What Can You Learn From a Genetic Test?

Here at The Wellness Academy, we believe that knowing your genes is the key to personalized health and wellness programming.

Why? Because you can learn a lot from your genes! Unfortunately, many people tend to think that genetic testing is just for determining your ancestry or checking to see if you're predisposed to a specific disease or not. And while those things are true, genetic testing allows you to gain insights into how your genes function and how they impact your overall health and wellness.

When you take a genetic test, it looks at a selection of genes  that work together to provide you with a blueprint for how your own body functions. Here are the major areas where genetic testing can give you insight into your body's functionality and where you can make better diet and lifestyle choices that will be more optimized for you.

CELLULAR

Our genes have an impact on our bodies all the way from the cellular level, and can have an effect on the following processes:

Methylation: This is the process of repairing cells, making new DNA, and ensuring that your cells are working well overall. A genetic test can give you insight into how well this process is working.
Inflammation: The right amount of inflammation in the body is healthy, and helps speed up the healing process. Chronic disease appears when there's too much inflammation — and you can learn through genetic testing how well your genes keep inflammation at bay.
Oxidative Stress: Unchecked oxidative stress can lead to fatigue, memory loss, and other disease, and you can learn how well your genes handle this kind of stress.
Detoxification: A person's genes can inform how their body can dispose of toxins that build up. You can learn how well your cells work to detoxify your body, and if you need to change your environment to reduce toxins.

After competing a genetic test, we were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found at their cellular level, which included a modification to their workout regiment to optimize performance, body composition, and recovery.

SYSTEMS

Genes also play an impactful role in keeping your systems functioning and communicating with one another. Genetic testing can give you insights into your mood and behavior changes, as well as how to improve your memory and brain health. It can also inform you of your histamine tolerance, as genes regulate histamine production. You can also gain insights into your hormonal balance and glucose and insulin regulation. You can also learn more about how your genes affect your joints and your bone health.

We were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found at their systems level, which included the addition of a few targeted supplements to help remove excess histamines from his diet. This helped him reduce and eliminate symptoms such as seasonal allergies, itchy skin, and chronic headaches.

CARDIOVASCULAR

Our genes also contribute to a well-functioning cardiovascular system in the following ways:

Blood clotting: Certain genes affect how well your blood clots, so genetic testing can help you determine if you need to take steps to stave off a stroke, heart attack, or other clotting issues.
Cholesterol: Genetic testing can also give you insight into how your body stores and metabolizes cholesterol, which can help you make better food choices.
Vascular Health: Specific genes also contribute to the strength of your blood vessels, so genetic testing can give insights into how strong or weak your circulatory system is.
Blood Pressure: Certain genes also impact your heart's ability to contract and relax, which may impact your blood pressure.

We were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found about their cardiovascular system, which included a modification to their diet to add in more monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats.

ENERGY

Genetic testing can also uncover what's affecting your energy levels and weight management, as specific genes can influence things like your appetite and how satiated or full you fill at the end of a meal. Genes can also influence something called adipogenesis, or the storage and release of fat cells, as well as whether fat triggers excess inflammation. They also influence how easy or difficult it would be for you to gain or lose weight. Genetic testing can also give you insight into how your body expends energy and burns calories as well.

We were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found about their energy levels, which included adding one additional rest day to her workout plan. This allowed her body the recovery it needed which in turn, helped her to optimize her workouts and ultimately lose the weight she was struggling to lose.

ACTIVITY

You can also learn more about how your body responds to various types of activities by learning more about your genes. Since genes influence aerobic training and oxygen usage, a genetic test can provide insights into your fitness levels and your potential. It can also tell you whether your body is more conditioned for endurance exercises, like running or biking, or for more power exercises, like sprinting or weight lifting. Knowing how your genes impact bone and joint health can also help you mitigate any injuries you may experience while exercising as well.

We were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found about their activity levels, which included recommendations on how many days she should be doing cardiovascular exercise (like running, cycling, and swimming) and how many days she should be doing strength training to optimize her body composition.

NUTRIENTS

Finally, your genes can tell you a lot about what types of nutrients are best for your body, and how well your body absorbs and metabolizes them. Your genes can affect how your body processes caffeine, iron, fatty acids, choline, folate, gluten, vitamin D, salt, vitamin C, and vitamin B12, and knowing how they do can help you make better food choices.


We were able to give recommendations to a client based on what we found about their nutrient absorption, which include recommendations on specific supplementation. In her case, she was using a multivitamin full of nutrients her body wasn't absorbing well. After seeing her test results, we were able to recommend an alternative multivitamin which was more appropriate for her body.

 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

As you can see, genetic testing can tell you a lot more about you than just your ancestry! Genetic testing is the way to discover how your individual body works, and which lifestyle and diet choices you can adopt to help optimize your health, wellness, and longevity.


Ready to start your personalized health journey?  Book a FREE discovery call with Erin to learn how genetic testing can help you optimize your health plan.

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