One of the main pillars of Nutrition Genome is the understanding that one diet does not fit all because we are all different. It is also why so many studies and sources of dietary advice seem to continually contradict. If you look at diets around the world, the...

APOE Gene Added to the Nutrition Genome Report Recently, the FDA gave 23andme the approval to tell people their APOE gene variant that is associated with late-onset Alzheimer's disease. I have received requests from practitioners to add this gene to the Nutrition...

The Impressive Research of Cold Therapy In the beginning of March, I randomly picked up a book called What Doesn't Kill Us: How Freezing Water, Extreme Altitude and Environmental Conditioning Will...

I want to demonstrate how very simple strategies can have major epigenetic benefits on your health. Sometimes it is as straightforward as the air we breathe, the water we drink and following our ancestor's dietary wisdom. Fasting Reverses Diabetes? Starting with our...

What are Genes and the Genome? Genes are segments of DNA that tell your body how to function and what traits to express. The "genome" refers to the complete set of DNA. People have about 20,000-25,000 genes in their genome. Every person has two copies of each gene,...

In the 1970s and 1980s, about 1 in 2,000 children had autism. In 1994, it was 1 in 150. Today, 1 in 68 has autism and 1 in 6 in the US has a developmental disability. The first born boys have the highest risk. That is a dramatic epigenetic change. There have been...

The Genetic Clues to Longevity In the book, The Blue Zones, National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner and a team of researchers studied the lifestyle and dietary habits of the world’s longest-lived people in Sardinia, Italy; Loma Linda, California; Nicoya, Costa Rica;...

The epigenome is made up of chemical compounds and proteins that can attach to DNA and direct such actions as turning genes on or off. Epigenetics is the study of how this expression occurs from our diet, environment, relationships and stress. According to David...

The APOA2 Gene, Saturated Fat and Weight Gain I have received questions regarding the latest email from 23andme linking a certain gene called APOA2 to a higher BMI (body mass index) for the GG genotype when the consumption of saturated fat is over 22 grams. The APOA2...

The Importance of Choline For some of you that have had a Nutrition Genome Report done, you may have seen heterozygous and homozygous variants in PEMT that decreased choline production and increased your need for dietary choline. Choline is mainly talked about in the...

One important part of the Nutrition Genome Report looks at sensitivity to heavy metals with lead, aluminum, and mercury being highlighted. People who have a heterozygous or homozygous variant in MTHFR 1298 are much more susceptible to the harmful effects of heavy...

For the last few decades, the rate of infertility in the United States has increased. Infertility is defined as not being able to get pregnant (conceive) after one year of trying. It has been estimated that between 16 and 25% of all couples have serious difficulty...

A study came out in 2015 that was able to show how vitamin C can epigenetically reprogram melanoma cells. While this study uses a lot of complicated jargon, I will attempt to simplify it. Approximately 99% of animals produce their own vitamin C and do not require it...

The neurotransmitter section of the Nutrition Genome Report looks at the GAD1 gene for glutamate. The GAD1 gene is connected to the conversion of excess glutamate to GABA. People who have numerous gene variants in GAD1 have a slower conversion of glutamate to GABA,...

PEMT stands for phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase. That is quite a word! This gene encodes an enzyme which converts phosphatidylethanolamine to phosphatidylcholine by methylation in the liver. Methyltransferases control methylating capacity of the cell.  In...