TruDiagnostic Review: Is the TruHealth Kit Worth It?
TruDiagnostic Introduction
For those who have followed A Longer Life over the past few years, TruDiagnostic will be a familiar brand to you.
I have interviewed Co-Founders Ryan Smith and Hannah Went on a number of occasions, creating technology article deep dives on how their epigenetic analytics technology works. As I have done so, I’ve paid particular attention to their research relationships with top notch universities (such as Harvard, Duke, Yale, Columbia, Stanford, Vanderbilt - just to name a few!).
You may be interested in reviewing these interviews if you’re interested in going deeper into the science behind epigenetic analytics, particularly if you’re interested in topics like the ‘rate of aging’ or ‘why am I aging?’ - including their ability to provide you with the biological age of individual organ systems.
In this particular review, I am going to focus on providing an overview of their TruHealth test kit and associated report. Specifically, I want to go beyond the curiosity of ‘what is my biological age?’ (which drives most people to get their first test) - and deep into ‘can these test kits + reports help me with my longevity strategy?’ Is the TruDiagnostic test worth it?
As I will reveal, I believe the answer is an affirmative ‘yes’ and as such I’ve made regularly testing with TruDiagnostic a core part of guiding my medium term decision making with my health and longevity. I’ll get to that later in the review - first up, we need to discuss the very basics of epigenetics and the analytics TruDiagnostic can apply to your individual health.
Key Technologies: Epigenetic Analysis
The term ‘epigenetics’ is new to many (in fact, most).
You can think of epigenetics like the software that runs on your body's hardware—your DNA. Your genes (DNA) provide the basic blueprint for who you are, while epigenetics involves chemical tags and modifications, such as DNA methylation, that turn genes on or off without changing the underlying genetic code itself.
These changes are influenced by factors like diet, exercise, stress, environment, and aging, essentially recording your life's experiences on a molecular level and affecting everything from disease risk to how quickly you age biologically.
I talk about this in some detail in Chapter 3 of my Free Longevity Mindset Course, which you can review here if that piques your interest.
Epigenetic analytics, which is at the core of the TruDiagnostic test kits, takes this a step further by using advanced tools, like AI-driven tests that scan these modifications in your blood or tissues, to measure and interpret patterns—creating "clocks" that estimate your biological age or proxies that predict health markers, empowering personalized strategies for better wellness and longevity. Many of you will be aware of the concept of ‘biological age testing’ - most of these approaches use epigenetics (though not all of them).
You can get a biological age result (including how fast you are aging and the individual age of your various organ systems) through TruDiagnostic’s TruAge test (not covered in this article).
Understanding Epigenetic Biomarker Proxies (EBPs)
Where the TruAge kit focuses on biological age metrics - the TruDiagnostic TruHealth kit is slightly different - and in my opinion, far more insightful.
It uses a particular type of epigenetic analytics to create “Epigenetic Biomarker Proxies”, or EBPs. These use specific patterns in DNA methylation to estimate levels of various health indicators that we'd normally check through blood tests (the ones you have ordered by your doctor and go to a pathology clinic to have blood drawn).
These estimates include vitamins, inflammation markers, or cholesterol, for example - really anything that you can measure through a standard blood draw.
EXCEPT, and here is the really important part, they don’t give you data from a single point in time, but instead represent where your blood markers have been over the preceding months. They are similar to a running average, instead of a snapshot. It is not dissimilar to getting data from a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and then getting one overall value of your average blood sugar for the previous 3 to 6 months.
It’s actually pretty powerful when you think of it this way. And here is the even better part - EBPs only need to analyze a single sample (an at home finger prick) to deliver you that data.
When you stack up all of the insights that the TruHealth kit can deliver, you could easily spend $10-15k USD on an equivalent single set of blood tests and still not have the level of detail captured by the EBPs.
It gets even better, as the technology is advancing quickly, soon expanding from hundreds of proxies to thousands of biomarkers for things like metabolic function, immune health, and disease risks.
But hold the hype - they aren’t perfect. “Proxies” aren't direct measures and need more diverse validation. If you’re in a less common ethnic group, they might not be for you (yet), and we’d like to see the clinical trial data (which is ongoing, see it here).
EBPs hold great promise to make health insights more accessible, affordable, and less invasive, turning complex lab data into something you can get from a simple finger prick at home.
So, how can you use them? Let’s discuss.
The Potential Value of EBPs for Health Optimisation
For health optimization, EBPs shine by helping people fine-tune their daily habits for better longevity and wellness.
For instance, if your EBP results show low proxies for antioxidants or high inflammation, you could adjust your diet with more fruits and veggies, add supplements, or incorporate exercise to track improvements over time. In fact, the TruHealth kit reports will make specific suggestions like these, which you can then track over time.
Tests like TruHealth provide personalized recommendations, such as optimizing sleep to boost neurocognitive markers or reducing toxins to improve metabolic proxies, allowing you to monitor how interventions like fasting or meditation affect your biological age and disease risks. This proactive approach empowers individuals to prevent issues before they arise, making health management more data-driven and tailored.
Let’s take a look at the the testing process and then we’ll dive into analysing the results.
TruDiagnostic Review: Test Kit Overview, Wait Times
Completing your TruHealth test kit is quite easy and very straightforward. Whereas many at home blood tests that I have used need up to 4x circles of blood spots provided (this can require several finger pricks) - this kit needs only 1x. It should only take you 5 minutes to complete (as compared to 60-90 minutes for the average blood draw, inclusive of wait times, etc).
From the time your test kit is received by their laboratory and the reports are ready, you will be waiting approximately 2 to 3 weeks. This is actually quite a quick turnaround time, as compared to most epigenetic analytics, which take 4-6 weeks to complete. I have waited as long as 8 weeks for some test kits. TruDiagnostic is pretty quick, all things considered.
The test kit includes:
1x box with instructions insert
2x lancets (for pricking your finger)
A blood spot card (for your blood sample)
Alcohol wipes
A gauze pad
2x finger bandages
Biohazard bag
The contents of the TruHealth epigenetic test kit
TruDiagnostic Review: How to Complete Your Test, How & Where to Ship
To complete the test, you follow these steps:
Register your kit
I think this is very important to do first, prior to getting the sample because you’ll need to create an account and make sure the system can register your kit number. You’re unlikely to face any issues, but doing this first could save you some hassle
Wash your hands thoroughly
Be sure to dry completely and then use the alcohol pad to clean your finger of choice. I recommend ring finger or pinky, using the outside edge of the finger, as you’re less likely to irritate the lancet wound this way (it takes a few days to heal)
Prick your finger
Press firmly, but not too hard. You only need to go deep enough to draw a few drops of blood. Wipe the first drop of blood with the gauze pad.
Collect the blood on the sample card
Don’t touch the card with your finger and don’t contaminate the blood sample by touching it with your other hand’s fingers.
Your goal is to fill the circle completely and with enough blood that the card is soaked through (check this by flipping the card over and make sure the blood has soaked through)
Put the bandage on your finger
Dry the card for at least three hours, making sure to keep it away from sunlight or high temperatures or humidity.
Once completely dried, place the card into the biohazard bag
Prepare to ship the sample
You’ll need to provide your own envelope and cover your shipping costs; the epigenetics analytics can run on blood samples that are up to 6 months old - which is great news for you! You can choose the most economical option for return shipping (you don’t need more than a stamp and an envelope if you live in the USA)
Overseas samples definitely should use a courier - if you need some further instructions on this, contact me with your questions and I’ll update this post with more information about international samples.
Ship to (this is current as of 2025): ATTN: TruDiagnostic, 881 Corporate Drive, Lexington, KY USA 40503
TruDiagnostic Review: Staying Up to Date with your Test Kit
Once you’ve created your account and registered your kit, you’ll receive the first of a few important emails. This is simply a confirmation that your kit has been registered.
Next, once your kit arrives at the TruDiagnostic laboratory in Lexington - you’ll get another email letting you know that your sample has been received.
Finally, within 2 to 3 weeks, you’ll get a final email letting you know that your results are ready and it is time to login to the TruDiagnostic results portal.
If for any reason you’d like to check on your sample or results, you can also check on the status of your sample in their online portal, which shows the current status of your test kit.
This is also where you can then review your reports - and the most exciting and important part of your journey begins!
Review TruDiagnostic: Receiving and Interpreting Your Reports
You’ll note from some of the images in this tech article, that I completed the TruAge + TruHealth test kit. However, just to make it clear once more - I am only reviewing the TruHealth test kit and its reports here.
Even with this simplification, the TruHealth report results take a bit of time to understand, and to be honest - it’s not actually essential that you really ‘get’ each and every piece of information that is included in the report. There is plenty of technical terminology that can leave most people confused.
This is exactly where I hope to help you out. At A Longer Life, my job is to help simplify and get you out of overwhelm. Overwhelm is a common place to be in the inundation of marketing and technical knowledge common to anyone trying to ‘hack’ their way to a longer life (consider jumping on my email list for weekly help taking effective action).
You don’t have to look far (i.e. Reddit discussions) to see that feeling out of your depth or not really understanding the TruHealth report is fairly common. This is completely understandable, and many are left feeling ‘confused’ by what’s in the report.
At the time of writing, the TruHealth report analyzes 105 biomarkers and reports them as EBPs. Let’s be honest - that is A LOT of information. So we clearly need to simplify things - that’s enough to overwhelm anyone.
However, I believe that between TruDiagnostic’s own “Top Personalized Recommendations” and a bit of prioritize and execute mentality, things can be greatly simplified.
Let’s take a look.
TruDiagnostic TruHealth Report: Where to Start
Although this is not following the current (May 2025 version of the report) sequentially, I suggest you approach your personal review of the report in the following way:
Find the “Top Personalized Recommendations” section and review
Scroll back up and take a look at the biomarker review
Head down to the epigenetic biomarker risk scores section
Review your longevity risk strategy (if you don’t know what this is, jump on my email list)
Record 3x actions you’re going to take based on your report & your known risks
Next, I am going to review steps 1-5 in more detail.
Before you start, get your pen & paper (or stylus and iPad, or favourite notes app) ready. You invested in this report, now act like it!
Start your analysis by writing down the title of a list called “What I Need to Change”. You will base what you write here on the (1) Top Personalized Recommendations provided by TruDiagnostic.
For example, in my own report, I was given the following recommendations:
So, I write down on my list:
Reduce my exposure to PFAS
Reduce my intake of Vitamin D
Increase my intake of Monounsaturated Fats
Improve my mitochondrial function
Increase my intake of Vitamin B2
Research how to improve my dopamine metabolites
In my opinion, if all you did was implement these recommendations and then re-test in 6 months - you’d be well on your way to much better health (and likely a longer life!).
But of course, you’re curious - so you’re likely going to read on! And that, my friends, is where the confusion will begin. So prepare yourself with the mindset of “OK, I am not going to understand everything I read here - but I have my recommendations to fall back on”.
And then continue - (2) next up, take a look at the “Biomarker Review”. You’ll see a whole list of ‘risk scores’ - where 0 = worst outcome and 100 = best outcome. Some of these will have their % highlighted in black - and that’s a sign that you need to work on this area.
But of course, you’ve already read your recommendations, and that has already captured that information for you. For example, for me, the PFAS exposure has my ‘Toxins’ risk score at 31% (eek!).
All of the ‘actionable’ information should already be on your list, but you can add anything on to your list that concerns you.
This risk score is from my own report, we can see that Toxins are ‘suboptimal’ and that links up with my need to reduce my PFAS exposure
Next we can review (3) the individual Epigenetic Biomarker Risk Scores
You can think of this section as a report card for your epigenome, influenced by things like diet, stress, or exercise. This section breaks down specific EBPs, explaining what each one does in your body and how it ties to your risk for things like heart disease or low energy.
For each biomarker, you’ll see if your levels are in a healthy “sweet spot” or need some work, with tailored tips—like tweaking your diet or adding a supplement—to get them back on track. Each comes with a percentile score, but there are some caveats to interpreting them.
Some biomarkers are best when they’re low (0% is ideal), others shine in the middle (50% is perfect), and some are healthiest when high (100% is the goal). The TruHealth report spells out which range is best for each biomarker, so you know exactly what to aim for. The simple thing to look for is anything that is highlighted in black - that’s out of range.
Once you have completed more than one kit, you’ll get a look at your past results to see how far you’ve come and where to focus next.
As an example from my report, we can see that my EBP for Vitamin B2 is very low - at <5%. This was of course captured in my recommendations, but we can see it here in a bit more detail in this section along with some recommendations about what to do about these low levels.
My EBP risk score for Vitamin B2. Getting more of this vitamin is going to make me feel SO much better…
TruDiagnostic Review: How I Use My Results
Continuing on your journey through the report, (4) I suggest that you also take the time to review your longevity risk strategy.
If you don’t know what this is, you might benefit from jumping onto my weekly newsletter, where we continually work through this concept. There is also some introductory material on the A Longer Life website which you can review.
The main point here is that you need to zero in on your biggest long-term health risks in order to take effective action and know where to start. We suggest you take the time to complete a family health history questionnaire (download one here) in order to identify your main disease risks.
What’s incredibly powerful about the TruHealth report is that you can monitor your health through the lens of your biggest risks. If you have cardiovascular disease risk in your family - pay particular attention to the “Serum Lipids” section. High blood pressure - check on the “Blood Pressure” section. Type II diabetes risk - Metabolic Markers are your port of call.
For me, I know that I need to watch my eye health, my prostate cancer risk and my blood pressure. I’ve also got a close eye on my serum lipid profile, as cardiovascular disease is a risk for most every human given a long enough timeframe.
While this report doesn’t look into eye or prostate health (yet), I can get a snapshot of my blood pressure markers. The first two markers look pretty solid - but the systolic blood pressure is on the higher end. It isn’t flagged as an issue just yet, but I know that my family history reveals high blood pressure risks - and that’s why I’ve been monitoring it 24/7 with my Hilo band.
My EBP risk scores for blood pressure
Another element of the TruHealth report that I find incredibly valuable is the Serum Lipids section. It is a comprehensive and thorough review of the key markers for CVD - in fact, just this panel of blood tests alone would cost you a few hundred dollars to complete.
If you’re not familiar with some of these terms, you can review the article I wrote about screening for CVD.
The cholesterol numbers you've been told to watch are most commonly LDL-C, which is the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol transporter. This LDL-C measurement tells you the amount of cholesterol, not the number of particles carrying it. Since they measure cholesterol content instead of particle count, they don't get the full picture. It's like judging highway safety by counting cars instead of identifying reckless drivers.
It is much more powerful to instead monitor ApoB (Apolipoprotein B) and ApoA1 (Apolipoprotein A1). ApoB is the key protein of the atherogenic (think heart disease) component of LDL-C. This measure counts the actual number of cholesterol-carrying particles that can penetrate your artery walls. ApoA1 by contrast is the primary protein of HDL particles, which are key for improving your CVD risk.
My report reveals that while my LDL-C is high, that my ApoB levels are relatively low and my ApoA1 levels are exceptionally good. This means that my CVD risk is quite low. And this report can help me monitor any changes over time, with just a finger prick at home.
If any of these sections reveal risks or suboptimal results AND you have family health history of a given disease - add these results to your list!
TruDiagnostic Review: Three Key Take-aways
Now with some skill in reviewing your report and some examples from my own experience, you are much better prepared to review your TruHealth report without getting confused or overwhelmed.
Remember - you don’t need to understand everything. And, at the end of it all, you’re looking to create key takeaways for the longevity lifestyle changes you want to make or to guide the longevity technologies you engage with.
I suggest you select no more than three key take-aways. Otherwise, you’ll have too much to manage. For these, you will want to focus on any red flags related to your personal longevity strategy and also to lean on the “Personalised Recommendations”.
Write a new section on your list entitled “My Three Key Takeaways”.
Go back to that list you started - and review the “Things I Need to Change” section, along with any notes that you took about you family history and the related EBP risk scores. If you have overlaps between family health history and any of the ‘out of range’ results you go - these go at the TOP of your three takeaways.
This might be all three takeaways, or you might only have one or two. Fill the rest of the list with the most accessible changes that were listed in your Personalised Recommendations. This is where you’re going to get started and then re-check with your next test.
For me, these are as follows:
Continue to monitor my systolic blood pressure (family health history risk) & self-experiment with lowering this number (using my Hilo band)
Increase my Vitamin B2 supplementation, this time with R5P a more absorbable form of B2
Take inventory of any potential sources of PFAS forever chemicals in my home & eliminate them
What three takeaways you identify will be completely different, as your unique biological challenges will rise to the surface through the power of epigenetic analysis. These will also then change over time as you address them and make positive changes. Or, as life throws its curveballs at you, new issues might spring up with life’s stressors.
TruDiagnostic Review: Conclusion
My overall conclusion after reviewing the TruHealth test kit, including the science behind its impressive epigenetic analytics, is that this test is profoundly valuable for those who are aiming to optimize their long-term health. The value delivered is exceedingly high when compared to comparable panels of blood tests (which would easily cost over $10k USD, I’ve independently checked this number).
While the science is still being proven, clinical trial data is on the way and the research behind the analytics creating the report come from some of the world’s top universities. As I’ve compared my own blood testing data with the EBPs in the report, I have seen complete alignment between the two - particularly on serum lipids, metabolic markers, immune function and inflammation.
My personal plan with the TruHealth reports is to test twice per year (every 6 months). Each time, I’ll manage my overwhelm with the volume of information in this report by working through the process I have outlined for you here. I hope that you find it helpful.
What do you think? Will you try out the TruHealth test kit? We’d love to hear from you and your experience.
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PS - If you’re keen to learn more about epigenetics or EBPs, be sure to review the 1:1 interview articles I shared at the outset of this article, or through the blog carousel below.
Before you go - learn more about Trudiagnostic
