We live in an incredibly toxic environment, from household cleaners to personal care products, the air we breathe and the water we drink, we are exposed to more than 80,000 chemicals per day^[1]! As these chemicals accumulate, we get sicker and sicker. We begin to experience things like brain and mood issues, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, depression, fatigue, insomnia and sleep issues, just to name a few. 

Think of your body as a bucket. Now imagine the toxins that surround us in daily life are the liquid that slowly fills that bucket. With each toxic exposure, drop-by-drop your bucket becomes fuller. A drop here and there isn’t so important, as our immune systems were designed to handle a degree of toxicity, However, chronic exposure to an onslaught of chemical, physical, and emotional stressors fill up your bucket each day. At some point, the bucket begins to overflow. It may take a few decades before the bucket spills over, but once it does symptoms arise and disease manifests.

We now know that chronic chemical exposure^[2] can change gene expression. We call this Epigenetics. According to the CDC^[3], “Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.” This means that most of the genetic issues we are experiencing are not genetic as we may have been told but are environmental. That’s good news! That means that, essentially, if we can downregulate (turn off) a gene by a toxic environment, we can upregulate (turn on) it as well!

According to Dr. Ben Lynch, the author of Dirty Genes, “Exposure to harmful chemicals can be overwhelming. If your body is staggering under a huge chemical burden, your genes are going to be frantically trying to compensate for the strain.”^[4] Genes that have been downregulated by toxicity can be easily cleaned up through diet and lifestyle changes. The goal is to work with diet, chemical exposure, and lifestyle to maximize the benefits while minimizing the drawbacks. “Before we can begin blaming things on our genes, we need to see if our lifestyle, diet, nutrition, mindset, and environment (both indoor and outdoor) are influencing their function.”^[5] says Dr. Lynch.

This is where advanced DNA testing comes in. With a simple saliva sample, a person’s entire genome is sequenced and encrypted to generate comprehensive reports. It is now possible through proper analysis to help determine how best to provide lifestyle advice and nutritional supplementation for the individual. This new testing is the most advanced, most accurate, and most thorough genetic testing possible.

These reports include:

• Neurocognitive Panel
• Detox Panel
• Hormone Management Panel
• Cardiometabolic Panel
• Energy & Performance Panel
• immunity & inflammation Panel
• Cellular Health Panel:
• Nutritional Regulation Panel
• Hologenomics Panel:
• Weight Optimization Panel
• Summary Panel

This DNA test sequences the entire genome of some 25,000 genes, not just 2-300 genes like the more popular commercialized DNA testing on the market today.

With this testing we can now better understand issues such as, age related cognitive loss, age-related muscle loss, gut microbiome and the gut-brain connection, immune system performance, and how best to provide individual lifestyle advice and nutritional supplementation.

Since everyone’s genome is different, we can also determine environmental challenges, and gain lifestyle insights such as how much exercise supports optimal health, how much alcohol and coffee a person can use, and which foods support individual innate cellular processes.

Once testing is complete, our Functional Medicine team at Elite Virtual Health will put together a comprehensive detox and lifestyle plan custom to the individual needs of the patient.

We look forward to helping patients optimize their health through this milestone breakthrough of genetic reporting. Paired with our Cellular Health Program, patients can now improve their gene expression and take their health to the next level. To learn more, visit our website at www.EliteCellularHealth.com

^[1] www.nrdc.org

^[2] www.researchgate.net

^[3] www.cdc.gov/epigenetics

^[4] Lynch, 2018, pg.14

^[5] Lunch, 2018 pg. 19