23/06/2026
Why do we need to learn how to analyse and interpret blood test results as a Nutritionist, Naturopath or Herbalist?!
For a few main reasons:
1. Almost all new patients we see will bring blood test results to the initial consultation, and expect us to understand how to interpret them
2. Almost all patients will have already seen a GP to get these tests, and in almost all cases, the GP will say “everything is normal!”. This is frustrating for the patient as they get no answer for their issues or symptoms. It’s also NOT possible to have symptoms and health issues and having “normal” blood test results!
3. If a GP cannot find any issues I the test results to help a patient, then YOU need to be able to!
4. And because we get no formal training on pathology analysis in our qualifications.
Even if you are still a student (of Nutrition, Naturopathy, or even Herbal Medicine) you can learn a lot about how to interpret and analyse pathology results for your clients in your assignments, clinic subjects, or even your own pathology test results! As a student, you will be in a great position for analysing your clients' pathology results as soon as you start practicing after you graduate! You will be in a far better level of experience on pathology analysis than even myself on graduation, or other experienced practitioners, who were not trained in pathology analysis until years into clinical practice.
The Institute for Integrative and Functional Pathology (IIFP) training courses on pathology analysis can help you to find the causes of symptoms and conditions, even when a GP says "there is nothing wrong". The IIFP have several levels of training courses, from the beginner level, to advanced and mastery level, as well as other resources and software tools to help in your education as well as clinical practice.
And you can learn to interpret blood test results properly and find issues and causes that the GP never will. And you will get more new clients, and they will keep coming back, as they know that you can find the causes for their health issues. This is a great advantage in building your clinical practice!
With the IIFP pathology analysis Level 1 training, you can learn:
• Why doctors don't find issues in blood test results
• What the basic biomarkers actually are and what the abnormally high or low results mean
• What standard tests every client should get as a minimum, as well as other recommended tests and why
• Why you should use the "optimal ranges" to interpret results instead, and what the optimal ranges are for most common tests
• How to find confirmations of results in multiple tests, or combinations of results which give clues as to organ dysfunctions or causes of symptoms and conditions
• How to interpret results in a nutritional way, to find hidden nutrient deficiencies in the results
• How to use some software to help you with the pathology analysis and to generate several reports for clients, and use your skills and the software to offer pathology analysis services to your clients, or to get more clients. Hence more income!
• What are common results to see for different conditions or symptoms, or the conditions or diagnoses for common (and some uncommon) types of results
• And much more!
I have found that being able to find abnormal results and nutrient deficiencies in results and being able to explain why these are causing my patients' symptoms and conditions, has really changed and improved my clinical practice and how can help my patients. You can do this too!
The IIFP have a number of End Of Financial Year deals on bundles of their training courses on now! See the previous IIFP post on this group (or the linked IIFP page below) for more details on the EOFY deals!
Find out more about the IIFP and pathology training courses and more here:
www.pathologyanalysis.com