Nutrigenetics is the study of the relationships between genes, diet, and health outcomes.

​

Our genetics are highly complex, and health conditions are usually a combination of the effects of numerous genes interacting with each other and with our environment (diet, lifestyle etc).  

For every gene you inherit, you have two copies. One from your mother and one from your father.  For many of our genes, there are several different variants of the gene that have come to persist through evolution, and it is the combination of these variants that makes us all unique.

 

Most of these variants have persisted in our genomes because they have imparted some kind of evolutionary benefit.  Many of these variants however with today’s diet and lifestyles can confer health risks rather than benefits. The good news is that we can modify our diet and lifestyle factors to get the best out of our particular genetic lot. 

​

We don’t all have the same requirements for all nutrients.   We differ in how effectively we convert particular nutrients to their active or beneficial forms, the way we sense and metabolise energy from food, how our hormone systems respond to stress, how our immune systems respond to infections, allergens, foods and our own tissues, and how well our bodies detoxify hormones, metabolic by-products, toxins and histamine.  Some of us have structural variants in our connective tissues, teeth or bones, whilst genetic variants in multiple areas help orchestrate our behavioural psychology and neuropsychological response to diet, environment and life-events. 

 

We are privileged  to have the opportunity to analyse our own personal genomes, and put to use the findings from decades of scientific and medical research to improve our health, wellbeing and help prevent chronic disease.    By knowing more about the variants we carry,  we can try to adapt our nutrition and lifestyle to optimise our health and reduce disease risk.    

 

Simply knowing that you have a greater need for vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin B12, folate, B6, omega-3, choline  or iron, or that a high-carb or ketogenic diet may not not suit you metabolically, or that your ability to break-down histamine is poor, or that you do or do not have the genes for Celiac disease, or iron-overload disorder can enable you to take simple steps to support these factors to improve your health, wellbeing and longevity.

 

Nutrigenetics can either be added on to your personalised nutrition programme or you may book a one-off  consultation. 

 

When combined with Personalised Nutrition, we gain the added wealth of information about you that I can gather from your genetic analysis, in addition to your health history, signs, symptoms, diet etc. 

Genetic analysis takes some of the guesswork out of my 'health-detective' work, trying to identify the root causes of your health issues.  It can help me to more accurately determine where to focus, and help you onto an improved health path..

​