Inside the IGL mitochondrial test
The supplied 2023 sample report is not one test so much as a suite of blood-cell assays: ATP handling, mitochondrial membranes, antioxidant defenses, nutrient cofactors, DNA adducts and a 24-substance cellular-toxin screen. The biology behind those targets is real. Whether IGL’s specific measurements reliably diagnose disease or direct treatment is not established.
What the report is trying to see
IGL Labor GmbH in Wittbek, Germany, describes itself as an integrative “medical epigenetics” laboratory. Its classic panel asks whether blood cells can make and move ATP, whether mitochondrial membranes appear stressed, and whether antioxidant, detoxification and nutrient systems look constrained. These are the components shown in the supplied sample report and described in IGL’s own test catalog ↗.
ATP profile & translocator
Measures cellular ATP with native and added magnesium, ADP-to-ATP conversion, and the claimed movement of ADP into and ATP out of mitochondria. In plain language: does the battery charge, and can its power get out?
Membrane potential & pH gradient
Attempts to read the electrical and chemical gradient that powers ATP synthase. IGL’s exact public method for these measurements could not be verified independently.
Cardiolipin & respiratory-chain context
Looks at cardiolipin synthesis and membrane phospholipids, plus cytochrome-c-oxidase–related signals. Cardiolipin is essential inner-membrane scaffolding; the report’s clinical interpretation remains investigational.
DNA adducts
Reports chemicals claimed to be covalently attached to leukocyte DNA and links them to genomic locations. This is not the same as proving that an exposure caused a disease or changed a gene’s activity in the patient.
SOD1, SOD2 & SOD3
Profiles superoxide-dismutase activity across cytoplasmic, mitochondrial and extracellular compartments—an attempt to map defenses against superoxide and their mineral cofactors.
Glutathione systems
GST and glutathione-peroxidase measurements aim to assess toxin conjugation and peroxide clearance. These pathways matter biologically; the panel’s treatment utility has not been independently established.
Metallothionein & metal balance
Examines proteins involved in binding mercury and cadmium and in handling zinc and copper. An abnormal research result is not, by itself, proof of heavy-metal poisoning.
NAD, carnitine & fructose metabolites
Red-cell NAD is used as a niacin-status signal; carnitine supports fatty-acid transport into mitochondria; fructose-phosphate markers are framed as a window on metabolic or liver stress.
The cellular-toxin page, explained
IGL calls iEC “intracellular Electrical Capacity.” Lymphocytes are isolated from blood, and the lab attributes an electrical/capacitive signal to each target substance. The iEC-24 report takes four measurements, then displays an arithmetic mean and mean absolute deviation in nmol/l. A publicly available redacted report ↗ prints these four lab-defined bands:
Standard 24: aflatoxin B1, aluminium, antimony, benzoquinones, BPA, cadmium, CTABr, chlorotoluenes, chromium VI, diesel exhaust gases, formaldehyde, fumonisin B1, fungisterol A, glyphosate/AMPA, lead, lindanes and isomers, inorganic mercury, organic mercury, nickel, nitrosamines, organophosphates, phthalates, polybrominated biphenyls and triclosan.
Interpret carefully: the report says its reference values are validated only for lymphocytes. No peer-reviewed validation of the iEC method itself was found in our review, and a clinic document’s claim of 98% precision was not backed by a method-validation paper. A colored band should not be treated as proof of exposure, toxicity or a need for detox treatment.
Promising mechanism, disputed test
The ATP-profile idea traces to work by Sarah Myhill, Norman Booth and John McLaren-Howard. Their 2009 study of 71 ME/CFS patients and 53 controls reported a strong relationship between a composite mitochondrial-energy score and disability (P<0.001). Read the original paper ↗
The strongest independent check points the other way. In 2019, teams in Newcastle and Oxford replicated the protocol in 10 patients and 13 controls and found no difference in any score component (p ≥ 0.059). A 24-hour processing delay significantly changed many readings. The authors concluded the test lacked the reliability and reproducibility required for an ME/CFS diagnostic test. Read the replication in Scientific Reports ↗
ATP energetics, cardiolipin, NAD, carnitine, SOD, glutathione and metallothionein all have established roles in cell biology.
That IGL’s exact blood-cell assays measure those systems reproducibly enough to guide individual clinical treatment.
The ATP profile as a diagnostic test for ME/CFS; the 2019 independent replication did not reproduce the original signal.