Urine Testing to Prescribe
"Customized" Nutritional Prescriptions?

This section is compiled by Frank M. Painter, D.C.
Send all comments or additions to:    Frankp@chiro.org

"Custom Formulation" Companies

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I just received an offer from a supplier for "custom individualized nutritional supplementation"`which would "set me ahead of all the other practitioners". It stated that "patient acceptance is 100%". Doesn't that sound reassuring?

Companies who claim to make nutrients for consumers, based upon their own individual requirements are usually frauds.   Many of these companies request a urine sample as the basis for determining what your patient's individual nutritional requirements are.   The supplement for your patient is then "created", based on deficiencies found in the urine sample.

This completely ignores considerations, such as the fact that while some nutrients are retained in the body and are not depleted for a number of days, other nutrients are excreted in the urine.   Keep in mind also that excess nutrients are often flushed out of the body in the urine, while the absence of other nutrients from a urine sample do not provide any indication as to whether there is a need for that specific nutrient or not. That is what blood testing porovides.

A complete biochemical analysis is the only way to determine nutrient needs.   Consequently, the cheap assays of a few macrominerals (iron, calcium, sodium, etc.) used by custom formulation companies are neither a comprehensive, nor an accurate measure of an an individual's nutritional requirements.

So, investing money in custom formulations is a complete waste of time, since the assays upon which they are based are bogus to begin with.

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Since 4-01-1999