I tried Healf Zone’s at-home test, and was surprised by what nutrients I was deficient in

Over the years, personalised nutrition tests have become much more mainstream and are a quick and easy way to find out what your body is lacking and how you can improve your health and wellbeing.

Instead of having to go through a doctor, these types of tests can be done at home and test you on the very basics and offer insights on your health so you know what areas in your diet and activity you should focus on – although that’s not to say you shouldn’t go to the doctors if you’re having health issues!

As someone who’s always looking for ways to improve my fitness and energy levels, a new membership that stood out to me was Healf Zone. Healf Zone is a membership programme which combines test kits, products and consultations to create a unique plan using your body’s data.

I was offered to test out Healf Zone for myself, and after I got past my initial squeamishness, I was extremely surprised to find out what vitamins and nutrients I was deficient in.

Note: as of writing, I’m currently trying the products I’ve been recommended in my Healf Zone plan and will need to take another blood test in a few months time to determine how my levels have improved. With that in mind, this is my early verdict of the membership plan and I will update this review once I’ve had my end results.

Healf Zone review: price and availability

To sign up to the Healf Zone membership and receive a test kit, it costs £29 a month or £289 annually.

What this unlocks is two at-home blood tests each year, 1:1 consultations and a full dashboard that shows off your blood test results, biomarkers and personalised product recommendations. Healf Zone subscribers also get priority access to exclusive events and new products when they hit the Healf website.

Healf Zone review: testing process

The Healf Zone at-home blood test kit arrived at my house and despite the small box, it was packed full of sample bags, test tubes, and cleaning and heating pads. It came with detailed instructions on how to start testing and get set up with Healf Zone and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was relatively easy to do.

First, I filled out a questionnaire on the Healf website about my lifestyle and what I was hoping to get from the test kit. These questions included my age and gender, how often I exercised, what foods I avoided, and alcohol intake.

For what I was hoping to improve, I ticked digestion, fitness and energy levels. I’ve had a very busy year with work trips and organising and attending my own wedding, so to say I’ve been tired, stressed and not eating my best is an understatement, so I was hoping Healf Zone could tell me what I should be doing to get myself back on track.

After the questionnaire, I had to take the blood test portion of the kit. Now, there’s a reason why I haven’t done one of these tests before and it’s because drawing blood makes me feel a bit faint but I actually found it very easy and painless to do – so trust me, if I can do it, you can too!

There are strict parameters on when to do the test. For example, it has to be done on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday and ideally in the morning after you’ve fasted from the evening before. Once I registered my test via the QR code on the test box, I started the blood test.

The Healf Zone test kit comes with a Tasso+ device which is essentially a cap with a needle on it that clips onto your arm. I had to draw blood twice from each arm, so after I sanitised my arm, I attached the first test tub to the device before clicking it on. You feel a sharp scratch and then you wait for a few minutes for your blood to start coming out and for it to fill up to the line on the test tube.

Once I’d done the first tube, I did the same on the other arm. Each tube is colour coded and you take different amounts of blood for each one. As I’ve said, drawing blood makes me a bit nauseous, but this was very easy and it only takes about a thimble full of blood.

After all the yucky stuff was over, I screwed up the tubes and put them into the test bag before labelling and dating everything. I sent this over and I received my results via my email two days later which was extremely speedy.

Healf Zone review: results and consultation

My test results came back showing that out of the 38 biomarkers that I was tested for, 30 of them were optimal, 1 was borderline and 7 were out of range. Looking at my results further via the Healf Zone dashboard gave my basic information on what the nutrient, vitamin or mineral was and how being low or high in it can affect the body.

I wasn’t surprised to find I was low in B12 as I have been in the past. When I took the test, I’d just come back from holiday where I’d overindulged on food and drink so I wasn’t surprised by my low protein intake either, but I was confused about why I was high in copper.

When my results came in, I was immediately recommended lots of products that could help balance my levels. I didn’t want to buy anything before I knew what I needed and why so I set up a consultation with one of Healf Zone’s experts who explained what everything meant.

The consultation took half an hour or so and the expert I spoke to was extremely in-depth and helpful. She explained what my results meant and asked me questions about my lifestyle and routine before she suggested the products that would work best for me and other things to work on.

To balance my levels, the products that have been suggested for me are a digestive enzyme to help with digestion, B12 supplements for folate and B12 levels and zinc to optimise copper levels. Other things the expert suggested was to add more protein into my breakfast, bitter foods to help with digestion and avoiding too many fluids while eating.

If you do try Healf Zone, I definitely recommend having a consultation before buying anything as after I spoke to the expert, I was told I didn’t need half of the products that were immediately generated for me.

Healf Zone review: early verdict

As mentioned, I’m still in the early stages of trialling how these products work for me so I’ll be back with a proper verdict and star rating after I’ve had a final blood test. But in general, I found the at-home blood test and questionnaire quick, easy and thorough.

The consultation was the best bit for me, as it was nice to actually speak to a person about what to improve on and what products I actually needed instead of the site just generating it for me. The price is quite high for the membership, and then you have to pay for the products too, so it’s not inexpensive but it could be worth it if it helps improve your biomarkers – which I’ll get back to you about as soon as I can!

Healf Zone review: alternatives to consider

If you fancy trying a personalised nutrition test, Zoe is one of the best we’ve tried. It tests your gut health, blood fat analysis, blood sugar levels, and diet, plus the testing process is easy and the results come back quickly. We also enjoyed Lingo which looks at blood sugar levels as it’s worn directly on the skin and takes results throughout the day.