Healthspan: The Blood Markers That Track How You Are Ageing

Healthspan is the number of years you live in good health, as distinct from lifespan, which is simply how long you live.

The gap between the two in Sweden is roughly a decade, and most of what closes it is decided by processes that are measurable long before they produce symptoms: how much atherogenic particle burden your arteries are exposed to, how well your cells respond to insulin, how quickly your kidneys are ageing, and how much low-grade inflammation you carry. A standard health check will not tell you most of this.

It reports LDL cholesterol rather than ApoB, fasting glucose rather than insulin, and creatinine rather than cystatin C — in each case the older, less informative of the pair. That is not negligence; it is what population screening was designed for. But if the question is how you are ageing rather than whether you are currently ill, the marker selection has to change.

The people who ask us about healthspan usually feel well and want to keep it that way, which is a good place to start. This panel is built for that question.

It carries the markers the longevity literature actually weights, and every result is read against optimal ranges rather than the standard reference range, because being within a range that includes most of the population is not the same as being well.

The Markers That Carry the Information

ApoB and Lp(a)

ApoB is the single most useful cardiovascular marker, because every atherogenic particle carries exactly one ApoB molecule. LDL cholesterol estimates how much cholesterol sits inside those particles; ApoB counts the particles themselves, and it is the count that drives risk. Lipoprotein(a) is largely genetically determined, is not modified by diet or exercise, and is worth measuring once in a lifetime — it changes how aggressively everything else should be managed.

Fasting insulin

Fasting insulin is the marker most conspicuously missing from ordinary health checks: insulin resistance develops years, often a decade, before fasting glucose moves, and by the time HbA1c is abnormal a great deal has already happened.

hs-CRP and homocysteine

High-sensitivity CRP tracks the low-grade inflammation that accompanies most age-related disease. Homocysteine reflects the functional adequacy of B12 and folate and is independently associated with vascular and cognitive outcomes.

Kidneys and urate

Cystatin C estimates kidney filtration more reliably than creatinine, particularly in people with high or low muscle mass, where creatinine misleads. Uric acid links to metabolic and cardiovascular risk.

IGF-1 and more

IGF-1 sits at the centre of the growth-versus-longevity trade-off, and is one of the few markers where both high and low carry meaning. Alongside these, the panel covers full iron status, thyroid function, liver markers, vitamin D, B12 and folate, magnesium, and the sex hormones with SHBG.

Healthspan Panel →Longevity Package →

Who This Panel Is For

  • You want a baseline while you are well, not an investigation once you are not
  • A parent or sibling had heart disease, stroke or diabetes early
  • Your standard health check came back normal but you want a sharper picture
  • You are managing weight, blood pressure or lipids and want to see whether it is working
  • You are over forty and have never had ApoB or fasting insulin measured
  • You train seriously and want to know whether the training is reflected in your biology
  • You are considering or already taking metformin, statins or GLP-1 medication
  • You want to track change over years rather than take a single snapshot

What Your Results Might Show

Blood lipids

An ApoB above roughly 1.0 g/L indicates a particle burden associated with accelerating atherosclerosis, and it is common to find a raised ApoB alongside an LDL cholesterol that looks acceptable — which is precisely why measuring it matters. An elevated Lp(a), found in about one person in five, does not respond to lifestyle change but raises the priority of everything that does.

Insulin and inflammation

Fasting insulin above roughly 60 pmol/L with normal glucose suggests the pancreas is compensating, which is the stage at which intervention is most effective and the stage a standard check misses entirely. Raised hsCRP without infection points to chronic inflammation and warrants looking for a source.

Kidneys and IGF-1

A cystatin C-derived filtration rate that is lower than the creatinine-derived figure is worth knowing, because it is usually the more accurate of the two. Low IGF-1 can reflect under-nutrition or growth hormone insufficiency; high IGF-1 is associated with growth signalling that carries its own long-term trade-offs.

Follow the trend

None of these findings is a diagnosis. What the panel gives you is a set of numbers that respond to what you do, measured precisely enough that the response is visible when you repeat it. These markers change slowly, over years.

The trend between two tests a year apart tells you more than any single result, and we like to follow them with you year by year.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How is this different from the Longevity Package?
The Longevity Package is a broad chemistry screen across 32 markers. The Healthspan Panel adds the markers that specifically track ageing rather than current illness — ApoB, Lp(a), fasting insulin, cystatin C, uric acid and IGF-1 — none of which appear in a standard health check.
Do I need to fast?
Yes. Fasting insulin, glucose and triglycerides all require a genuine fast of 8 to 12 hours, water only. Testing in the morning also gives the most consistent readings for testosterone and thyroid markers.
How often should I repeat it?
Annually is sufficient for most people once you have a baseline. If you are actively changing something — medication, a significant dietary change, a weight-loss programme — repeating at three to six months shows whether it is working, which is more useful than waiting a year to find out.
Why measure ApoB when I already know my cholesterol?
Because they can disagree, and when they do, ApoB is the one associated with outcomes. Two people with identical LDL cholesterol can carry very different particle counts, and the one with more particles is at higher risk despite the identical cholesterol figure. If you measure only one lipid marker, current evidence favours ApoB.
Can you measure your biological age?
Several tests claim to, using DNA methylation or combinations of blood markers. They can be interesting, but they are not precise enough to guide decisions for an individual. Markers such as ApoB, fasting insulin, hs-CRP and cystatin C are more useful, because each points to something you can act on. We are often asked this after someone has taken one of these tests online.
What is hs-CRP and what does a raised value mean?
hs-CRP is a sensitive measure of low-grade inflammation in the body. A value that stays above about 3 mg/L is linked to a higher risk of heart disease. Infections, injuries and hard training raise it temporarily, so a high result is best repeated when you are well.
What is the difference between cystatin C and creatinine?
Both are used to estimate how well your kidneys filter the blood. Creatinine is affected by how much muscle you have, so it can look worse in muscular people and better in older people with less muscle. Cystatin C is much less affected by muscle mass, so it gives a truer picture for many people.
Why measure fasting insulin?
Fasting insulin often rises years before blood sugar or HbA1c change, because your body works harder to keep glucose normal. That makes it one of the earliest signs of insulin resistance, at a stage when changes in how you eat, move and sleep have the greatest effect.
NW

Reviewed by

Wellth Team

Wellth

Our content is written and reviewed by Wellth, and fact-checked against peer-reviewed research and current Swedish clinical guidelines.

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Important to know

Wellth does not diagnose or treat disease. We work with diet, lifestyle and preventive health, alongside the care you already have.

Our reports and sessions do not replace medical advice, and a test result should not be read as a diagnosis. We use both standard healthcare reference ranges and optimal ranges. A value can therefore be normal by healthcare standards and still fall outside the range associated with good health. That does not mean disease, but it can be a chance to act early.

Supplements are only recommended by a nutritional therapist as part of a consultation, never automatically from a test result.

If anything in your results needs to be looked at by a doctor, we will tell you clearly. Contact your healthcare provider if you are worried about your health. Call 1177 for advice, or 112 in an emergency.