What to Do After Function Health: Turning 100 Biomarkers Into Action

You signed up for Function Health. You did the blood draw. You got your results back — 100-plus biomarkers, color-coded, with reference ranges and percentile rankings. Some are green. Some are yellow. A few might be red.

And now you’re staring at your dashboard wondering: what do I actually do with this?

If that’s you, you’re not alone. Roughly 73% of Function Health users report not knowing what to do with their results. That’s not a knock on Function Health. It’s a reflection of the gap between data and action that exists across most of consumer health testing.

Function Health did something genuinely useful: it gave you more data about your body than most people ever see. The question is what happens next.

What Function Health Does Well

Credit where it’s due. Function Health tests 160-plus biomarkers for $499 per year. That’s a lot of data at an accessible price point.

The breadth is real. Where a standard annual physical might test 20 to 30 markers, Function Health gives you hormones, inflammatory markers, metabolic markers, organ function, nutrient levels, cardiac markers, and more. The dashboard is well-designed. The color coding makes it easy to see what’s flagged. The percentile rankings give you context against the general population.

For anyone who’s been frustrated by the limited blood work their doctor orders, Function Health solves that problem decisively. You get the data. All of it.

But data isn’t the same thing as knowing what to do.

The Interpretation Gap

What typically happens after you get your Function Health results:

1. You open the dashboard and scan for red flags.
2. You see some yellow and red markers and feel a mix of concern and confusion.
3. You Google individual markers — “what does high homocysteine mean” or “DHEA-S low what to do.”
4. You find conflicting information, some alarming, some reassuring.
5. You consider bringing the results to your PCP, who may or may not be familiar with all 100-plus markers, and who has 7 minutes to review them with you.
6. You do… not much. Or you start a supplement regimen based on Google results. Or you wait for your next draw and hope the numbers improve.

This isn’t a failure of willpower. It’s a structural problem. Function Health provides data without clinical interpretation, without prioritization, and without a coached action plan. The platform shows you what your numbers are. It doesn’t tell you which ones actually matter for your specific risk profile, which ones are noise, or what to do about the ones that need to move.

Which of Your 100 Results Actually Drive Decisions

Not all biomarkers are created equal. Some are clinically actionable, meaning the result directly changes what you should do. Others are informational, interesting, or physiologically variable in ways that don’t warrant intervention.

Here are the markers from a typical Function Health panel that carry the most clinical weight:

The Ones That Matter Most

ApoB — If Function Health tested it (some panels include it, some don’t), this is your single most important cardiovascular marker. ApoB directly counts atherogenic lipoprotein particles. It predicts cardiovascular events better than LDL-C, total cholesterol, or any ratio. If your ApoB is above your risk-appropriate target, that’s a finding that demands a specific response, not “eat less saturated fat” but a targeted protocol with a measurable target and a timeline.

Fasting insulin — Many people fixate on fasting glucose or A1c. Both are lagging indicators. By the time glucose rises, insulin resistance has been building for years. Fasting insulin above 8 to 10 uIU/mL suggests your pancreas is working harder than it should to maintain normal glucose. HOMA-IR (calculated from fasting insulin and fasting glucose) gives you the clearest picture of insulin resistance.

hsCRP — High-sensitivity C-reactive protein is a marker of systemic inflammation. A single elevated reading might be transient. But persistent elevation, especially in the context of metabolic or cardiovascular risk factors, is a signal worth acting on. The key word is “in context.” hsCRP alone means little. hsCRP alongside your metabolic profile, body composition, and cardiovascular markers tells a story.

Lp(a) — Lipoprotein(a) is genetically determined and doesn’t change with diet or exercise. About 20% of the population has elevated Lp(a), and most don’t know it. If Function Health tested it and it’s high, that single finding reshapes your entire cardiovascular risk management approach. If they didn’t test it, that’s a gap worth filling.

Metabolic markers as a cluster — Fasting glucose, A1c, fasting insulin, triglycerides, HDL, and waist circumference (if available) paint a picture of metabolic health that no single marker captures. These need to be read together, not as individual data points.

The Ones That Are Probably Noise

Markers with wide physiological variability. Some hormones and micronutrient levels fluctuate based on time of day, recent meals, hydration, sleep quality, and stress. A single-draw “low” reading of, say, testosterone at 3 PM after a bad night of sleep may not reflect your actual baseline. These need repeat testing and clinical context before you act.

Markers within range but flagged yellow. Function Health’s reference ranges are sometimes tighter than clinical reference ranges, which means more markers get flagged. A yellow-flagged vitamin B12 of 450 pg/mL is not a problem that needs solving. A clinician who practices proactive medicine can quickly sort the signal from the noise.

Markers where the intervention is unclear or unproven. Some results are interesting from a data perspective but don’t have well-established interventions. Knowing your value is different from knowing what to do about it.

The Difference Between Data and a Protocol

Here’s the core distinction. Function Health gives you data. A protocol gives you:

Prioritization. Of your 100-plus results, which 5 to 8 actually warrant action? A clinician who practices proactive medicine can look at your full panel, identify the markers that drive clinical decisions, and tell you which ones to focus on and which ones to ignore.

Specific targets. Not “improve your cholesterol” but “get ApoB below 80 mg/dL.” Not “work on your metabolic health” but “reduce HOMA-IR below 1.5 within 8 weeks through these specific dietary changes, and retest at week 8 to assess response.”

Specific timelines. Targets without deadlines are wishes. A coached protocol includes retest dates, weeks not months, so you can see whether the intervention is working and adjust if it’s not.

Escalation pathways. What if lifestyle intervention alone doesn’t move the number? A protocol includes clear decision trees. If ApoB doesn’t respond to dietary changes within 8 weeks, the conversation shifts to pharmacological options, discussed with evidence and without ideology. If HOMA-IR stays elevated despite exercise and nutrition changes, there’s a defined next step.

Coached accountability. This is the part that makes everything else work. A clinician who knows your data, tracks your progress, and adjusts the plan based on your response. Not an annual review. Regular sessions where someone who understands your numbers is actively managing your trajectory.

What Protocol Adds to Your Function Health Data

If you already have Function Health results, you’re not starting from zero. Many of those labs transfer directly, saving you time and money.

Protocol’s Foundation Assessment fills the gaps and builds the action plan:

Labs that Function Health may not include:

• ApoB, if not in your panel. The single most important cardiovascular biomarker to add.
• HOMA-IR, calculated from your existing fasting insulin and fasting glucose, interpreted in full clinical context.
• Additional markers based on your specific risk profile.

Assessments Function Health doesn’t offer:

• DEXA body composition scan for lean mass, fat mass, visceral fat, and bone density. Your weight and BMI (if Function Health reports them) tell you almost nothing compared to DEXA.
• VO2 max testing. Cardiorespiratory fitness is one of the strongest predictors of all-cause mortality. No blood test measures it.
• Wearable data integration. Continuous glucose monitoring, sleep data, and activity tracking provide context that a single blood draw cannot.

The action layer:

• Clinical interpretation of your combined Function Health and Protocol data.
• A prioritized list of actionable findings. Not all 100-plus markers. The ones that matter.
• Module recommendations with specific targets and timelines.
• Ongoing sessions for accountability and plan adjustment.

The Foundation Assessment costs $1,500. If you already have recent Function Health labs, much of the blood work is covered. The Assessment adds the tests, scans, and interpretation that turn your data into a plan.

A Specific Example

Say your Function Health results show:

• LDL-C: 138 mg/dL (flagged slightly high)
• Triglycerides: 110 mg/dL (normal)
• Fasting glucose: 95 mg/dL (normal)
• hsCRP: 2.1 mg/L (flagged moderate)
• Several vitamin levels flagged yellow

Without clinical interpretation, you might focus on the LDL-C (because it’s flagged) and the vitamins (because there are several yellows). You might start a statin conversation with your PCP and buy a handful of supplements.

With clinical interpretation, the picture looks different:

• ApoB is the priority, not LDL-C. Your LDL-C of 138 could correspond to a very different ApoB depending on your particle size distribution. Test ApoB. That number tells you whether cardiovascular intervention is actually needed.
• Fasting glucose of 95 isn’t “normal” enough to ignore. It’s in the upper range. What’s your fasting insulin? If it’s 14 uIU/mL, your HOMA-IR is 3.3 — that’s insulin resistance, caught years before glucose would cross the diagnostic threshold.
• hsCRP of 2.1 in context. Combined with insulin resistance, this isn’t random inflammation — it’s metabolic inflammation. The intervention isn’t an anti-inflammatory supplement. It’s addressing the metabolic dysfunction that’s driving the inflammation.
• The vitamin yellows can wait. They’re likely physiological variation. Retest in 8 weeks before doing anything.

That’s what interpretation does. It turns 100 data points into 3 priorities with specific action steps.

You Already Did the Hard Part

Getting tested is a real step. Most people never do it. You have more data about your body than 95% of the population. That matters.

The next step is smaller than the first one: turn the data into a plan.

If you’re sitting on Function Health results and wondering what to do, a Foundation Assessment is designed for exactly this moment. Bring your Function Health data. We’ll identify which results are actionable, which gaps need filling, and what a specific, coached protocol looks like for your numbers.

Data tells you where you are. A protocol tells you exactly what to do to get where you want to be.

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Have Function Health results you want interpreted? Book a Discovery Call — bring your Function Health dashboard and we’ll walk through which markers matter most, what’s missing, and what your specific action plan looks like.