Episode 84 - Genetic Markers Transcript

[00:00:32] So today's episode we're going to talk about the immune system and inflammation, and we're going to look at some of the genetic markers that predispose people to inflammation, that also predispose people to having maybe some autoimmune conditions and then some of the lab testing we can do to discover if those genes are expressing, and then some of the things you can do to manage these people to actually get support.

[00:01:16] Inflammation is now recognized as at the heart of just about every disease known to mankind. Everything that ends in "itis" has to do with inflammation, gastritis, hepatitis, encephalitis, etc., So almost everything including cardiovascular disease and cancer, are attributed to inflammation in the body.

[00:02:01] You start to help people who have given up hope, who have been to all the conventional medical doctors and not gotten hope and just been put on steroids or other anti-inflammatory medications, you actually help them to get their lives back. Then you become their hero and they start referring all their friends and family members because they want their family members to get the same results.

[00:02:41] So let's start with genes. I believe that when you can look at genetic tendencies and you can explain to people that they have predispositions based on their genes, and then you can do some lab testing to show them whether these gene manifestations, these gene risk factors are manifesting, expressing themselves. And then you can help them to guide them and change their diet and lifestyle, you have more clout with them.

[00:03:31] There's a series of genetic markers that predispose people to inflammation and autoimmune, and I'm going to mention a few of them. There's tons of these. We really just want to get familiar with a handful and learn how to test the genes, what reports to look at, and which ones to look at based on what the symptoms are based on your thorough history with a person. So HLA histocompatibility locus antigens. There's a series of those. There's an HLA, there's HLADQA1 and A2, DQ2.2, and DQ8.

[00:05:00] And if somebody has these predetermined genetics and they've had early exposure, especially to gluten, to activate this, Then they're more likely going to have a problem with gluten that may manifest yes as diarrhea after eating gluten-containing foods, but it may also manifest as ADHD, growth delay, emotional schizophrenia.

[00:05:55] I tolerate gluten, okay. Is what people tell me. I'm like, why are you here? Well, I'm depressed. I have thyroid dysfunction. I have this autoimmune condition, right? So we have to look at these genes and explain to them the connection. So those are some.

[00:06:35] TNF-α, TNF. That one is related to inflammation, cytokines, right? That and IL6, and there's a whole bunch of others related to cytokines. IL6, IL3, IL13, interleukins, right? Some of them are anti-inflammatory. Most of them are inflammatory, right? So these are the things that if people have some of these in their genetics, they're going to be more prone. To inflammation in autoimmune disease, and we know that just about every autoimmune disease, I don't know of any that have been proven not to be related to leaky gut.

[00:07:31] It could be longer in some people, and some people don't actually feel a difference. I had a person. Who had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, which is an autoimmune disease that causes everything to be dry, dry eyes, dry mouth, dry mucus membranes. And I worked with her, I got her off of wheat. I got her off of a lot of things, but and she mostly was off of gluten.

[00:08:17] It wasn't dry and icky like most of them. And I started eating it more. Ugh, are you willing to go off of gluten completely for six months? She said, absolutely. So she did, and one of the biggest symptoms she had with her autoimmune was exhaustion. So she went, she went off the gluten completely and then she had some family crisis and she was having to stay up late to tend to relatives.

[00:09:03] And she went back and thought about things and realized it was six months almost to the day that she had completely given up gluten. This was, I don't know, 10, 12 years ago, and she's still gluten-free to this day and she stays away from it. Her autoimmune disease is under control, right? She also got her life back.

[00:09:44] It's other things and some people it's accidental exposure. We had somebody who was just gluten-free and doing all this stuff and just still had nagging symptoms and he went and did a wheat zoomer test, which is a test vibrant America does. He went and did that test and it showed that he had exposure to gluten.

[00:10:23] So these are the genetic markers. So how do we look at some of the lab testing? Well, there's the obvious. Inflammatory markers. C-reactive protein. C-reactive protein, highly sensitive is the one that I recommend. HS-CRP. There's erythrocyte sedimentation rate, also called ESR, or SED rate. These are inflammatory markers, but they're generalized, so they're not specific, and I've seen people with full blown autoimmune diseases where C-reactive protein is not severely elevated.

[00:11:14] More and more are starting to do it now. Risk of cardiovascular, but also brain dysfunction, brain inflammation. So test their CRP, test their homocysteine. When homocysteine is elevated, it's most likely to be a deficiency of B vitamins, B6. B9 and B12, 6, 9, 12. Okay. B2 can be involved, magnesium can be involved, has to do with methylation pathways.

[00:12:05] And I've even seen naturopaths who don't always do this, is fatty acid testing. There's some testing that you can do and people can do it at home because Genova has a testing where they just have to prick their fingers. It's a blood spot. It tests their omega-3s, omega-s, omega9s, saturated fats, and you get to see what the balance of the fats are.

[00:12:49] Almond milk has a 72:1 ratio of 6:3, so we have to be careful that we're getting enough threes compared to our sixes, right? We have to make sure that we're getting a good balance of fats. Saturated fats aren't bad, it's just bad saturated fats are bad. Hydrogenated. Oxidized fats are bad. So we have to look at those ratios and see is this person in an inflammatory state?

[00:13:47] We can't convert them. So you can do some testing to see how the person is on various things, but B vitamins are essential. You'll get most people, they don't get enough because they're eating a lot of refined foods. B3, B6, B9, B2, biotin, vitamin C, magnesium, a lot of nutrients. Are affected, and if you look at the handout we give you, which is reinventhealthcare.com/immune guide, I have some charts in there that you can use to determine and help you guide you with the foods and the nutrients that people may need in order to get this fatty acid in balance.

[00:14:50] Cyrex Labs has a panel, I think it's called Array 5 that will test for 36 different autoantibodies and then you can determine if they don't want to spring $500, I think is what the test cause that you can look at what their symptoms are, which goes back to doing a really good history. Then determining which of the autoantibodies might be there.

[00:15:35] My sister died of heart disease. Maybe I need to take note of this, right? They may not be as inspired for thyroid, but you know, you can test for lupus antibodies. You can test for collagen antibodies. Again, I use them to motivate people, not necessarily to determine my management protocol because I treat.

[00:16:19] Inflammation, autoimmunity, it's so common here. Immune disorders. Over the last years where we've been in a pandemic situation, we owe it to our patients and our clients to help them to get the best immune system possible. We can do that when we really understand it. We have other podcast episodes on the immune system.

[00:17:00] So, Take charge. Help people to truly get well. Don't buy into the symptom suppression model, even if it's symptom suppression with great herbs. Anti-inflammatory herbs are great. Ginger and turmeric and they help support, but we need to get to the root cause and help people truly get well. So invite you to visit inemethod.com and learn more about all the great systems and support and the way we approach health and our NEPT program, which is nutritional endocrinology practitioner program, which is a certification in how do you help people with root cause?