Nutrigenomics

Nutrigenomics is the science of understanding our inherited genetics in the context of nutrition and lifestyle choices.  It is the study of how food affects our genes and how our genes affect the way our body responds to food.  It is relevant to our risk of developing certain diseases, as well as the potential to optimise our health and longevity.  Genetic testing can be an enormously helpful tool to maximise our physical and mental health.  It maps our inborn vulnerabilities and gives us an opportunity to understand and address them.

There is no human who has a perfect genome and we all have inborn errors of genetic code, many of which can be helped by optimising our diet, using specialised nutraceuticals, and modifying our lifestyle choices.  Our genes are not our destiny but rather they interact with our food and lifestyle choices to promote either health or disease or anywhere in between.  Some variants in our genetic code can influence our ability to absorb and utilise certain nutrients.  Some variants can impact our ability to generate energy.  Some variants can impact our longevity.

The reports I am using are specifically interested in genetic variants that can be impacted by nutrition and other lifestyle factors rather than identifying a genetic trait that we cannot do anything about.  Everything that we examine has a clinical utility, or a remedy that can be introduced, whether that is nutrition, lifestyle or removing toxins. Often the genetic potential will be there for something to go wrong, or present a vulnerability to be exploited, and then we need a trigger to make the problem happen.  The genetics is the potential and the lifestyle choices, or nutrition choices, or adverse life events, are the trigger that exploits that genetic weakness. It could be a toxin, stressful event, or food allergy, and this can trigger a cascade of events that then impacts our health. It is a combination of genetics, nutrition and lifestyle that are could be keeping that problem in play.

The company I use is Lifecode Gx and the reports I am offering are:

Nutrient Core: This foundational test analyses how gene variants can affect food tolerance (and intolerance), appetite control and blood sugar balance, vitamin and mineral needs, detoxification ability, and susceptibility to inflammation and infection.  This is the best report to begin your exploration of gene/nutrient interactions.

Other specialised reports are:

Metabolics

Methylation

Hormones

Oestrogen

Nervous System

Detoxification

Histamine Intolerance

APOE

Athlete

Please contact me if you would like to begin this exploration.