Aaron Hartman, MDFunctional Medicine Specialist | Clinical Researcher

Normal labs do not mean you are healthy. #LabResults #IntegrativeMedicine #FunctionalMedicine

10 Feb 2026 · 1 min

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In this monologue, the speaker argues that receiving "normal" lab results does not guarantee health because standard lab reference ranges are based on population averages (typically the middle 95% of the population) rather than an individual's optimal values. He explains that this approach can mask underlying issues such as early diabetes, low vitamin D, or insulin resistance by labeling them as normal. The speaker advocates for functional lab evaluations that differentiate between optimal, suboptimal, and disease states, offering a more personalized view of health. He promotes resources on his website, including blogs and the Connected Health online course, which guide individuals in identifying their optimal lab values and obtaining personalized testing.

Chapters

All my labs came back normal. Now what? I've heard that so many times I can't even count them. The reality is, normal labs don't mean you are normal. It just means the lab results for the general population are normal. Lab results are based on what's called a standard deviation in the mean. That means we take 95% of population. What is that lab that becomes normal? What if diabetes is normal or low vitamin D is normal or insulin resistance is normal? All of a sudden we've normalized abnormal results. And that's exactly what's happened with most lab results. So if you looking at a functional lab evaluation can be very, very helpful because it realizes optimal versus suboptimal versus disease. Our current system just looks at disease. And so what you need to do is have a different viewpoint of what is actually optimal for you. We have a host of resources on our website, blogs. We've actually walked this in Connected Health, which is one of our online courses that actually walk people through what are their optimal labs and actually give you the opportunity to get your own labs checked out and tested. So if you'd like on your own path and get your labs and find out what is optimal for you, follow us, do our Connected Health pathway and find out what your optimal is today.