What is Total Protein?

Name: Total Protein
Creator: Dr Robin Wang

Written by Dr Robin Wang

Total Protein is the amount of protein circulating in the blood, reported as one figure. Albumin accounts for most of it, and a mixed group known as globulins accounts for the rest.

Test your Total Protein See related biomarkers

Why does Total Protein matter?

Albumin carries substances through the blood and helps hold fluid inside the vessels. The globulins are mostly antibodies, made by the immune system.

How does Total Protein relate to other markers?

Albumin is measured directly, and Globulin is what remains once Albumin is taken off the total. A change in the total is therefore a change in Albumin, in Globulin, or in both, and the only way to tell which is to read Albumin alongside it.

What affects Total Protein?

What moves albumin moves the total: reduced production by the liver, protein lost through the kidneys or gut, or dilution from extra fluid in the blood. Long-running infection or inflammation works through the globulins instead, by raising antibody production.

Why Do Health tests Total Protein once a year

Albumin circulates for around three weeks, and antibody production moves over weeks and months, so their sum can only shift slowly. A difference between one annual test and the next therefore reflects a change that has held for months. This is Do Health's monitoring schedule, not a general recommendation for everyone.