As someone who’s endlessly fascinated by the inner workings of my own body, I cannot get enough of tools that give me deeper insights into my health (especially without numerous doctor appointments, phone calls, or dealing with insurance). That’s why I was so excited to try out Function—if you’re curious to learn more about it, keep reading for my firsthand experience!
Disclosure: Function Health kindly gifted me a membership with no strings attached (who would say no to that!); this post reflects my honest thoughts, and I wanted to share my experience with you. I may receive a referral bonus if you sign up for a membership via my link.
About Function Health 👩⚕️
Co-founded by Dr. Mark Hyman in 2023, Function was created with a singular focus: empower you to live 100 healthy years. The goal is to motivate people to take control of their health and be more proactive about prevention. It’s a yearly membership ($365) that includes:
- Comprehensive annual bloodwork and urine analysis (100+ lab tests)
- Mid-year bloodwork to see what’s changing (60+ lab tests)
- Insights and notes from clinicians based on your results (with food and supplement recommendations)
- Access to purchase additional lab tests à la carte with transparent pricing (ex. Lyme, MTHFR, Multi-Cancer Detection, Celiac, allergies, food sensitivities, PFAS, BPA…soooo many!)
Some of the categories:
- Autoimmunity
- Blood (tells you your blood type, too! I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know mine previously, eek)
- Electrolytes
- Environmental toxins and heavy metals (lead and mercury)
- Female or male hormone health
- Heart (cholesterol, triglycerides, etc.)
- Immune regulation
- Kidney
- Liver
- Metabolic (glucose, insulin, A1c, etc.)
- Nutrients (like Vitamin D and iron)
- Pancreas
- Stress and aging (like cortisol)
- Thyroid
- Urine
- Here’s a full list of included tests!
BRB, going to live forever hahaIt also provides a biological age (an indicator of the quality and rate of aging on a genetic, cellular, and molecular level), and somehow, mine is only 16.5 😆 …I guess all this healthy, low tox living stuff really works hehe
Related post: “What is a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) Test? (& the Benefits!)”
Signup Process & Bloodwork Experience 🧪
The signup process is very simple and straightforward! You just enter some basic personal info and health history—I think it maybe took me 15 minutes or so.
Then you can schedule your first lab appointment directly from Function’s dashboard. They partner with Quest Diagnostics, which has 2,000+ locations across the US (if you live in a small town or remote area, I’d do a quick search to see if there are any near you first). There are two Quest labs here in Milwaukee, in case you’re local!
Once you schedule your appointment, you’ll get some helpful instructions for what to do (ex. fast, drink lots of water) and what NOT to do (avoid supplements, seafood, heavy exercise) before your blood draw.
You will have to go in for two separate lab visits:
- First visit on day 2/3/4 of your period for a blood draw (I don’t remember what the instructions are for non-menstruating or menopausal women, but it’s likely still two visits)
- Second visit roughly a week later for another blood draw + urine sample
They collect about 9-12 vials each time, which sounds like a lot, but it goes fast. I despise getting my blood drawn and can’t look when they do it, but it was over before I knew it—only a few minutes! Men also have two visits, FYI.
*Function currently doesn’t offer testing if you’re pregnant.
Related post: “How to Balance Your Hormones with Cycle Syncing & Best Foods to Eat”
Dashboard & Results 📊
NOTE: I am not going to divulge too much detail about my personal results, but rather, share the overall experience so you know what to expect!
My results started trickling in the same day I had my blood drawn! More appeared daily on the dashboard (not me refreshing the page nonstop 🫣), and full results were completed about two weeks after my second lab visit. I received clinician notes about 2.5 weeks after my second lab appointment.
The dashboard is where Function really shines, in my opinion! Most lab results are SO difficult to decipher for the typical layperson (usually in confusing spreadsheets), but Function makes it incredibly easy to understand. No more Googling each thing to find out what the heck it means!
- Has a phone app and desktop version
- User-friendly with a beautiful user interface
- Each biomarker comes with a summary of what it is, why it matters, and ways to support it (food, supplements, self-care)
- You can quickly see a color-coded graph of each biomarker and whether it’s above, below, or in range
It’s by far the most easily digestible lab work I’ve ever seen! It was really awesome to see some biomarkers that I’ve never tested before in my life, such as environmental toxins (lead and mercury), leptin, LDL particle number, and Omega 3s.
I haven’t done my mid-year lab work yet, but it will be totally useful to monitor trends and compare markers over time.
I will say, the clinician notes are pretty broad. They’re essentially a summary of your results and don’t provide a lot of actionable steps to take to “correct” any out-of-range biomarkers aside from basic nutrition and lifestyle recommendations. Function mentions that it’s not a substitute for your primary care provider, and you should speak with a doctor if you have any concerns (you can download a PDF of results to bring to your PCP).
So don’t expect any hand-holding or a highly customized protocol! I do think there’s a lot of helpful information altogether. Still, I feel like it leaves me needing to do a bit more research or reach out to a practitioner/doctor to feel 100% confident in knowing how to get some of my biomarkers back in range effectively and address the root causes.
Example of a clinician’s noteStandard vs. Optimal/Functional Ranges 🚩
One thing I want to point out is that most of Function’s results are based on standard laboratory ranges, meaning they’re statistically derived from general populations in the United States. As we know, most of the US is not very healthy, so it’s not the best benchmark 🫠
However, you can go into each biomarker and see “Optimal” ranges listed, which are established by medical doctors and are often narrower and meant to identify disease patterns before they manifest. It’s more of a holistic and proactive benchmark.
For example, according to standard ranges, my ferritin level is fine. But it’s actually on the low side if you look at the optimal range!
It’s something to keep in mind, particularly if you’re really trying to optimize your health and wellness vs. just doing the bare minimum. I wish Function would let you toggle Standard vs. Optimal ranges on the dashboard; that would be super helpful to visualize instead of going into each biomarker individually!
Related post: “I Ditched Health Insurance & Switched to CrowdHealth (My Honest Review!)“
Final Thoughts About Function Health 💭
Overall, I do think Function is worth the price. I know $365 might seem steep, but it’s way more comprehensive than what most conventional doctors will order for you. It was relatively seamless and honestly very valuable! I definitely suggest it if you want to get extensive bloodwork done independently and keep track of things over time, especially if you’re already pretty familiar with the basics and don’t need a ton of assistance.
However, if you want more in-depth 1:1 help interpreting results and receiving a super personalized protocol, then you might be better off working with a naturopathic doctor or functional practitioner who can really dig deep with you long-term. But, of course, that will likely cost a lot more!
Personally, I have worked with a practitioner and found that to be a beneficial starting point, but I love having Function as an option to do thorough routine bloodwork for a more affordable price.
My husband even thought it was so cool and signed up with his health savings account (HSA)!
Interested in joining Function? There is currently a waitlist to sign up, but if you use my refer-a-friend link, you get IMMEDIATE access, woohoo! (or use access code RTETZLAFF10 when signing up)
Have you tried Function, or are you curious about signing up? Let me know if you have any questions or comments below. Thanks so much for reading 💚
