I got my numbers back from Labcorp and I only got 3 values in total. One for the Metabolic Vulnerability Index, Inflammation Vulnerability, and Metabolic Malnutrition Index. Unfortunately, I didn’t get back any of the subcomponents for each of those indexes.
I wouldn’t use them again unless they give you the details.
I recommend this test, which actually cost the same as the basic one Own Your Labs has (40$), and is the one I took: Own Your Labs · OYL
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I agree. I posted so others wouldn’t get their test from Labcorp.
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There are some confusions here in part because of the novel developmental history of MVX. Too much to summarize in a short post but it is all unpacked in detail in Attia’s podcast.
There is no alternative vendor. Labcorp owns and developed the MVX (Metabolic Vulnerability Index) test. The test was created by Labcorp using their proprietary nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy technology, including highly adapted spectrometers used and software to analyze specific serum metabolites. While the underlying NMR platform was pioneered by LipoScience (which Labcorp acquired), Labcorp holds the patents for the multi-variable metabolic vulnerability index evaluations and performs the analysis for both the standard MVX and the MVX Plus variants.
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The three indices are all you get. The best primer for learning what they mean (and might mean) is Attia’s podcast.
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IMO, the real value of the MVX parameters – and not so much the specific metrics but developmental process – derives from the few hundred thousand cases it has been analyzed agains in various ways. Much of this value is in process.
With this in mind, if you are looking for a gero metric to manage to, this is definitely not it at this point.
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On the citrate issue, I don’t think we should conflate the MVX citrate signal and supplemental citrate. They differ in compartment, timescale, mechanism, and quite possibly in the sign of their biological meaning. MVX measures fasting, steady-state serum citrate, an endogenous readout of your metabolic set-point. Oral citrate is a transient absorbed dose that is disposed of in a few hours in ways that do not elevate fasting plasma citrate. For this and other reasons, we should not be comparing the two citrate metrics. You can “supplement citrate” and leave fasting plasma citrate unmoved.
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Supplemental citrate goes through serum, but it creates a pulse of additional citrate that fades after a period of time.
The metric I was looking at was ordinary serum fasting citrate. A figure of 2.32mg/dl is around 140 micromoles per litre which is in the normal range.
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The evolution of the NMR diagnostic platform, culminating in the commercialization of the Metabolic Vulnerability Index (MVX), spans four decades beginning in a public university lab in the 1980s. The organizational structure transitioned from a university research lab to a venture-backed startup, a publicly traded diagnostic firm, and ultimately (in 2014) an integrated enterprise product within Labcorp. At the time and through to today, Labcorp had the vision to retain key scientists even though doing so likely degraded their financial profile for the product. The scientists acknowledge Labcorp’s contributions but hope to find funding to resume the scientific arm of the venture since Labcorp functions as a clinical lab and not a research facility.
Importantly, Labcorp is the sole owner of everything associated to MVX and NMR LP. They do not license the Vantera hardware, the software algorithms, or proprietary diagnostic assays like the Metabolic Vulnerability Index (MVX) and NMR LipoProfile to third-party clinical laboratories and have no public plans to do so. (As I understand it, there are dozens or more patents involved.) Therefore, make certain that any lab requisition you purchase is an authentic Labcorp document and that the sample will be either drawn at a Labcorp authorized facility or transmitted to them in an acceptable form.
Yes, besides a pronounced effect on metabolic acidosis, a complication of kidney disease, I am running faster with greater ease, probably because of a reduction in lactate.
Yep, that’s what my report looks like
This Plus version comports with the detail covered in the Attia podcast and the large scale studies I have been reading. Comparing the two report numbers at LabCorp (#123590, #123601), it looks like the additional charge for the Plus is a way to cover the costs of the research that went into developing the last round of algorithms.
Vascular aging index, Frailty index, Metabolic vulnerability index, and the Klemera-Doubal method are all solid biomarkers to look at.
I think it be better to look at the underlying biomarkers. When you start creating collective indices you end up losing information.