Albumin is one of our bodies’ most important proteins. It is produced by the liver and found circulating in our blood. It is by far the most abundant protein in plasma and has several important functions in our bodies, such as:
Maintaining a proper balance of fluids between blood vessels and tissues
Transporting substances including hormones, fatty acids, drugs and ions
Binding and buffering acids, helping your body to maintain its pH balance
Providing nutrition to tissues
A normal albumin suggests that numerous functions in your body are in balance, known to decrease the risk for disease and increase the chance for a longer and healthier life compared to diverging albumin. Tracking your albumin over time together with the other biomarkers in BioAge can also help you better understand your biological aging.
Since albumin is one of the most important and abundant proteins in the body, measuring albumin can provide valuable information about a person’s overall health. To be more specific, measuring albumin could be relevant for several reasons including:
Monitoring inflammatory processes
Evaluating liver function
Evaluating kidney function
Evaluating nutritional status
Evaluating fluid balance
Tracking biological age with BioAge
Low levels of albumin, also known as hypoalbuminemia, suggests low circulating levels of albumin in your bloodstream. Basically, the underlying physiological process behind this is one or several of the following:
Affected production, indirectly meaning an affected liver function, can occur in conditions like cirrhosis, hepatitis and liver failure. To even suspect these conditions, you would also have to show several symptoms and test values indicating these relatively rare conditions.
Inability to retain albumin it in the circulatory system, also known as protein loss, seen in kidney disease and inflammatory diseases. In these cases, a urine sample will often show elevated levels of protein, and the symptoms related to these conditions are often pronounced and prominent.
Fluid retention, which causes the blood to dilute. This can be caused by liver disease and congestive heart failure. The simple explanation here is that the same amount of albumin is measured in a greater volume of fluid, thus decreased.
Malnutrition, causing a protein deficiency and thereby low albumin levels.
Low levels of albumin, also known as hypoalbuminemia, suggests low circulating levels of albumin in your bloodstream. Basically, the underlying physiological process behind this is one or several of the following:
Affected production, indirectly meaning an affected liver function, can occur in conditions like cirrhosis, hepatitis and liver failure. To even suspect these conditions, you would also have to show several symptoms and test values indicating these relatively rare conditions.
Inability to retain albumin it in the circulatory system, also known as protein loss, seen in kidney disease and inflammatory diseases. In these cases, a urine sample will often show elevated levels of protein, and the symptoms related to these conditions are often pronounced and prominent.
Fluid retention, which causes the blood to dilute. This can be caused by liver disease and congestive heart failure. The simple explanation here is that the same amount of albumin is measured in a greater volume of fluid, thus decreased.
Malnutrition, causing a protein deficiency and thereby low albumin levels.