At Neuronutrition Associates, we offer Functional Wellness Visits as an annual screening tool for children and teens. These visits are designed to go beyond the basic pediatric checkup—using comprehensive labs to catch early imbalances before they become bigger issues. While standard care may only screen labs a few times in childhood, our approach allows us to monitor nutritional status, immune markers, and metabolic health every year, providing families with data-driven, prevention-focused care.
Why Traditional Labs Often Miss the Mark
In conventional pediatric care, labs are typically only drawn a few times across childhood—often at 9 months, 4 years, and again around age 10, with perhaps one additional time before college. Unless a child has a prolonged fever or other acute issue, routine lab work isn’t standard of care.
These infrequent labs usually screen for red flags like infection or anemia. While helpful, they often miss early markers such as thyroid dysfunction, nutrient imbalances, and chronic inflammation—especially in children at risk for neurodevelopmental or immune-related concerns.
That’s why functional lab testing takes a more proactive approach—screening for patterns that could cause harm later if not addressed early.
What We Test in Functional Wellness Visits
Our wellness visits assess the whole child using advanced testing to explore:
🧠 Nutrient Status
We check levels of:
- Zinc, iron, magnesium, B vitamins (including methylation markers)
- Omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D
🧬 Methylation & Resilience
Methylation is critical to human health and resilience—and research shows over 60% of the population doesn’t methylate optimally without support.
While our Functional Wellness Visits don’t include genetic testing, we do assess key serum markers that offer insight into methylation status. For our youngest patients, we evaluate B12 and folate. For children ages 5 and up, we also check homocysteine (a reliable marker of methylation, especially in an older child).
These labs are nuanced but can reveal early signs that methylation may need support—or that a deeper evaluation is warranted.
Our clinic does offer comprehensive genetic testing and analysis (including MTHFR and beyond), but that level of assessment is part of our Functional Medicine care packages, not our annual wellness screening.
🔥 Inflammation & Oxidative Stress
We assess chronic immune activation that may not show up in basic labs. This is critical for kids with neuroinflammatory symptoms, immune issues, or behavioral changes [3].
🦠 Gut Health
While we do not include a stool study on our preventative wellness panel, we do include infection markers, markers of gastrointestinal disease (such as liver stressors), and we include the top 2 sensitive and inflammatory foods for most people, gluten and dairy. As we explore the history and symptoms around the patients GI health, with our lab values (such as low nutrient levels and inflammation), we can get a broader picture that gut dysbiosis and leaky gut are a concern that needs to be addressed.
🩸 Blood Sugar & Metabolic Health
Blood sugar instability can contribute to fatigue, irritability, and behavioral swings. As part of our Functional Wellness Visits, we may assess fasting insulin and glucose levels—markers that can provide insight into metabolic function and energy balance. These labs help us identify patterns that are often missed in conventional screenings and guide our lifestyle and nutrition recommendations. We also assess a hemoglobin A1C- this is a marker that helps us understand how much sugar has been in the cells over a 3 month period, which can give us a longer term picture of blood sugar regulation.
🔷 Thyroid Health
In our functional wellness panels, we include a very thorough thyroid panel. Often providers will only include a thyroid stimulating hormone to evaluate thyroid health, however in functional medicine we believe this picture is incomplete. We evaluate the free thyroid hormones (free T3 and free T4) and both thyroid antibodies (TPO and TG). Unfortunately we see a lot of autoimmune inflammation in the thyroid, which if caught early, parents can take measures to decrease the stress on the thyroid, and hopefully reverse this disease process.
🧪 Environmental & Immune Triggers
Testing for heavy metals is a way to understand part of the toxic exposures of a child. In our youngest patients, we. test for lead, and in our older patients (5 years and up) we test for lead, cadmium, mercury, and arsenic. It is very common that we find high heavy metals in our patients, and evaluating exposures helps us know if a treatment plan for mitigating and eradicating them is needed.
Our lab panels are tailored by age—for safety and accuracy.
For younger children, there’s a safe limit to how much blood can be drawn in a single visit. The more markers we test, the more blood is required—so depending on your child’s age and weight, lab work may need to be split across two separate visits to stay within safe limits.
We know this isn’t always convenient, but it ensures your child’s testing is done thoroughly and safely. Our goal is always to gather meaningful data without overwhelming their system—making the experience as smooth and supportive as possible.
What Makes This Approach Different
We’re not just running more labs for the sake of it. We’re using clinical data to:
- Personalize nutrition, supplementation, and lifestyle guidance
- Support nervous system regulation and development
- Help your child thrive physically, emotionally, and cognitively
This kind of testing helps us catch imbalances before they become diagnoses.
Who This Is For
Functional Wellness Visits are designed for children who are generally healthy and not actively managing chronic conditions.
These visits are ideal for:
✅ Healthy children whose parents want more thorough, prevention-based care—including advanced screenings that go beyond a typical checkup
✅ Families seeking lab work that most pediatricians don’t routinely offer, but we find valuable for long-term wellness monitoring
✅ Kids with siblings who have chronic illness or neuroimmune conditions—providing proactive checks for early signs of imbalance
✅ Parents who want dedicated time to discuss nutrition, movement, and lifestyle strategies with a provider trained in functional health
💉 A note about vaccines:
We do not provide vaccinations at these visits. Vaccine discussions and administration are handled by your child’s primary care provider. Many parents appreciate that these visits focus solely on wellness, without added pressure around vaccines.
🩺 Physical exams included:
Each Functional Wellness Visit includes a full physical exam performed by a licensed medical provider. This exam can fulfill requirements for school, sports, or camp physical forms—giving you both preventive care and practical documentation in one visit.
These visits are not intended for children who need active treatment for ADHD, anxiety, autoimmune conditions, or complex medical issues.
Those families will be directed to our comprehensive care packages for more thorough and comprehensive care.
✨ Think of this as a functional, data-driven version of a wellness check—focused on prevention, not disease management.
Ready to Get Answers?
Caroline, our functional family nurse practitioner, and Jana Roso, our pediatric nurse practitioner are now accepting new patients of all ages. If you’re ready to take a deeper look at your child’s health, we invite you to schedule a Functional Wellness Visit.
Conclusion
Traditional labs look for disease. Functional testing looks for imbalance, inflammation, and dysfunction—the things that often come first.
Because the earlier we support the body, the better chance we have of helping your child thrive.
Disclaimer: This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or replace medical advice from your healthcare provider.
References:
- Abdelmalek, M. F., Sandrasegaran, K., & Sanyal, A. J. (2022). Homocysteine and its role in health and disease. ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2161831322010699
- Gutierrez, E. (2024). Attention Support monograph. NeuroNutrition Associates.
- Maguire, J., & Mushlin, A. I. (2011). Thyroid disease in children and adolescents. National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3010678/