Whether you’re a biohacker, health optimizer, fitness enthusiast, or a bodybuilder you may have wondered at some point: what’s the best online service for blood labs and health optimization?
This post will help to give you an idea – I’ll be giving you an unbiased Marek Health Review – I purchased their complete lab panel package + guided optimization (coaching/report) and went through the entire process with them.
Was it worth it? I think so – but it depends on your situation and goals, so let’s get into it.
Marek Health Review
Overview
Marek Health is an innovative telehealth company that offers diagnostic blood lab panels & testing coordination, professional health coaching & guided optimization, as well as things like TRT and the ability to prescribe medications the providers see fit through their partnered pharmacy.
Bias Check
To start I want to admit my bias – I love Marek Health as I’m a big fan of innovation in the health/medical space in general. I think there’s so much inefficiency in this space that a company like this excites me and makes me want to support them even more.
I’m also a fan of one of the owners, Derek from MPMD on YouTube! I try not to let these factors influence my overall reviews or any of my points.
On the other hand – I’m a completely random person who paid for this in full and got the full unfiltered experience which I’m here to share.
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What I Bought
I purchased their “complete panel package” with guided optimization (coaching).
I wanted the guidance because at the time I was getting more into learning about health optimization, biohacking, and fitness, and I thought it would be helpful to potentially learn more. I was right – I learned a good amount from their report.
What It Included
The actual lab markers tested were extremely vast in terms of both volumes and depth of specificity (things like neurosteroids, etc). You can see everything included on their diagnostics page here (complete panel package).
I am discussing this from the male package viewpoint but they offer the package for females in both standard and menopausal versions as well.
The price for me was around $700 total if I remember correctly – this included my blood draw service fee, guided health coaching which was 1 preliminary Zoom call with the coach to discuss goals, 1 Zoom call with the coach & medical provider to review lab results and discuss any medication, as well as my raw data and customized full report.
This is a fairly large amount of money for some people so I understand if you are inclined to search for similar services elsewhere online or locally. You’re paying a premium for the quality report, coaching, medical provider’s time, pharmacy connection, lab test fee, etc.
From what I’ve discussed with people online, even getting individual labs through Marek Health seems to be a fairly good deal. I could be wrong though.
Full Report
The full report blew me away, seriously, I must have read it around 25 times. I learned so much from it. Every marker has an explanation of what it is, why it’s important, and optimal ranges for HEALTHY people MY AGE – things you won’t see in the raw data at all.
If something wasn’t optimal there were suggestions included on how to optimize my levels so that if I wanted to test consistently I could track improvements over time.
My Opinion
This is real biohacking – measuring data, getting feedback on where to improve, and supplementing medication/vitamins/lifestyle interventions based on what we find.
I found so many valuable things, certain levels were too high, too low, etc. Things I never would’ve thought about which in reality needed to be addressed. Expanding my view on my health – it’s hard to know what you don’t know and don’t think about.
The Call
The call was fairly useful as I was able to discuss with a medical provider what my specific goals were and have them go through my report with me.
Just having someone reputable and knowledgeable in the fitness and medical space as a licensed provider was really great honestly.
I talked about this before in my “Telehealth is Insanely Useful” post but the same sort of thing applies here – the staff is specifically knowledgeable on things like health optimization, fitness, and hormones.
Would your local clinic be able to provide this sort of service, specific markers, and report feedback? For me, the answer is clear: no chance.
What I Learned
I learned some valuable information – specifically for me my thyroid, iron, and prolactin levels were not “optimal”. DHT was a bit high. All of these are pretty useful things for optimizing my overall health and especially tackling my mildly aggressive diffuse hair loss.
I learned some strategies to chill out the iron and prolactin levels and optimize my thyroid, and since my DHT was high that’s a component for hair thinning which led me to start finasteride.
Even my insulin/glucose was a bit high which was a sign that I should start implementing zone 2 cardio a few times weekly. This also factored into my decision to purchase and use a CGM service.
Their Recommendations
They recommended a variety of medications/supplements that I could potentially look into getting prescribed with my medical provider but I honestly felt no need.
The only thing I was interested in was topical dutasteride but it came with minoxidil so I passed and found another solution.
Any other supplement I could find elsewhere online – nothing against Marek but I’d rather control what I can control if that makes sense, I don’t need to go through a company like them for Vitamin D but the information itself was useful.
However, for things like injectable L-carnitine, and daily tadalafil, these are things I would gladly purchase through Marek Health. Although people in online biohacking spaces seem to love gray market sellers for things like injectable/injectable products (absolutely crazy to me) I find a lot of peace of mind ordering stuff like this through a licensed reputable provider/pharmacy.
Pharmaceuticals
Compounding pharmacies aren’t perfect but logically it’s way better than an unknown seller from China that has no chance of ever being regulated.
The reason I optimize is to enhance/improve myself – not take risks with gray-market compounds. I am interested in trying stuff like this so being signed up with a reputable provider like this and having that access is convenient.
Worth it or Not?
I’ll probably use Marek Health as my “check-up” service as opposed to a traditional medical provider barring any emergency/specialized concern.
Going through something like this is more comprehensive than any local provider ever gave me although I recognize I’m paying more as I’m not using insurance with Marek.
For me it’s worth it, for your goals and budget it may not be. It all depends on your priorities.
I think the prices might’ve changed since I purchased this but something this expensive shouldn’t be taken lightly if it’s something you have to think about financially speaking.
You could consider every few years getting a lab panel done and there’s money to be saved if you skip out on the report/coaching and just research for yourself.
Process
It’d probably be the overall process if I had one complaint, but it’s not even that big of a deal.
Physical
They require that you get a physical every year from a licensed NP, PA, or Physician in the US.
I found it easiest to just go to a local urgent care clinic near me and get a PA to sign the form – most other places didn’t understand what telehealth was and were hesitant to sign a physical for me if it wasn’t for school/work.
Urgent care clinics are more efficient in my opinion, your mileage may vary.
Bloodwork
This is easy – you just show up to a local Labcorp for your blood draw and everything is sent and processed for you. All the forms/information is provided to you by Marek – I think Labcorp automatically receives the order.
Constructive Criticism
If I had anything that I would recommend Marek Health add it would probably just be a more diverse range of tests/areas of health overall.
I understand that some things are more heavily regulated but it’d be nice to have a “digital base of operations” so to speak for all of my health needs with various physicians.
Like I said it may not be feasible – just a thought.
Final Thoughts
Honestly, I would recommend this service. As someone who’s in my early twenties and is very healthy/lightweight (ie: not a hardcore bodybuilder), I wasn’t expecting to see much on my report. Still, I ended up learning a lot and I had a few areas that needed further optimization.
If you are someone who wants to optimize your health and need a base of information on what to do, 100% go with Marek Health. If you need TRT they are extremely thorough and won’t just haphazardly toss you on dangerous compounds.
If you have a specific health concern that’ll be covered as well. Cannot say enough good things about the service, team, and innovation at Marek Health.
The coach and medical provider specifically warned me about prohormones and how it was good I was staying off them which shows their sound frame of mind/unbiased views on the topic.
Either way, thank you for reading, and good luck on your journey.