Why lab tests are important
Testing in a laboratory helps in finding the right diagnosis and also rules out some illnesses. In addition to basic lab tests, defining the micronutrient levels also provides crucial information to the doctors. This information is required both in maintaining health and in treating diseases. With serious diseases, measuring the levels of micronutrients such as vitamins, trace elements, and fatty acids is particularly important to enable starting the correct treatment quickly.
Assessing micronutrient malnutrition is part of malnutrition assessment. The World Health Organization uses this concept: MNM (micronutrient malnutrition), and different deficiencies have their own disease categorisation in the ICD-10 system.
