The Trip Lab
The Trip Lab is a podcast on integrative medicine and psychedelics hosted by board-certified physician Dr. Mary Ella Wood. Through conversations on psychedelics, neuroscience, and whole-person care, the show examines emerging evidence alongside deeper questions of meaning, healing, and human experience. Life is a trip. Let’s explore it.
The Trip Lab
#23 – Functional Medicine Testing: When it’s helpful, limitations, and the truth about test validation
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Functional medicine testing is everywhere. It is often marketed as “test, don’t guess,” and just as often dismissed as invalidated or unscientific. So what is the truth?
In this episode of The Trip Lab, we take a deep dive into what functional medicine testing actually is, how it differs from traditional laboratory testing, and what clinicians really mean when they say these tests are not “validated.” We explore why some advanced tests can be genuinely helpful when used thoughtfully, where their limitations lie, and why more testing does not always lead to better care.
We walk through several commonly used functional medicine tests that I actually do use in my practice, including DUTCH, GI-MAP, and Organic Acids Testing (OAT), breaking down what each test measures, when it can add value, and … when it might not be helpful as well. We also discuss why I typically don’t recommend mold or environmental toxin testing, and why exposure history and foundational interventions often matter more than identifying a specific toxin.
