Function Health Review: 4 Rounds of Real Results

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Updated September 6, 2026

I have completed four rounds of Function Health testing since August 2024. This Function Health review covers what two years of repeat blood work showed: 130 biomarkers on my most recent panel, a biological age of 37.3, a full hormone workup read through the menopausal transition and the one result that would have sent me to my doctor for unnecessary follow-up if I had only tested once.

Most Function Health reviews you will find are a single round written by someone who tested once and moved on. Several of the ones ranking today end by steering you to a different platform. Mine is four rounds over two years, by a woman in her fifties who lifts five days a week and has been through hormone therapy (I use Thrivelab online and am very happy with them) and I am going to tell you where this service earns its price and where it does not.

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How Function Health Works

Once you enroll in Function Health (that link skips the waiting line), you schedule lab appointments at a local Quest Diagnostics location. Your first round requires two fasting visits. On my first visit they drew roughly 12 vials of blood and took a urine sample. They drew about the same amount at my second visit a couple of days later.

You need to complete both visits within 10 days, so plan accordingly. I have never had trouble getting early morning appointments about a week out at my Quest location near Cincinnati, though availability varies by area. There is no additional Quest draw fee in Ohio. Some states, notably New York and New Jersey, carry a higher membership price, so check what applies where you live before you sign up.

Preparation is straightforward: stop supplements 72 hours before, avoid seafood 48 hours before (you will be tested for mercury), fast for 8 hours and drink plenty of water the morning of your appointment. Continue any prescription medications as your doctor directs.

Your first draw runs the full panel of 100+ markers. Your follow-up draw a few months later repeats roughly 60 of them, the ones worth watching for movement rather than the full sweep. Function markets this as 160+ lab tests a year, which is accurate as a count of tests run, though it is not two identical 100-marker panels. On my dashboard the unique marker count sits at 130 because I have added several optional tests on top of the base panel.

What Biomarkers Are Tested

Rather than list every marker, here is the link to the included test list. Markers span heart, liver, blood, metabolic, hormones, nutrients, thyroid, autoimmunity, kidney and heavy metals.

This full panel is far more useful than a standalone perimenopause test, most of which tell you little on their own. If hormones are the reason you are considering testing, my perimenopause symptoms guide is the better place to start before you spend anything.

Function also offers optional add-ons, and this is where the cost can climb. Here is what I have added across four rounds. The ApoE test gives you your Alzheimer's risk genotype. I carry the ApoE 3/4 variant, which I have written about in my deep sleep article, so this was one I wanted immediately. The celiac panel covers both celiac disease and gluten intolerance, though you must have been eating gluten for the result to mean anything. Adiponectin measures a hormone involved in insulin response and lipid metabolism. The Omega panel ($49) covers EPA, DPA, DHA, total omega 6, arachidonic acid, total omega 3, OmegaCheck and the omega 6 to omega 3 ratio. It takes longer to process and it is the add-on I would repeat.

The one big add-on I went ahead with is the Galleri multi-cancer early detection test, which screens for over 50 cancer types from a single draw and runs $749. Given how much cancer is in my family, I added it and completed the test on July 10, 2025. The result came back “Cancer Signal Not Detected,” which was a relief. Being clear about what that does and does not mean: a negative Galleri is reassuring, not a guarantee, and it does not replace mammograms or colonoscopies. What I value is that Function makes a test most doctors would hesitate to order easy to access.

Function has expanded past blood work. After acquiring the imaging company Ezra in 2025, they now offer a full-body MRI as an add-on at $899 for members for the standard scan, with tiers that add spine imaging and a skeletal and neurological assessment. The scan uses FDA-cleared AI and is designed to catch early signs of tumors, aneurysms and fatty liver before symptoms appear. You book through an Ezra account linked to your Function dashboard and results take about 7 to 10 days. I have not done the MRI, so this is research-based and not something I can speak to firsthand. I will report back once I have.

Every Function draw includes a complete blood count with differential, which means your results already contain what you need to estimate biological age independently. I built a free calculator based on the 2026 HemeAge study published in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, so once your results land you can run your CBC through it in about two minutes.

My Function Health Results After 4 Rounds

Here is where this review gets specific. A single round tells you where you stand today. Four rounds tell you which direction you are heading, and that trajectory is the thing almost no other review can show you.

My February 2026 dashboard shows 130 biomarkers: 89 in range, 19 out of range and 22 categorized as other, meaning they have no standard optimal range or need context to interpret.

Metabolic Markers

My metabolic markers are where I see the clearest payoff from years of eating low carb. Glucose came back at 86 mg/dL, HbA1c at 5.2% and insulin at 2.7 uIU/mL. My clinician notes called this out as outstanding blood sugar balance and very low risk for diabetes. Watching that same trio hold steady across four rounds, rather than reading it once, is what turns a lab result into confidence that the approach is working.

One marker flagged below range: leptin at 2.7 ng/mL. Leptin helps regulate appetite and energy balance and levels this low signal that energy stores are depleted. In my case this reflects low body fat from competitive bodybuilding. The foundational research in the New England Journal of Medicine found a strong correlation between serum leptin and body fat percentage across 275 people, so a low reading at low body fat is expected rather than alarming. It is also exactly the kind of nuance a standard annual physical would never surface.

Liver and Organ Function

My liver panel was mostly clean, with ALT at 18 U/L, albumin at 4.3 g/dL and GGT at 11 U/L. Alkaline phosphatase flagged at 35 U/L, below Function's optimal range. Low ALP is sometimes associated with zinc or magnesium insufficiency. My magnesium was in range at 5.7 mg/dL, so this is one I will keep watching.

This section is also where repeat testing saved me money. One of my liver enzymes spiked after a hard leg session and looked alarming in isolation. Because I could watch it drop back to normal on the next draw, I avoided a round of follow-up testing and worrying. A single one-time panel would have given me the scary number with no way to contextualize it.

Nutrients

The nutrient panel shows things most doctors do not test. Homocysteine came back at 8.1 umol/L, ferritin at 53 ng/mL, iron at 81 mcg/dL and magnesium at 5.7 mg/dL, all in range. Function displays a small trend graph next to each marker so you can see the direction of travel at a glance, which is the feature I look forward to most with each round.

Hormones Through the Menopausal Transition

This is the section I wish more Function Health reviews included. The base membership runs a full female hormone workup: estradiol, FSH, LH, testosterone total and free, DHEA-sulfate, SHBG, AMH and prolactin. For a woman moving through the menopausal transition these are the markers that shift and they are the ones a standard physical almost never runs together.

The reason trend data matters here more than a single reading is well documented. Research from the Study of Women's Health Across the Nation, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, identified four distinct estradiol trajectories and three distinct FSH trajectories through the transition, varying by body composition and ethnicity. In other words there is no single normal curve to compare one reading against. Watching your own line over years tells you far more than any single draw measured against a population range.

I have an added complication that shapes how I read these numbers. I had a hysterectomy in 2007 at 33, with my ovaries preserved, so I have no menstrual markers to stage myself against. I also have been on hormone therapy since 2020. That combination means I cannot pinpoint exactly where I sit in the transition, and no test on the market will tell me. What repeat testing does give me is the shape of my own estradiol, FSH and testosterone lines over two years, which has been the most useful hormone information I have had.

One honest limitation. Function draws on a scheduled lab day, not a specific cycle day and progesterone is not part of the standard panel. If you need cycle-timed hormone testing, for example to evaluate luteal phase progesterone, Function is not a substitute for that and you should not buy it expecting one.

The Cardiovascular Markers Most Panels Skip

This is the part of the panel I have come to value most, and it is barely mentioned in the reviews currently ranking. Alongside standard total, LDL and HDL cholesterol, Function runs ApoB, lipoprotein(a) and a full LDL particle breakdown including particle number, size and pattern.

That matters because standard LDL cholesterol is a weaker predictor than most people assume. A review in the Journal of the American Heart Association lays out the physiology behind why ApoB, which counts the actual number of atherogenic particles, predicts cardiovascular risk more accurately than the cholesterol mass those particles carry. A comparative review in the journal Pathology reached the same conclusion, noting that ApoB and non-HDL cholesterol are more accurate than LDL cholesterol in people with high triglycerides, in non-fasting samples and at very low LDL levels.

Lipoprotein(a) is largely genetic and you only need to measure it once, but most people never do because it is rarely ordered. If it is elevated, that is information worth having decades before it matters. Getting ApoB and Lp(a) inside a membership rather than arguing for them individually is, for me, one of the strongest arguments in Function's favor.

My Biological Age Results

This is the number everyone wants to see. Based on my February 2026 testing, Function calculated my biological age at 37.3, which is 15.5 years younger than my calendar age. The calculation comes from a combination of your biomarker results compared against population-level health data.

Is the metric perfect? No, and I want to be clear about that. Different platforms use different algorithms and produce different numbers from the same body. Around the same window, Function put me at 37.3, Hundred Health at 38.0 and Superpower at 45.2. That is an eight-year spread on one person tested within months. Treat the absolute figure as a motivational benchmark, not a clinical result.

What is worth tracking is the direction. Across my four rounds the number has stayed in a tight band, which is what I want to see: a biological age holding steady or ticking down while calendar age climbs. If it had jumped several years between rounds, that would be my cue to dig into which markers moved. That is the value of watching this over years rather than treating it as a one-time novelty score.

The Clinician Notes and Doctor Review

One of the most common questions about Function Health is whether you get access to a real clinician. You do. After results complete, a licensed clinician reviews every biomarker and writes notes organized into strengths, areas to watch and specific recommendations.

My February 2026 notes highlighted that my red and white blood cell counts, hemoglobin, platelets and related indices had fully rebounded from prior lows, describing strong bone marrow recovery and good oxygen delivery for my activity level. That “rebounded from prior lows” language is only possible because the clinician can see my earlier rounds. On a first-round review, that context does not exist. This is the single clearest argument for staying past year one.

In an earlier round I also received a phone call from a Function clinician when a couple of results came back unexpected. They flagged it proactively and recommended I follow up with my primary care physician. That kind of response is not something most direct-to-consumer lab services offer.

This layer is the real separation between Function Health and ordering your own labs. Raw numbers tell you a value. The notes tell you what that value means alongside your other markers, what is reassuring and what is worth watching. Over four rounds I have come to rely on the interpretation as much as the numbers.

The Function AI Health Coach

Function has added an AI health coach that generates food and supplement recommendations from your biomarker results, sorting foods into enjoy, limit and avoid. In my case it flagged lipid abnormalities and built recommendations around lowering LDL and supporting healthy triglycerides.

This is the weakest part of the product and it is why I did not rate the service higher. The recommendations are algorithmic and do not account for your dietary context. I have eaten low carb since 2017, and the AI told me to limit butter, coconut oil and full-fat cheese while my glucose, insulin and HbA1c all sit in the optimal range. An algorithm that cannot see that my metabolic panel is excellent should not be issuing confident dietary instructions. Use it as one data point and discuss real changes with your own provider.

What Function Health Does Not Do

Most reviews bury this. Here is the honest list of what you are not getting for your $365, based on four rounds.

• No treatment or prescriptions. It is a testing platform, not a medical practice. An alarming result still sends you to your own doctor.
• No mold or mycotoxin testing. That requires specialized urine testing Function does not offer.
• No stool or gut pathogen panel. Parasites and microbiome work need a separate test.
• No cycle-timed hormone testing and no progesterone in the standard panel.
• No continuous data. Two draws a year is not the same as wearable-level tracking, which is why I run this alongside an Oura Ring rather than instead of one.
• No sit-down consultation. The notes are written, not a conversation.
• Add-ons are not included. Galleri at $849 and the full-body MRI at $899 can more than triple your annual spend.

What Function Health Costs

Function Health costs $365 a year, about $1 a day, covering both draws, clinician notes for each round, the dashboard with trend tracking and the AI coach. It is HSA and FSA eligible and not covered by insurance. New York and New Jersey residents pay more. I worked through the full cost math, including cost per biomarker and whether the membership pays off for different reader profiles, in my is Function Health worth it breakdown, so head there if the numbers are your deciding factor.

Dr. Mark Hyman and the Functional Medicine Approach

Part of what separates Function Health from other lab services is the philosophy behind it. Dr. Mark Hyman, one of six co-founders, spent years as head of the Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. His approach has always been about the whole picture rather than treating individual symptoms, and he is a 15-time New York Times bestselling author on diet, metabolism and longevity.

A lot of people find Function by searching for Dr. Mark Hyman's blood test or Dr. Hyman's labs, and that is a fair way to think about it. Function is the testing platform he co-founded to bring functional-medicine-style panels directly to people without a specialist referral for every marker. You are not booking an appointment with Dr. Hyman. What you are getting is a panel designed around the model he built his career on, reviewed by licensed clinicians.

That philosophy shows up in how Function defines optimal ranges. Rather than telling you whether a number falls inside the standard laboratory reference range (which is drawn from the general population, including plenty of unhealthy people), Function uses tighter ranges based on what research suggests is best for long-term health. This is why markers get flagged out of range on your Function dashboard that your regular doctor would call perfectly normal. It is a more preventive lens, and it can also generate anxiety if you are not expecting it.

What Reddit Users Are Saying About Function Health

Search Function Health on Reddit and you will find an active community on r/Function_Health plus discussions in r/Biohackers and r/HubermanLab. The sentiment is mixed, which is useful if you are researching.

One of the most upvoted r/Biohackers threads generated over 160 comments. The praise mirrors my experience: breadth of testing at this price point, an easy dashboard, and clinician notes that add value beyond raw data. Several users named trend tracking over time as the biggest differentiator.

The criticisms deserve airing too. A thread titled “Took the leap. EXTREMELY disappointed” centers on add-on pricing, with users feeling the base panel is a starting point that requires expensive upgrades. Others report clinician notes reading generic or arriving slower than expected. A recurring theme is data overload, the sense that 100+ biomarkers without a physician to walk you through them feels overwhelming rather than empowering.

My take after four rounds: the overload criticism is fair if you do not already have some health literacy or a provider to discuss results with. If you are actively tracking your health and willing to learn, the volume of data is the point.

How Function Health Compares to Other Services

I have tested Function alongside other platforms rather than reviewing it in isolation, which is the context most single-service reviews lack. Here is how the field looks on price and coverage.

For the two head-to-head breakdowns readers ask about most, I keep dedicated comparisons so this review can stay focused on my own results. My Function Health vs Superpower comparison walks through where each wins on test selection, experience and price, and my InsideTracker vs Function Health comparison covers how their approaches differ.

Who Should Join Function Health (and Who Should Skip It)

Function Health is a good fit if you want more data than a standard physical provides, have a family history of chronic disease and want early detection markers, are already working on nutrition or training and want to see whether it shows up in your labs, are comfortable reading data or have a provider to share results with, or care about tracking biological age and longevity markers over time.

Skip it if you get health anxiety from seeing results without a doctor to immediately explain them, want direct medical treatment or prescriptions, need someone to walk you through every number in person, only want one baseline panel rather than a tracking habit, or would stress about the annual cost more than you would benefit from the data.

Function Health Pros and Cons

Pros: 160+ lab tests a year for $365, which is strong value against ordering individually. Clinician-reviewed notes every round that get more useful as your history builds. Advanced cardiovascular markers including ApoB and Lp(a) that most physicians do not order. A full female hormone workup in the base panel. Easy dashboard with trend graphs and biological age. Quest locations nationwide. HSA and FSA eligible. Proactive clinician outreach when results warrant it.

Cons: Add-ons climb fast, with Galleri at $849 and the full-body MRI at $899. The AI food recommendations do not account for low carb or carnivore eating and can contradict your own excellent metabolic markers. Notes can read generic in rounds where little needs attention. No in-depth one-on-one consultation. The volume of data overwhelms people without baseline health literacy. Membership costs more in New York and New Jersey. The follow-up draw repeats roughly 60 markers rather than the full panel, which is easy to miss in the marketing.

Final Thoughts on This Function Health Review

After four rounds over two years, Function Health has become one of the most useful health tools I own. It sits alongside my Oura Ring 4, Hume Band, Eight Sleep and Chilipad as part of how I monitor what is working. The wearables give me daily feedback. Function gives me the biomarker-level picture that confirms whether the daily choices are adding up.

The honest version of my verdict: if you will test once and never again, buy a cheaper one-time panel instead. Everything that makes this service worth $365 comes from the second, third and fourth rounds, where the clinician can see your history and a scary-looking single result becomes a line on a graph. That is the whole case, and it is the part the one-round reviews cannot tell you.

If that is how you want to approach your health, use this link to skip the waitlist and save $25.