetic data into practical, targeted nutrition and lifestyle strategies
Blood work
Tests: Thyroid panel, complete blood count, metabolic profile, sex hormones
When they are taught: Throughout our systems-based physiology and preventive health modules
Why they matter today: Functional ranges catch imbalances early, so you can act before chronic disease sets in
Learn: How to turn routine blood work into an early-warning system for clients
In today's world, many people are walking around with metabolic syndrome, and it only takes a few markers from a simple blood test to pick this up, along with a simple waist circumference measurement. We do not have to overcomplicate it.
Toxic load in today's world
Tests: Mould and Mycotoxin Panels, Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA), Hepatic Detox Profile
When they are taught:: Integrated into our mental health, nervous system, hormone, and cardiovascular modules.
Why they matter today: Mould exposure is rising due to modern building practices, often remaining invisible while driving fatigue, brain fog, and immune disruption. Mineral depletion and impaired detox pathways further amplify vulnerability to toxins, stress, and chronic illness.
Learn: How to use these tests to identify toxic load, determine mineral imbalances, assess Phase I/Phase II detox capacity, create personalised protocols that restore balance, resilience, and long-term healing.
Teaching functional tests in context means:
Cutting through the overwhelm of one-size-fits-all supplements
Avoid creating new imbalances while trying to fix old ones
Understanding the why as well as the how
Knowing exactly when to use a test and when not to
Building confidence for practice so students can join the dots in complex 21st-century cases
Implementing them in school student clinics
This is not the kind of curriculum that teaches topics as 'stand-alone' modules. It is the kind of education that transforms you into a practitioner who can handle the health puzzles of our time.
The next academic year is coming. Your future clients are already looking for someone who can think like this. Ready to be that practitioner?
To health!
From the team at the New School Of Nutritional Medicine
Learn about the Founder & Principal of the New School of Nutritional Medicine, Dr Khush Mark PhD HERE.
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