Your blood results, in plain words

What each number means, why it matters, the healthy target, and when to talk to a clinician.

• LDL cholesterol — The cholesterol most likely to build up in your artery walls — often called the “bad” cholesterol.
• ApoB — A count of the actual cholesterol-carrying particles that can lodge in your arteries — often a truer risk marker than LDL alone.
• HDL cholesterol — The cholesterol carried in “good” particles that help clear cholesterol from the body.
• Triglycerides — The main type of fat circulating in your blood — high levels usually signal too many quick carbs, alcohol or insulin resistance.
• HbA1c — Your average blood sugar over roughly the last three months, in one number.
• Fasting glucose — Your blood sugar first thing, before eating — a quick snapshot of how your body handles glucose.
• Fasting insulin — How hard your body is working to keep blood sugar normal — it rises years before glucose does.
• HOMA-IR — A simple score from your fasting glucose and insulin that estimates how insulin-resistant you are.
• hs-CRP — A blood marker of low-grade inflammation in the body.
• Vitamin D — Your body’s vitamin D status — mostly made in your skin from sunlight, and important for bones and immunity.
• Uric acid — A waste product in the blood that, when high, can cause gout and tracks with metabolic risk.
• Blood pressure — The pressure of blood against your artery walls — one of the biggest and most silent drivers of lifelong health.
• Lp(a) — An inherited, lifelong cholesterol-carrying particle that adds to your heart-disease risk — and for most people you only need to measure it once.
• Homocysteine — An amino acid in your blood that rises when certain B-vitamins run low; high levels track with heart risk — but lowering them hasn’t reliably prevented heart attacks.
• TSH — A pituitary signal that rises when your thyroid is underactive and falls when it’s overactive — a sensitive but indirect gauge of thyroid function.
• eGFR — An estimate of how well your kidneys filter your blood, calculated from a blood test — higher is better.
• Ferritin — A protein that reflects your iron stores — low means iron deficiency, but inflammation pushes it up, so a “normal” value can hide a deficiency.