Understanding Genomics (eBook)

INTRODUCTION:
A PEEK INSIDE PANDORA’S BOX

My wife and I frequently exercise together, but whether it’s running or riding bikes, she almost always outperforms me. She has the endurance of a champion. Even when it comes to keeping up with the kids, she always seems to have an advantage. We thought it was funny and could joke about it, but I’m also a competitive person, which motivated me to push myself harder. It wasn’t until later when we found out why those activities always came easier to her than they did to me. It turned out that she actually did have an advantage that neither of us was aware of, and it was linked to her genes.

A couple of years ago, we both decided to try out 23andMe. Like the commercials advertise, you send in a swab of your DNA, and the results tell you about your heritage. It’s a good conversation piece, and it’s exciting to learn where you come from. I was born in Cyprus, so I thought I was 100 percent Cypriot, but it turns out that I’m 48 percent Sardinian. Who knew?

There is also a genetic component to the test. We learned many fun facts about eye color, taste buds, hair color, and a slew of other traits. What we found even more interesting was that it turned out that my wife had a common genetic mutation that allowed her to perform athletically.

The ACTN3 gene controls whether muscle cells produce a protein called alpha-actinin-3, found in fast-twitch muscle fibers. According to 23andMe, “While some people don’t produce this protein at all, almost all of the elite power athletes who have been studied have a genetic variant that allows them to produce the protein. This suggests that the protein may be beneficial at least at the highest levels of power-based athletic competition.”

I didn’t have that gene, which on the surface seemed like a minor detail, but it made me realize that only a small difference in our genetic code could have such a significant impact on our bodies and how we function as humans. That got me thinking about what else I could learn by studying my genes.

I’ve always been curious about the human body—its functions, and how it can be improved naturally. That’s why I became a chiropractor. Time and time again, I saw how making adjustments to the spine and removing obstructions could help the nervous system better send signals to and from the brain. Chiropractic school required taking a lot of nutrition courses. That further piqued my interest, and led me to expand my knowledge through seminars before becoming certified as a nutrition specialist. What followed was an interest in functional medicine. Now, for over 18 years, I’ve applied both nutrition and functional medicine to my practice and saw how much it helped my patients get better faster, stay healthier longer, and prevent certain conditions while managing their medication and its side effects.

Despite the great strides we’ve made in health care and nutrition, there is always room for improvement. I’ve watched people work so hard to reach retirement only to spend their time going from doctor to doctor and taking medication after medication, which prevented them from traveling and enjoying their kids and grandkids as they anticipated. That’s why I continue to keep up on the latest scientific research, because I like to know what’s coming and how I can use it to further help my patients. I have a personal drive to see how I can use science to set me apart from the other practitioners.

I learned about genomics when the Human Genome Project was completed in the early 2000s. For the first time ever, scientists were able to study the complete genetic blueprint of a human being. I was fascinated. Information was limited at first, but the field rapidly began to grow. I saw a shift taking place, and there was an opportunity with genomics that wasn’t there before to truly personalize medicine. I set out to learn as much as possible, and completed a two-year certification in Genetics and Genomics at Stanford University, one of the leading universities in the field. I walked away from that course with the knowledge of how to use DNA, genetics, and nutrigenomics to further improve the level of care and treatment I could provide my patients. With functional medicine, I set out to treat the root cause of a particular disease, but with the inclusion of genomics, I would be able to take that one step further by identifying the pathway of those diseases to possibly prevent them from even developing.

It started small. The first patient I treated using genomics was an autistic boy who had traveled from overseas with his mother because they didn’t have the resources where they were from. When I started to see results, my practice expanded. One female patient of mine went through three IVF procedures and couldn’t get pregnant; each time, she suffered a miscarriage. She just wanted a child, and it wasn’t happening, so her mother-in-law referred her to me. We did a genomic test and learned that she had several mutations, including a COMT mutation, which is a mutation that made her prone to miscarriages. I put her on a three-month detox and had her postpone her next IVF procedure until after the detox. We then created a food and supplement plan specific to her genes. The following IVF procedure was successful, and today she has a beautiful girl.

I’ve since gone on to treat hundreds of patients for conditions that include cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, obesity, low testosterone, vitamin D deficiency, and cancer. I don’t claim to have a cure for any of these diseases, but the paradigm has shifted in medicine: Your genes are no longer your destiny.

Did you know that if you have the GSTT1 gene mutation, there is an increased chance of getting certain cancers during your lifetime, because that gene keeps the cancer cells in your body low?1 There is nothing we can do about that. Your genes don’t change over time, but we can change how those genes are expressed—or turned on and off—through diet, supplementation, exercise, lifestyle, and outside environmental factors. If you know your genetic makeup and what conditions you might be predisposed to, you can use that information to give yourself a better chance of not developing those conditions. And if you do have certain conditions, knowing your genetic blueprint can change how you approach treatment.

I’ve tested the genome for some patients and discovered they had a mutation that impacted how they processed statin medication. They were then able to consult with their doctor to adjust their dosage and frequency to minimize side effects without altering the drug’s effectiveness. That’s the field of pharmacogenomics, and it’s rapidly growing. The FDA has done extensive research on the genomic predisposition to certain medications and is starting to develop guidelines to determine the drugs and dosage for specific gene mutations.

Once you know your genetic information, you can improve your health immediately through simple changes. The main reason why people don’t do it is that this information is not wildly available. It’s also highly complex and difficult to understand, so they don’t even try. That’s where I hope to bridge the gap. I want to make this material simple and easy to understand, so you can begin making small changes to your daily life that will have a significant impact.

I’ll bet you didn’t know that you can immediately improve your health and well-being, starting today, merely by taking a different B-12 vitamin? The most common form of B-12 comes from a natural source called methylcobalamin, which can be found at almost any store that sells supplements. However, since 70 to 80 percent of the patients I’ve treated over the years have the MTHFR mutation, adenosyl/hydroxy B12 is more beneficial than the common B12 supplement. Not only is it natural, so it’s absorbed and retained in the body differently, but it can help change the way specific gene mutations linked to widespread diseases are expressed. Just that one minor detail changes the science behind how you medicate yourself and can significantly impact your overall health, but so few people know about it.

Genomics can also be used to impact the world of sports and training. Doctors today can use genetics to determine an athlete’s susceptibility to certain injuries, which allows them to train differently to prevent those injuries. Genetics is even responsible for an individual’s own athletic ability. For example, those who have the same elite athlete gene as my wife should train differently than those who don’t. They have fast-twitch muscle fibers compared to slow-twitch muscle fibers, which means they benefit from exercises (or a series of exercises) with quick bursts and fewer repetitions, such as circuit training and plyometrics. The more I work with clients, the more I’ve seen how adapting workouts according to their genetic makeup can improve their performance. What’s funny is that now, whenever a new client walks into my office, I can usually tell if they possess that gene just by their stature, musculature, and the way they carry themselves.

Now that the cost of studying your DNA has significantly decreased and become affordable for the average person, genomics has become a significant part of what I do at my practice; but the medical world is only scratching the surface when it comes to learning what is possible. It’s an exciting time in science and medicine because Pandora’s Box is just starting to open, and we are getting our first peek inside, but there is no sugar coating it—genomics is...