Nutrigenomics and nutrigenetics, also known as nutritional genomics and nutritional genetics, may seem like relatively new words and that’s because they are! Science has only just begun to understand the relationship between nutrition and genetics within the last decade.
How many of you have been to the doctor’s office for a checkup? I’m sure most if not all of you and probably more than once. Probably multiple times. We start seeing doctors from birth. First a pediatrician, then a general practitioner, sometimes we choose a more holistic approach and see a naturopath, a chiropractor or in cases where we get ill, we see a specialist or even a surgeon. Sometimes, let’s face it, we have multiple doctors.
Often doctors will play a guessing game determining or addressing our health based on “what if?”. Now this might sound far fetched because we are taught to look up to physicians, but is it? Most of us believe the doctors know all the answers and this is what they went to school for. A very wise doctor once told me that doctors are practicing medicine. They go into practice and the reason is they don’t know all the answers. They know the anatomy of the body and how it works which of course is very important, but doctors still rely heavily on the patient to express their family history and present them with the symptoms that brought them into their office to begin with.
Every doctor’s intake form has asked for generations what diseases your mom, dad, siblings, and grandparents have had. Do they or have they ever had any of the following: heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, asthma, cancer, arthritis, depression, etc.? The list is a long list of aches, pains, and diseases where we simply check yes or no based on what we have been told or not told by our family members. And what if you are adopted and simply don’t know any of your family history? Or your family never discussed their health? Some families don’t want to scare their children or tell them what’s really going on with them.
Doctors diagnose your health based on symptoms you might or might not be having and what if? What if he/she might get heart disease because her grandmother did? Maybe I should give her beta blockers? What if he/she has a family history of diabetes and their bloodwork is showing he/she is borderline diabetic? Do I prescribe metformin now or later? What if? Doctors have relied on family history which has been speculative up until now.
Imagine knowing what diseases you might be predisposed for? What happens when we know based on your DNA? How will your life change for the better?
This is exactly what Nutritional DNA testing does. It gives us a personal blueprint of your health based on your DNA. There is no more guessing what you inherited from your family. It simply tells us which genes you have acquired or not acquired.
The reports you receive are all based on your actionable genes. This means that there are scientific studies that demonstrate that people with certain weaknesses (called SNPs for Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) can be understood and supported with diet, lifestyle adjustments, and supplementation to maximize the potential within each person to adapt to the environment and stresses in life.
What exactly does that mean to you and how can this help you to lead a longer, healthier life?
Imagine you get your DNA results back and it shows you are a high risk for Alzheimer’s. That could be scary to know yet it’s so much better knowing you have this in your DNA because of science we now know that just because you inherit the gene and are susceptible to Alzheimer’s doesn’t mean you will have this terrible disease because Nutritional DNA tells us what foods you should and shouldn’t eat, what lifestyle changes are best for you and what supplements your body needs to keep this gene turned off. We simply have the choice to change our day-to-day life now so we can have longevity in the long run.
This is a much better way to take control of your health than a guessing game of “what if” and being prescribed medications to mask the symptoms instead of addressing the root cause. We believe that when people have the facts they regain their power to make positive choices to avoid becoming sick or ill. Nutritional DNA allows you to become more empowered to make those decisions. It gives you the answers you have been seeking. It allows you to choose the right path for your health and it allows us to help you heal your body.