HEALTH in BALANCE
Holistic Nutrition & Lifestyle Medicine
MY PHILOSOPHY
From the perspective of a cell and molecular biologist turned nutritional therapist, Nutrigenomics & Nutrigenetics is the art and the science of translating the research findings from genetics, cell and molecular biology into practice to help people improve their health and well-being.
Knowledge of some of your key genetic variants can help you not just for the present but your entire life. Your genetics don’t change, but living in harmony with your genes enables you to optimize your health in light of your genetic individuality.
Keep in mind that there are limitations as to the accuracy and reliability of genetic analysis. Associations are only as accurate and representative as the studies used to determine them, and we are usually working with a limited sampling of your genes rather than your entire genome. Furthermore, research is ongoing, and the body of data expands and is refined with every year that passes.
Nutrigenetics/Nutrigenomics
Nutrigenetics is the study of the relationships between genes, diet, and health outcomes, whereas Nutrigenomics is the study of how genes and nutrients interact at the molecular level. 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 look at some specific gene variants for which we know a lot about their altered functions and their impacts, and we also utilise broader analysis based on genom-wide-association studies (GWAS) to gain insight into predispositions for certain health issues, or personal traits. Thousands of your gene variants are plugged into the computational algorithms to estimate your propensity for the health traits, based on the associations found through these studies
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 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 our bodies detoxify hormones, metabolic by-products, toxins and histamine. Some of us have structural variants in our connective tissues, teeth or bones, and genetic variants in multiple areas affect 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 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 does not suit you metabolically, or that your ability to break-down histamine is poor, or that you 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 nutritional therapy programme or you may book a one-off consultation.
When combined with Personalised Nutrition/Nutritional Therapy, 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 imbalances. It can help me to more accurately determine where to focus, and help you onto an improved health path.
Pricing:
Pricing includes the time for me to dig into your genetic variants and incorporate this information into your complete health picture and your advice prior to your consultation. As an add-on, the consultation will be up to 60min longer to enable specific discussion on your genetic variants. You can choose to book a separate consultation for this if that is more practical. Your Nutrigentics report is 500kr, unless your require a different specialised report**.
Nutrigenetics add-on (to nutritional therapy) 1400kr, 60min (+ report, 500kr**)
One-off nutrigentics consultation 2h, 3600kr (+ report, 500kr**)
A one-off consultation focused on physical and mental health, disease prevention and longevity based on your genetics and current health status.
Who is this for? You don’t have any particular health issues you feel you need ongoing support for, but you would like advice to optimize your health, wellbeing, longevity and disease prevention based on your unique genetics, together with your own personal health history, signs, symptoms and characteristics.
You will complete a health questionnaire and food diary as with Nutritional Therapy, and you can also provide any past test results for me to consider.
If you would like to pre-order a blood test get in touch when booking.
Initial nutritional therapy + genetics consultation 2-3h (3900kr) (+ report, 500kr**).
(New clients wanting to include their genetic information into their programme from the start)
Additional deep-diving into your genetics that requires significant manual gene-variant searching can be added on. Contact me to discuss your needs.
Additional costs prior to your consultation:
DNA test* (if you don’t already have your raw genetic data in ‘rs-number’ format (ca 1000kr from 23andme).
Detailed genetic variant report (covers a broad span of topics)** 500kr
Report contains information about your individual genetic variants, what they affect and what diet/lifestyle factors are helpful vs unhelpful. Sufficient for most people.
* I recommend 23andme for most people for covering health-related genetic variants. If you have specific needs or wish to use a different service, contact me for advice prior to ordering. Note: Nebula and Dante Labs offer whole genome sequencing, but the turnaround time is very slow and I cannot use the raw data for further analysis.
**If I consider a different report or genetic analysis service would be more suitable for your needs I will recommend the most suitable test and reports for your needs). Eg. Breast-cancer risk, Alzheimer's risk, Female fertility, Comprehensive Methylation, or Detoxification.
If interested just get in touch....
You are welcome to request a free discovery call to discuss your needs and goals to help decide the best consultation type for you and how to go about it all.