Key Benefits

• Check protein status, electrolytes, and cortisol to guide safe recovery.
• Spot dehydration or severe malnutrition through albumin levels and sodium shifts.
• Protect your heart by catching potassium deficits from vomiting or laxatives early.
• Clarify dizziness, fainting, or confusion by identifying sodium and chloride imbalances.
• Guide refeeding safety by tracking sodium, potassium, and chloride during nutrition increases.
• Protect periods, bones, and fertility by identifying cortisol elevation from starvation stress.
• Support pregnancy planning by correcting electrolyte and cortisol issues that risk complications.
• Best interpreted with phosphate, magnesium, ECG, vitals, and your symptoms.

What are Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia nervosa biomarkers are measurable signals in blood and urine that show how prolonged energy shortage and stress are affecting the body’s systems. Testing helps clinicians gauge medical stability, stratify risk, plan safe nutrition restoration, and track recovery beyond changes in weight alone. Key signals come from hormones that regulate appetite and energy balance—leptin from fat tissue and ghrelin from the stomach, along with insulin—plus growth and metabolism cues like IGF-1 from the liver and active thyroid hormone (T3). The stress and reproductive axes also speak: cortisol from the adrenal glands, and pituitary–gonadal hormones (LH, FSH, estradiol/testosterone) that reflect fertility suppression during undernutrition. Bone health is captured by markers of bone turnover (osteoblast and osteoclast activity), while electrolytes and minerals (sodium, potassium, phosphate, magnesium) indicate hydration status and refeeding risk. Organ function is tracked through liver enzymes and bilirubin (liver), filtration markers (kidneys), glucose handling, muscle enzymes (creatine kinase), and complete blood counts (bone marrow). Together, these biomarkers map the body’s adaptation to scarcity and its return to balance, guiding individualized, complication-aware care.

Why are Anorexia Nervosa biomarkers important?

Anorexia Nervosa biomarkers are lab signals that show how energy deficiency and stress ripple across the whole body—fluid balance, heart rhythm, muscle and nerve function, protein reserves, and stress-hormone tone. They help identify medical risk early, monitor severity, and reveal which systems are under the most strain.

Typical reference ranges: Albumin 3.5–5.0 (health generally sits mid to upper normal), Sodium 135–145 (best in the middle), Potassium 3.5–5.0 (best in the middle), Chloride 98–106 (best in the middle), Cortisol follows a daily rhythm with morning values around 5–25 (physiologic function favors the midrange for time of day; in anorexia it often trends higher due to starvation stress).

When these values dip, they map the physiology of undernutrition. Low albumin—usually a late finding—signals depleted protein stores or inflammation, with edema, delayed healing, and altered drug binding. Low sodium can follow excess water intake or stress hormones that retain water; it brings headache, confusion, fainting, and seizure risk. Low potassium, common with inadequate intake or purging, weakens muscles, slows gut movement, and destabilizes heart rhythm. Low chloride from vomiting drives metabolic alkalosis, causing cramps and slowed breathing. Low cortisol is less typical, but if present suggests adrenal suppression with fatigue and low blood pressure. Teens are more vulnerable to electrolyte swings and growth impact; women may lose periods and bone density under high cortisol; men often see reduced testosterone and muscle mass; pregnancy amplifies electrolyte and cardiac risk for mother and fetus.

Big picture: these markers connect nutrition to cardiovascular stability, kidney function, brain signaling, bone metabolism, and hormonal axes, clarifying near-term safety and long-term risks like arrhythmias, osteoporosis, and fertility complications.

What Insights Will I Get?

Anorexia nervosa disrupts energy balance, fluid–electrolyte control, and hormonal signaling that keep the heart, brain, muscles, bones, and reproductive system stable. Biomarker testing shows how these systems are coping with restriction or purging, not just whether weight is low. At Superpower, we test these specific biomarkers: Albumin, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Cortisol.

Albumin is the main blood protein made by the liver; in anorexia it often stays normal until malnutrition or inflammation is significant, then can fall. Sodium is the chief extracellular salt; low levels can occur from excess water intake or impaired water handling. Potassium is the key intracellular ion; losses with vomiting, laxatives, or shifts during refueling can drive it low. Chloride partners with sodium and tracks acid–base status; it typically drops with vomiting‑driven metabolic alkalosis. Cortisol is the primary stress glucocorticoid; energy deficit commonly raises it via HPA‑axis activation.

Albumin reflects oncotic pressure and transport; lower values signal reduced protein reserves or dilution, risking edema and altered drug/hormone carriage. Sodium indicates osmotic balance essential for cerebral and circulatory stability; deviations raise risk of headache, confusion, seizures, and blood pressure instability. Potassium and chloride govern electrical conduction and pH; deficiencies heighten risks of arrhythmia, muscle weakness, and alkalosis. Cortisol integrates stress response, glucose availability, and bone turnover; sustained elevation points to catabolic strain, menstrual suppression, and effects on mood, cognition, and bone density.

Notes: Results are influenced by hydration state, recent purging, refeeding shifts, acute illness, and inflammation (which lowers albumin independent of nutrition). Diuretics, laxatives, SSRIs, and steroids alter electrolytes or cortisol. Age, pregnancy, and menstrual status change reference expectations. Cortisol is time‑of‑day dependent; many labs use a morning sample. Assay methods and lab ranges vary; interpret trends in context.