Jun 18, 2020
Finding out your genes increase
your risk for a disease can be quite scary.
It almost sounds like your fate,
your health is dictated by your genetic makeup.
But your genes don’t have to be
a life sentence.
You don’t have to accept that
fate...well, not yet.
What if I told you that you can
still change the course of your health?
That you can fight against and
lower your risk for...
Neurodegenerative conditions
like Alzheimer’s Disease or Dementia.
Or that a gene could be the
reason you’re finding it hard to lose weight.
Are your genes truly your
destiny?
Well, I believe that you can
still rewrite your ‘health’ destiny and weave something more
beautiful.
Something that doesn’t restrict
or limit the quality of your life.
Something that lets you scream
out at the top of your lungs...
Yes, I can fight this! My genes
are not in control, I am!
Because that is what we all need
to become.
We all have to become empowered
health warriors.
Armed with the knowledge about
our risk factors and motivated to make the necessary
changes.
Lifestyle changes are powerful
because our health isn’t completely based on our genes.
A personalised lifestyle
plan and genes both affect your lifespan.
A proper diet and
nutrition.
Exercise, movement, and physical
activity.
Getting enough sleep.
All of these including a whole
host of other factors have an impact.
Genes are still
important.
They play an important role in
our lives, but we don’t understand them fully.
Despite what we already
know, there are still common misconceptions about
genes.
For those of you who have done
genetic testing, what were your results like?
Does seeing those red, green,
and yellow results give you a better understanding?
Or maybe, it only increased your
frustration and confusion.
It might be that you became more
anxious about your health.
Far from being the empowered
individual, you end up being more stressed.
Stressed about what your future
would be.
Some people are even more
susceptible to getting more stressed than they already
are.
Oh, what to do now?
Build the right team that
supports and guides you.
Look for a functional medicine
practitioner.
Or someone that has training and
knowledge in this space.
There have been more and more
practitioners like myself who’ve been interested and working
towards improving their knowledge.
So they can help people like
you.
Now’s not the time to take a
backseat.
We’re talking about your health
here.
And you are the
driver.
Not your genes, but
YOU.
So strap on your seatbelt and
shift the gears.
Don’t worry though because I’m
here to guide you.
Check out this new episode
as we go over:
- The
common misunderstandings surrounding genes and
epigenetics
- How
nutrition and environment have an impact on your genes
- Dr.
Denise’ own risk and the applications for people in a similar
situation
- What
to be mindful of when getting a genetic test
- The
common gene variations associated with neurodegenerative
conditions
Episode
Highlights
- Finding The
Genes Affecting Health
- Common
Misconceptions On Genetics And Your Health
- How Genetic
Variations Impact Your Health
- Understanding
Your Genetic Risk Factors
- Genes Impact
On Stress Levels
- Genes Role
With Weight Gain
- Other Factors
To Consider About Your Genes
- The Biggest
Takeaway About How Genes Affect Your Health
About Our
Guest
Dr. Denise Furness is a molecular geneticist and nutritionist. She
spent 20 years studying the relationship between our genes and our
environment, and has focused on nutrient genomics or the
relationship between what we eat and how to fix our
genes.
You can connect with Dr. Denise
through her website, Your Genes and Nutrition
or reach out to her on her
Facebook.
Genes, Lifestyle
Choices, And Your Health
Finding The Genes
Affecting Health
- The difference
between a clinical geneticist and a molecular geneticist is that a
clinical geneticist works in diagnosing rare genetic disorders
linked with disease.
- Dr. Denise is
an academic and scientist which involves having an understanding of
viruses.
- Her work eventually led into
animal work, but she shifted to nutrigenomics and got her PhD and
postdoctoral fellowship on that.
- She
worked on research for almost 10 years before moving into private
practice.
- She
now works in helping children with autism, people with chronic
fatigue, and those facing cognitive decline by identifying the
underlying issues affecting their health.
Common Misconceptions On
Genetics And Your Health
- Your
genetic makeup plays a large role in your predisposition to health
and disease.
- Our
genes are the instructions to make the proteins, but they need to
be turned on.
- Nutrients and amino acids are needed to be able
to make proteins.
- Exposures to chemicals and toxins also heavily
influenced gene expression.
- You
need to be in balance by having a better relationship with your
genetic makeup and making sure it’s nourished with the right amount
of food, activity, and sleep.
How Genetic Variations
Impact Your Health
- MTHFR
is not a diagnosis for any disease.
- Genetic variations could have a small or large
impact on how well a gene functions.
- In
the case of MTHFR, it makes an enzyme that functions a little
slower.
- By
adding a bit more folate and B2, you won’t have a huge demand on
methylation.
- The
slight variations can be modified through diet and lifestyle. This
is where personalisation comes in.
- What
you need to look at is the relationship between something in your
body at a cellular level and how it plays out when you don’t get
the right nutrients.
- There
is an association of different factors that increases your risk to
experience a disease.
- Being
able to manage the stressors in your life becomes important to
managing those factors.
- It’s
about looking at a number of genes in the pathway and the nutrients
that affect that pathway.
Understanding Your
Genetic Risk Factors
- Professor Rodrigo Quinn believes that we need
to close the gap between understanding our relationship with our
body and mind, the dynamic connectome.
- While
many practitioners don’t recommend genetic testing, it will
actually be helpful.
- As
long as you can feel empowered by getting this information, then
get tested.
- Dr.
Denise's mother passed away from Dementia. She herself has APOE 34.
APOE is implicated in the risk for cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s
Disease, and Dementia.
- There
are no medications to compensate, but evidence shows lifestyle
intervention can improve quality of life.
- APOE
is a lipid or fat transporter.
- Most
or about 60% of the population (Europeans and Caucasians) are APOE
33. This means they have an average risk for Alzheimer’s Disease or
about 5%.
- Those
with APOE 34 have up to a 20% risk. For those with APOE 44, their
risk jumps up to 70%.
- Knowing your risk factors means you can start
to do things earlier.
- APOE
44 is strongly associated with Alzheimer’s Disease, but it is not a
cause. Nigerians have the highest frequencies for APOE 44, but they
have the lowest onset for Alzheimer’s Disease.
- The
main difference between Nigerians and other African populations
with high incidences of Alzheimer’s Disease is
lifestyle.
- Nigerians have low cholesterol, are active, and
eat a high fiber diet.
- With
lifestyle changes, even if you are APOE 44, you can bring your risk
down to normal.
- By
stacking things in our favor, through movement, diet, proper sleep,
we can reduce our risk of expression.
- Dementia is not an older person’s disease. It
starts as early as our 30s and 40s.
- APOE
is linked to inflammation too.
- A lot
of genetic variations are sorted as either good or bad. But these
genetic variations may also have benefits. For example, those with
slower MTHFR have less DNA damage and can reduce the risk of cancer
linked with DNA damage.
- With
the amount of research being done, we should watch this space as we
learn more.
- In
the meantime, genetic testing is worth looking at.
- Some
things to consider including eating a high fiber, low glycemic
diet, eating healthy fats, and checking whether you have a
disrupted circadian rhythm.
- Your
circadian rhythm is responsible for turning on and off genes at
certain times.
- Those
with APOE gene are shown to be better responders to
exercise.
- Another gene to look at when it comes to
cognitive decline is brain derived neurotrophic factor
(BDNF).
- BDNF
is the gene important for regenerating neurons that we lose over
our lifetime.
- Exercise has been shown to light up the brain
and increase BDNF.
- You
should also monitor your stress levels because BDNF suppresses the
expression of BDNF.
Genes Impact On Stress
Levels
- Some
of us would have a more stressful response to difficult situations
because of the way we’re wired.
- People with genetic variations in
Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT)
and have a slow COMT will be lacking in magnesium and B
vitamins.
- COMT
is responsible for breaking down dopamine, adrenaline, and
noradrenaline.
- People with a slow COMT experience a heightened
stress response.
- The
positive side is that someone with COMT has a really good capacity
for executive function and thinking.
- By
understanding your genetic predispositions, you can be a bit more
logical and do little things that can help you like taking
magnesium.
- Coming up with the ingredients and the tools in
your personal toolbox can help you navigate the changes in your
life.
Genes Role With Weight
Gain
- Some
people have a genetic predisposition towards weight
gain.
- The FTO
gene is one of the strongest predictors of weight.
- FTO
is responsible for your ability to utilise fat as
energy.
- There’s no easy answer to being able to lose
weight, but that shouldn’t mean that you give up.
- There
is no one diet for everyone. Maybe you’re more sensitive to sugar
or you’re more sensitive to fat. The diet that would work for you
would depend on some things.
- Don’t
get stuck on numbers and how many kilos you’ve lost. Look at body
composition and health.
Other Factors To Consider
About Your Genes
- Past
traumas such as being bullied or exposure to toxins could also be
factors affecting your health.
- Dr.
Denise has a functional medicine approach where she looks at a
whole host of things including sleep, and gut
microbiome.
- When
it comes to genetic testing, it’s best to work with a practitioner
who has done some training, look for a functional medicine doctor,
or find someone who specialises in nutrigenomics or
genetics.
- Be
cautious about things like Ancestry and 23andMe.They have a wealth
of data, but not the ones you want.
- Understanding your genetic makeup and what that
means is very complex.
- Having somebody work with you through that is
better than doing the guesswork yourself.
- More
and more practitioners are becoming interested in the integrative
medicine space or functional medicine space.
Previously Recommended
Resources
Articles
- A
favorable lifestyle was associated with a lower dementia risk even
among participants with a high genetic risk. So despite the “gun”
being loaded so to speak with lifestyle modifications you can
reduce your personal risk. Association of Lifestyle and Genetic
Risk With Incidence of Dementia:
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2738355#joi190074r34
Books
3 Related Episodes You Might Like To Listen To
The Biggest Takeaway
About How Genes Affect Your Health
Understanding your genetic
makeup and what it means is a complex pitch. There are many
different dance partners around a gene that are going to enable
expression of that in many different ways.
Quotable “We can start to stack
things in our favor and reduce our risk of expression by starting
to make simple lifestyle choices.” - David Norris
What was your BIGGEST takeaway
from this episode?
All the best
David
P.S. Did you get the free
guide? If not, here’s the link.
Disclaimer: Always
seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified healthcare
provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical
condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in
seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on
my website.