Nowadays, more and more patients are seeking an extra edge in terms of wellness, optimal health, longevity, or superhuman performance. There are also tough cases where everything comes back normal. Conventional blood work tends to fall short when it comes to these goals because they don’t reveal much in terms of what to eat or do based on the results. 

This is when personalized medicine shines. If you’re a cutting-edge doctor looking to improve outcomes for these patients, you might be looking at options like 10X Health System and Theriome Aristotle. All of these can generate a tsunami of data, but they could all be valuable in different ways. 

This article explores key differences between these tests, their pros and cons, what they’re good for, and how to use them.

Theriome’s Aristotle Metabolomic Test vs 10X Precision Health System

Currently, many services are advertised to provide personalized health insights and recommendations based on tests. They’re not all created equal. Here, let’s compare two popular systems: Theriome’s Aristotle test and 10x Precision Health System. 

Theriome’s Aristotle Test and the 10X Precision Health System are two popular personalized health services. Both provide personalized health insights, but there are some key differences to note in regarding their scope, methodology, and application of your results.

Theriome’s Aristotle Metabolomic Test

Aristotle is a blood spot metabolomic test. It measures 126 sentinel metabolites that cover 68% of your body’s biochemical pathways. Subsequently, Theriome uses a AI-powered systems biology analysis which offers insights across 12 key health domains, including cardiovascular and digestive health, while also identifying early disease risks. 

This offers clues and even deeper insights into energy production, liver detoxification, and gastrointestinal health.

From there, personalized protocols are provided based on Digital Twinning, a tool that stimulates thousands of scenarios to optimize health outcomes. This gives personalized, actionable recommendations based on unique interactions between your genes, environment, and metabolism.

10X Precision Health System

Developed by human biologist and biohacker Gary Brecka, the 10X Precision Health System primarily focuses on genetic testing, particularly concerning the methylation cycle and nutrition-related gene variants. It tests 54 genes, with an emphasis on how they impact your nutritional needs, weight management, and overall health. This is a nutrigenomic panel, which examines the interaction of nutrition and genes in a preventive manner. 10X also sells customized supplement recommendations based on genetic results, available for purchase through their platform.

Genetic testing examines your DNA, which provides insight into inherited traits, risk factors, and potential health conditions based on genetic code [1]. The information is static – genes that do not change throughout your life – which can give you clues on susceptibility to conditions like cancer, autoimmune disorders, or heart disease. It is valuable for understanding your long-term risks and potential responses to medications, but does not account for lifestyle, diet, or environmental factors that impact your health in real time.

There are many types of genetic tests. 10X Health’s Precision Genetic Test uses a microarray, the most popular and least expensive option to determine single base pair changes (single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs) in your DNA. SNPs are the most studied type of genetic variants, although they may not be the most impactful.

More expensive genetic tests can reveal more. Some microarray-based chips can also identify larger variants, such as copy number variations, insertions, and deletions, which tend to have a more significant health impact than SNPs. There are also genetic tests that fully determine the sequence of your genes using next-generation sequencing technologies, such as whole-genome sequencing or whole-exome sequencing.

In addition to genetic testing and nutrigenomic recommendations, 10X Health also personalizes their recommendations based on conventional bloodwork. Their blood test includes 70 biomarkers related to nutrition, hormones, and blood sugar control. 

Conventional blood tests like Complete Blood Count, Comprehensive Metabolic Panel, blood gasses, hormones, and electrolytes are primarily created for diagnostic purposes [2]. Compared to genetic tests, these blood biomarkers provide real-time data that can reveal things about your health, including nutrient deficiencies, inflammation, or hormone imbalances. When regularly monitored, these biomarkers along with interpretations from an experienced clinician will help you get a better understanding of your risk for certain diseases. For example, if your cholesterol levels are increasing over time, it puts you at a higher risk for a cardiac event. These tests are essential for diagnosing conditions like anemia, infection, or metabolic disorders. The only downside is that most tests are limited to what is circulating through your blood at the exact time you had the test done.

To use these blood tests for wellness, longevity, or performance purposes, you’ll need to know their optimal ranges, such as those published by the Institute of Functional Medicine. However, determining optimal ranges is both an art and a science, as epidemiologic studies can provide conflicting associations, and various clinicians have different observations. It’s one of the reasons 10X Health includes a practitioner review of both the blood and genetic tests.

Conventional blood tests are great to do on a regular basis and keep track of for these purposes. However, they’re not as clear-cut or easy to interpret as if they're used for diagnostic purposes.

In summary, 10X Health then combines genetic testing with bloodwork to understand how your body’s tendency to process nutrients, handle hormones, and function metabolically. Some of your blood tests may indicate whether these genes are expressed. However, the focus here is more on interpreting genetic risk and disease risk compared to full metabolic processes examined with the Aristotle test.

	Theriome Aristotle Test	10X Precision Health System
Focus	Metabolomics & systems biology across 12 domains	Genetics & blood biomarker analysis
Depth	Covers a broader range of metabolic activities	Targeted toward genetics and blood-based health metrics
Personalization	Yes	Yes
Recommendations	No conflict of interest; uses AI and digital twinning for tailored interventions	Tied to supplements and products sold through their platform
Technology	Metabolomics & AI-based data integration techniques	Nutrigenomics and conventional blood testing

 

While both tests offer unique insights, Theriome provides a more comprehensive view of health through metabolism. Whereas, the 10X Health system focuses on understanding genetic risk and nutrient levels, along with factors like hormonal and blood sugar issues identified by blood tests.

That said – one may not be better than the other because these tests give you different pieces of information. If you want to know your genetics and blood results along with recommendations based on these, 10X Precision Health will provide that. If you want to know your current metabolomic status, how well your cells are functioning, and lab-guided AI-optimized recommendations, Theriome will provide that. 

For most people looking to optimize health and take action before diseases occur, genetic tests and blood tests may fall short of your goals.

Why genetic tests and conventional blood test fall short and need metabolomics for optimal health and tough cases

1) Genes load the gun; the environment pulls the trigger.

Just because you have a specific gene variant does not necessarily mean that the gene will express itself or cause disease [3]. In short, genes can be turned off or read out (expressed) at various levels. How your body expresses certain genes can result from your diet, environment, lifestyle, and other genes. It could be daunting to remember that simply because you have a gene variant doesn’t mean it causes or will cause anything.

There is always a challenge in grasping the sum of data that comes with genetic testing. Genetic counselors and nutrigenomic practitioners need to determine which genes are actively influencing your health. You have over 20,000 genes and well over 3 million SNPs. The most comprehensive SNP microarrays detect up to ~2 millions, and only few hundreds at most are included in the report [4]. You’ll find some genetic variants conflicting, with no clear direction on which ones require attention. 

This complexity means your genetic data alone is not enough, you also need to interpret them in the context of symptoms, test results, and lifestyle factors like diet, exercise, stress, and toxin exposure.  

This is where metabolomics testing can offer a solution. Your genes provide the recipes that construct and operate your body; metabolomics tests reveal the operational status of the body and how well things are going [5]. Specifically, metabolomics captures the end outputs of genetic activity. This makes metabolomics a practical tool for understanding the body’s present state [6]. 

For example, a genetic test might identify your predisposition to impaired detoxification pathways, while a metabolomic analysis can show whether or not these pathways are functioning well. Combined, they can help the provider make informed decisions about which genes are currently being expressed and provide targeted interventions to address them. 

2) Most genetic reports are limited to the best-studied handful of genes, which can cause you to miss the forest for the trees

Popular genetic reports tend to focus on only a handful of well-studied genes – those involved in methylation or detoxification pathways, for instance. These cover, at most, a few hundreds out of >20,000 genes. Because nutrigenomics is a relatively young field, the research is very limited outside these few pathways. While this information is valuable when correctly interpreted, it only offers a very limited view of your overall health. 

This narrow focus can leave gaps when other gene variants and pathways that are less well-understood are not included in the reports. These other genes could be important, even though they’re not studied. 

And as a result, it can be easy to miss the forest for the trees with genetic reports. These can lead to problems such as:

• Patients who react badly to methylation supplements
• Patients who come in with thousands of dollars’ worth of unnecessary or conflicting supplements based on their genes
• The wrong recommendations, even by medical providers, based on misunderstanding of hereditary patterns of the genes [7]. 

Metabolites, on the other hand, are much better studied than genes. For context, the mitochondria were first discovered in 1857, whereas the first DNA sequence was determined in 1972.

When a metabolomic test covers a comprehensive number of pathways, it provides a broader and more actionable view of health. For example, Aristotle covers 68% of all metabolic pathways, with known associations with health and diseases. Through following these small molecules in the blood and bodily fluids, we can analyze their change under different environmental conditions over time [5]. 

Metabolomics can illuminate more thoroughly how genes and proteins affect your physical traits. When combined with AI that incorporates the entire body of medical literature, Aristotle helps providers avoid missing the forest for the trees. Whether standalone or in combination with a nutrigenomic test, Aristotle gives more accurate and targeted interventions based on your current health status.

Compared to genetic testing, which is static, and blood biomarkers, which is more diagnosis-oriented, metabolomics is more dynamic and responsive to lifestyle factors – diet, stress, and even physical activity. It can reveal how your body responds to these influences, highlighting imbalances that traditional blood tests may not pick up on.

3) Conventional diagnostic bloodwork vs Metabolomic tests

Conventional bloodwork plays a pivotal role in diagnosing a disease that is ongoing at that specific moment. Reference ranges exist to distinguish disease from non-disease, not optimal from suboptimal. In other words, they pick up on things that fall outside of the “normal” range. While useful for diagnosing disease, they are not typically geared towards health optimization. Even when these tests are adapted to measure more fluid aspects of health, the typical reference ranges are broad and do not provide enough detailed insights when viewing health from a preventative lens.

While optimal ranges exist, they remain controversial as most evidence for optimal ranges are deducted from epidemiologic studies. There is no 2x2 diagnostic table that classifies people into optimal and suboptimal based on conventional blood tests.

In contrast, metabolomic tests dive deeper into analyzing your body’s biochemical patterns that can drive disease risk before we start to see changes in blood markers [8]. Theriome’s Aristotle test takes things one step further, harnessing AI-driven technology to integrate the latest research on disease signatures and simulate responses to various interventions. This predictive power makes metabolomics a valuable tool – not only for managing current health but also for preventing future disease by guiding your treatment options. In essence, it keeps you ahead of the curve.

Key Differences Between Various Genetic vs Comprehensive Bloodwork vs Metabolic Tests 

	Genotyping	SNP Microarray	Whole-Exome Sequencing	Whole- Genome Sequencing	Blood Test	Metabolomics
Analyzes	A single gene or genes for the presence or absence of previously identified variations	High percentage of SNPs in your genome	All protein-coding regions of the DNA	All regions of DNA, coding and non-coding*	Blood markers, minerals, salts, gasses	Collections of metabolites
Cost	$100-2000	$100 - $500	$500-2000		$300 - $1000	$500-1500
Sample collection	Typically cheek swab or blood sample				Blood, typically fasted in the morning	Blood, urine, saliva or stool
Changes over time	No; While new clinically relevant variations can be discovered, the genetic sequence itself does not change				May change in response to diet, lifestyle, and health status	Yes; Will change in response to diet, lifestyle, supplements and environment
Diagnostic capabilities	Typically used to diagnose rare diseases				Typically used to diagnose or rule out diseases	Individual metabolites used to diagnose rare diseases
Can be used to estimate disease risk	Yes, by factoring in risk variants impact on disease risk.				Optimal or suboptimal ranges (when available) can estimate disease risk	Yes, by assessing metabolite signatures associated with disease risk
Covered by insurance	Can be covered by insurance when “medically necessary”; Genetic testing for health optimization is not covered				Mostly covered by insurance when medically indicated	Not typically covered

*Some types of genome variations, such as structural variations, are not reliably detected with WGS

Should I do both 10X Health and Theriome Aristotle?

In short – yes! All these tests can provide valuable information. As standalone tests, they offer one unique piece of the puzzle, but when combined draw a complete picture of your health.

Genetic tests give you insight into inherited traits and potential long-term risks. They reveal how your DNA can influence various areas like metabolism, detoxification processes, and susceptibility to certain diseases. But, as we learned, this is only one piece of the puzzle since not all genes are actively impacting your health at any given time.

Blood testing, on the other hand, gives a current snapshot of important biomarkers to help diagnose existing conditions or flag immediate risks. These tests can be useful for diagnosing deficiencies or diseases. However, they often do not reveal deeper metabolic issues or how well your body is functioning at the biochemical level.

Theriome Aristotle can complement both genetic testing and blood testing, such as within the 10X Health System. The real-time data that comes with metabolomic tests can have additive effects when combined with other testing methods [5]. This dynamic view can help identify imbalances that genetic tests may overlook and find health risks for things that have not yet progressed enough to be identified on blood testing. Altogether, these tests can help paint a complete picture of your health when analyzed by a qualified provider and help guide personalized and actionable strategies to improve your health long-term. 

However, if the budget is limited and you have to choose one, Metabolomics will be the most illuminating option–it provides more granular details than a diagnostic blood test along with the current outcomes of your genetic expression.

Conclusion

There are many personalized health programs available, and they’re not all created equal. Genetics, conventional blood tests, and metabolomic tests all have unique advantages over the other, and when combined can be a powerful tool to better understand your health. Each of them can offer unique health insights. However, if you’re looking for something that’s the most current and reflective of your health status for wellness, longevity, and performance, metabolomics combined with AI like Aristotle is the best.

At Theriome, we are scientists on a mission. Our goal is to give you the most cutting-edge science-backed tool to achieve your best health yet. No matter where you are on your health journey, we aim to provide results that are actionable to improve your wellness.  

 

 

References

1 Milo Rasouly, H., Aggarwal, V., Bier, L., Goldstein, D. B. and Gharavi, A. G. (2021) Cases in precision medicine: Genetic testing to predict future risk for disease in a healthy patient. Ann. Intern. Med., American College of Physicians 174, 540–547 https://doi.org/10.7326/M20-5713

2 Califf, R. M. (2018) Biomarker definitions and their applications. Exp. Biol. Med. (Maywood), SAGE Publications 243, 213–221 https://doi.org/10.1177/1535370217750088

3 Alberts, B., Johnson, A., Lewis, J., Raff, M., Roberts, K. and Walter, P. (2002) How genetic switches work, Garland Science, London, England

4 12.2 - Genotyping with SNP Microarrays https://online.stat.psu.edu/stat555/node/107/

5 Lagoumintzis, G. and Patrinos, G. P. (2023) Triangulating nutrigenomics, metabolomics and microbiomics toward personalized nutrition and healthy living. Hum. Genomics 17, 109 https://doi.org/10.1186/s40246-023-00561-w

6 Aderemi, A. V., Ayeleso, A. O., Oyedapo, O. O. and Mukwevho, E. (2021) Metabolomics: A scoping review of its role as a tool for disease biomarker discovery in selected non-communicable diseases. Metabolites, MDPI AG 11, 418 https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11070418

7 Farmer, M. B., Bonadies, D. C., Pederson, H. J., Mraz, K. A., Whatley, J. W., Darnes, D. R., et al. (2021) Challenges and errors in genetic testing: The fifth case series: The fifth case series. Cancer J., Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) 27, 417–422 https://doi.org/10.1097/PPO.0000000000000553

8 Lichtenberg, S., Trifonova, O. P., Maslov, D. L., Balashova, E. E. and Lokhov, P. G. (2021) Metabolomic laboratory-developed tests: Current status and perspectives. Metabolites, MDPI AG 11, 423 https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo11070423