The ZRT Laboratory Blog

The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease is growing, now affecting 10% of people aged 65 and older. Two-thirds of Americans with Alzheimer’s Disease are women, and African Americans and Hispanics are more likely to be affected than white Americans. Low serum BDNF levels have been observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, begging the question: what is the connection between BDNF and Alzheimer’s…

Tags: BDNF, Alzheimer's, Depression, Brain Health, Metabolic Health, Cardiovascular Disease, Hormone Balance, Mental Health

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We are heading into the new year with a goal to strengthen our understanding of hormones, neurotransmitters, and heavy metals and the influence they have on our overall health and wellness. As we welcome 2019, we would like to take a moment to look back at our most popular blog posts from last year. Serotonin, or rather its deficiency, frequently…

Tags: Depression, Neurotransmitters, Stress, Mental Health, Heavy Metals, Sleep

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Looking for case studies on how neurotransmitter testing can help patients? Want to learn more about interpreting these tests? We invite you to discover Dr. Kate’s Clinical Cases, a library of presentations, created by Dr. Kate Placzek, to assess patient issues with the aid of neurotransmitter testing. You’ll find case reviews on conditions including anxiety and depression, ADHD, PTSD, insomnia and…

Tags: Neurotransmitters, Menopause, Mental Health

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Glycine has a calming effect on the brain – it helps you wind down and prepare for sleep. Its role as an inhibitory neurotransmitter has been unfolding over many years of ongoing research efforts. Easily one of the most versatile amino acids, glycine serves as a building block to proteins (collagen, the most abundant protein in our body, is one-third glycine), and is heavily utilized for the…

Tags: Neurotransmitters, Mental Health, Brain Health, Sleep

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Influenced by our environment, we are constantly being exposed to elements, whether nutritional or toxic. They are a big contribution to the yin yang dualism of health and disease. With heavy metals, contamination is so extensive nowadays that it is no longer a question of whether exposure took place, but rather what the level of exposure was or continues to be. Toxicity from low levels of exposure…

Tags: Neurotransmitters, Mental Health, Heavy Metals, Elements Testing, Toxins, Arsenic, Mercury, Cadmium

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Why are Mitochondria Important? Mitochondria are organelles that are present in every cell of the body except red blood cells. Probably everyone reading this learned about these little guys in high sch­ool biology, where they were described as "the energy packs of the cells."About 20% of our body weight is mitochondria. This translates to about 250 quadrillion of these organelles. There are 37.2…

Tags: Neurotransmitters, Depression, Mental Health

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Your thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland located in the lower front part of your neck. Its job is to secrete hormones that control growth/development during childhood, regulate your metabolism and body temperature, and drive the production of many neurotransmitters in your brain. Specifically, the ones that help you feel good and enough have motivation to accomplish your goals: serotonin,…

Tags: Thyroid Health, Mental Health

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Lithium is an element that, at the present time, is considered non-essential to the human body. However, it is getting a lot of attention as a therapy, and there are interesting reports of beneficial actions of lithium. You might have seen our blog by Dr. James Greenblatt or one of the NY Times articles mentioning lithium. It is also coming up with frequency because of increasing awareness on…

Tags: Mental Health, Mineral Imbalances, Elements Testing

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Traumatic stressors are defined by the direct experience, witnessing of, or confrontation by an event involving actual or threatened danger, and they evoke responses that include intense fear, helplessness or horror. On a national and global level 2017 was peppered with one disaster after another. There has been a palpable sort of post-traumatic stress permeating the nation. On the heels of the…

Tags: Neurotransmitters, PTSD, Mental Health, Stress

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It feels like winter is officially looming now that we’ve all turned our clocks back and the days are getting shorter. In the Pacific Northwest, this also brings darkness and rain for many months and for some of us, it brings seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Whether or not symptoms of SAD eclipse your normal disposition, there’s a good chance the sun's vacation this time of year will affect four…

Tags: Vitamin D, SAD, Mental Health, Cortisol Awakening Response

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