Knowing the hand…
For the last decade or so, I have been involved in using personal genetic information to assist clients in making decisions about their unique healthcare requirements. I use the term ‘healthcare’ deliberately and precisely because most of what your general practitioners are involved in with you is disease management.
One of the reasons that GPs end up in disease management is that there are not very many tools to play with in healthcare. There isn’t enough traction – and certainly nothing GPs could leverage an income off – in telling people to stop smoking, stop drinking, stop eating, work smarter, exercise, and be the person you almost certainly can’t be.
Now with a molecular understanding of the human genome and the molecular understanding of nutrition, one can build a very good business – advising people on an individual basis about the subtleties of nutrition along with their particular gene code.
Knowing the hand you are playing helps you play your hand.
It is very empowering to realise that your struggle in the world is independent – from a genetic point of view – from that of your fellow human being, and that what suits them may indeed not suit your own gene code expression.
The now more quoted ‘N=1’ – looking at you as an individual – allows us to get away from the smoothing power of meta-analysis.
To give you an example of this, at the centre of your very metabolic being is a process called the carbon one cycle, C1. The carbon one cycle generates a range of molecules that are utilised to build your body, your endocrine system, your energy system, and amongst other things, your detoxification system.
The carbon one cycle produces methyl groups (structural units of organic compounds) by cleaving them off methionine (an essential amino acid in humans) and leaving products such as homocysteine and adenosylmethionine behind. Homocysteine is used in your detoxification system, and adenosylmethionine is used in energy production, amongst other usages.
Homocysteine is re-methylated using vitamins B12, B6, B2, and folate, as well as cofactors such as zinc.
The genes that control these processes vary from individual to individual, and the term SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) describes these variations.
MTHFR sub-variant c677T is one of the better-known variations, and the SNPS associated with this gene require different amounts of B12 and folate to make them work adequately compared to other variants. The Irish famine of the 1870s graphically demonstrated this gene’s requirement for those nutrients. Quite apart from frank starvation, high incidences of neural tube defects occurred during this time – with high levels of foetal loss and impaired infants relating to low levels of folate.
This finding is translated to today’s pregnancy supplement, folic acid, commonly recommended as a nutrient in the first three months of pregnancy to prevent the neural tube issues.
The above is an example of variances being more meaningful to different individuals and of course, there are hundreds of thousands more examples to play with.
As we age, the requirement for these vitamins remains. It follows that once our food choices decrease because of our declining mobility, and our accessibility to good quality food reduces, then taking a vitamin supplement such as VIVOcell (available from www.dnafood.co.nz) is recommended. The American Medical Association recommends routine vitamin supplementation.