| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
experiencelifemag.com
Print › | Back ›
Individualized Nutrition
The ideal diet, the spot-on supplement strategy – can a few simple tests help
you carve out the one and only nutritional program that's perfect for you?
By Lani Willis |
September-October 2002 |
Since ancient times, healers have been fascinated with the notion of our
human uniqueness. Certainly, the idea of personalizing a nutritional plan to an
individual is nothing new. The traditional Greek, Chinese and Ayurvedic
traditions all prescribed food-based remedies based on highly detailed
observations and intuitive knowledge gathered about the individual patient. And
of course, modern health professionals regularly identify individual nutritional
deficiencies and suggest dietary solutions.
Suddenly though, "individualized nutrition" and "personalized medicine" have
become the phrases on the lips of many of today's most visionary health,
wellness and fitness professionals. In fact, many insist that personalized
nutrition is poised to become the next diet megatrend. Thanks to breakthroughs
in genetic research and clinical testing, this custom-tailored approach to
nutrition is becoming more practical, more sophisticated and vastly more
promising ¯ not just for the acutely ill or severely deficient, but for average
individuals who want to maintain their ideal weight, maximize vitality, slow
aging and steer their bodies out of genetic danger zones. Getting On the "You" Boat
Most of us have gotten used to receiving our nutritional wisdom in the form
of lowest common denominators and rules of thumb – food pyramids and RDAs aimed
at no one in particular, new-deal diets and supplements that work for some
people, and wreak havoc on others.
Well, to heck with recommendations for the average individual: This is all
about your chemistry, your genetics, your own biological quirks and
physiological anomalies. Armed with the right knowledge (most of which is
currently available in the form of relatively straightforward lab tests), you
can proceed much more directly to the diet and supplementation that is precisely
right for your unique body.
Individualized nutrition helps you detour around the over-generalized advice,
vitamin-bottle hyperbole and popular-diet fads that define most people's
approach to nutrition. It also helps you bypass the trial-and-error approach
that traps so many in mystifying yo-yo weight cycles and low-energy eddies, and
saves you the trouble, expense and potential danger of supplementing and
medicating in areas you shouldn't be.
Individualized nutrition is not to be confused with popular diets, like the
Blood Type Diet, that simply group people into blood or metabolic “types.” The
theory behind such diets is that our type characteristics reflect the path of
our ancestral evolution over 40,000 years or so, and that this evolutionary path
– the result of natural selection based on genetic variations – determines our
core physiology and the nutrition we require to feel and function our best.
While useful in some ways, the weakness with purely type-based diets is that
they only present part of the story – a story that is long on theory and
historical conjecture but short on confirmed, individually based fact. Rather
than link your nutritional plan to educated guesses about where your physiology
came from, most individualized nutrition experts would rather see you consider
precise, clinically established data about where your biochemical and genetic
makeup stand right now.
Just as no two people have matching fingerprints, neither do the have
identical biochemical, anatomical and molecular characteristics. Roger Williams,
Ph.D., a renowned biochemical expert who in 19566 published Biochemical
Individuality – the first major work on this topic – proved that we inherit
unique nutrient needs because we inherit unique digestive, absorptive and
enzymatic patterns. The complex interlay of these patterns, and enormous
resultant variety of biochemical results, Williams argues, means that there is
no such thing as a “normal” or “average” human body, and that in fact,
“practically every human being is a deviate in some respects.”
Over the period of a day, one “normal” person’s body may metabolize and
excrete several times more of a particular mineral than another’s might. Over a
period of weeks or months, one person may require significantly more of a
certain nutrient to stay healthy. It stands to reason that if a large group of
people were fed precisely the same dietary intake, some would thrive, while
others would suffer symptoms of excess or deficiency. For some, the results of
such an excess or deficiency might be relatively minor. In others, the
deficiency might cause the emergence of allergies or intolerances that weren't
previously apparent; it might also flip a genetic "switch," causing them to
develop a hereditary disease that, under ideal nutritional conditions, they
might have successfully avoided.
As Williams wrote in Biochemical Individuality, "The whole problem of human
health and welfare is vastly different if the population, instead of being
composed mostly of individuals with normal attributes, is made up of individuals
all of whom possess unusual attributes – individuals who deviate from the normal
range in several of the numerous possible particulars."
Of course, Williams' 1950s hypothesis has now been conclusively borne out by
the mapping of the human genome. We now know that there are more than a million
single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – points in the genome where individuals
differ in their genetic sequence. These account for an astonishing number of
"possible particulars," and perhaps even more astonishing implications for the
health industry.
It is now apparent, for example, that two individuals with slightly different
genes will metabolize substances (such as those found in food, supplements and
pharmaceuticals) at tremendously different rates and with very different
effects. They may be prone to totally different diseases, and respond very
differently to nutrient and drug therapies. These are factors, however, that
remarkably few traditional diet, supplementation and pharmaceutical strategies
take into account. And that's something crusaders for individualized nutrition
are determined to change. Designer Diet
Dr. Gregory H. Tefft, a chiropractor, board-certified naturopathic physician
and author of For Your Body Only, is one such crusader. In his book, Tefft begs
his readers to forego "miracle" diets and one-size-fits-all nutritional advice,
and instead opt for a plan as unique as they are.
Tefft's book (and, ultimately, the entire argument for individualized
nutrition) is based on the premise that because each person is biochemically
unique, each requires a customized diet for optimal health. Individualizing your
diet, says Tefft, can relieve the root causes of diseases, as well as eliminate
the cause of many chronic problems like fatigue, rashes and weight gain. By
giving your body precisely the nutrients it needs, you can achieve a state of
unprecedented wellness while sidestepping the all-to-common and dangerous
practice of superficially treating the symptoms of deficiency and
intolerance.
Of course, arriving at all the right answers involves acquiring some solid
data. In his book, Tefft suggests an astonishing variety of detailed typing and
profiling mechanisms, from "quick checks" based on home-based evaluations of
easily observable data like blood and body type, pH balance, pulse rate, hair
and skin characteristics, to a battery of clinical tests that deliver precise,
detailed and quantitative profiles of your body's biochemical, hormonal,
metabolic and genetic makeup. This information, by extension, can reveal latent
imbalances, dysfunctions and inherent physiological patterns that, with expert
guidance, you can often effectively correct or compensate for without medical
intervention.
Profiling of this kind usually requires you to supply some combination of
urine, hair, saliva and/or blood samples (the number, nature and schedule of
such samples will depend on the profiles you request). Your samples are analyzed
in a laboratory, and the results are compiled and reported to you and/or your
health professional.
Getting the results is easy. Interpreting and weighing the evidence is a bit
trickier, and that's where having good professional guidance is essential. It's
important to note, for example, that many blood, saliva and urine tests provide
only a snapshot of your body's biochemical status at a given time. Real
expertise is required to administer tests in the proper combination and at
proper intervals, to interpret the complex results, identify pathologies and
then determine a proper course of action. Genetic testing reveals the
information permanently encoded in your DNA, but it cannot, by itself, evaluate
how your genetic predispositions are currently playing out or suggest specific
strategies to optimize your genes' "expression" in the future. For that you need
professional experience and expertise, and some insightful suggestions about how
you can tailor your diet, supplementation and exercise strategies to fit your
personal biochemistry. Know It All
Unfortunately, while all the clinical knowledge and technology for
personalized typing and testing is currently available, and its value well
established, the actual practices of typing and testing are still not widely
understood or offered by most health professionals. As a result, individuals
seeking this sort of personalized-nutrition guidance may have trouble finding
it. "Sadly, there still aren't very many docs out there who know about this
testing or do it regularly," acknowledges Tefft. "Most doctors, when presented
with the research and results, become very interested. Still, it usually takes
months of studying the data to make them comfortable."
Dr. Heith Root, a chiropractic neurologist in San Antonio, Texas, has offered
individualized nutritional testing for several years, and has recently begun
offering patients nutritional guidance based on genomic testing for SNPs. While
the insights available through such tests are enormously important, he asserts,
"they still aren't being employed in most traditional healthcare practices." But
it's just a matter of time, he believes, until they are.
"Genomic tests can tell you which diseases you may be most predisposed
toward, to which preventative and treatment therapies you're likely to respond
best, and what kind of proactive nutritional program is most likely to keep you
in good health," says Root. The required DNA sample can be collected by a simple
mouthwash-swish procedure, and the costs are surprisingly reasonable. The line
of genetic tests Root offers – Genovationstm from Great Smokies Diagnostic
Laboratories (www.gsdl.com) – run $150-$250
each, and while some doctors mark them up, Dr. Root says he doesn't intend
to.
"I'm really happy to offer this at the lowest possible cost because it's so
important and so empowering for both the patient and the practitioner," he
explains. "It is like getting to finally pick up and look at cards you were
dealt at birth – cards that up until now have been lying face down on the table.
Once you know the hand you're playing with," says Root, "you can direct your
energy in a more focused, effective way."
Individualized-nutrition proponents like Dr. Root and Dr. Tefft particularly
appreciate that individual testing helps patients reclaim responsibility for
their own health through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. Rather than
inadvertently triggering problems through inappropriate diet and supplementation
choices, waiting for symptoms to show up and then seeking a doctor's help, this
testing, Root points out, lets you make more informed, proactive life choices.
It also lets you employ your doctor more as a health advisor and less as an
emergency fix-it person.
"Once you know what your genetic and biochemical weak links are, you can
learn how to avoid activating or exacerbating them," Root explains. "And even if
they are already activated, you and your doctor at least know how to treat the
problem most effectively."
To make information and access to individualized nutrition more widely
available, Tefft and others are launching a network called the American Society
for the Advancement of Personalization (ASAP). You can find out more about
individualized nutrition and ASAP by visiting www.dragondoor.com/b20.html or
calling 800-899-5111. You can also start researching health professionals in
your area who offer individualized-nutrition and genomic-testing guidance, or
who can offer more information on personalized-medicine clinics where you can
get tested.
Resources
For Your Body Only: Discover the Diet You Were Born to Eat by Gregory Tefft,
N.D., D.C. (DragonDoor, 2002)
Biochemical Individuality by Roger Williams, Ph.D. (McGraw Hill, 1998, second
edition)
Genetic Nutritioneering by Jeffrey S. Bland, Ph.D. with Sara H. Benum, M.A.
(McGraw Hill, 1999)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Individualized Nutrition
The ideal diet, the spot-on supplement strategy – can a few simple tests help
you carve out the one and only nutritional program that's perfect for you?
By Lani Willis | Nutrients Department,
September-October 2002 |
Since ancient times, healers have been fascinated with the notion of our
human uniqueness. Certainly, the idea of personalizing a nutritional plan to an
individual is nothing new. The traditional Greek, Chinese and Ayurvedic
traditions all prescribed food-based remedies based on highly detailed
observations and intuitive knowledge gathered about the individual patient. And
of course, modern health professionals regularly identify individual nutritional
deficiencies and suggest dietary solutions.
Suddenly though, "individualized nutrition" and "personalized medicine" have
become the phrases on the lips of many of today's most visionary health,
wellness and fitness professionals. In fact, many insist that personalized
nutrition is poised to become the next diet megatrend. Thanks to breakthroughs
in genetic research and clinical testing, this custom-tailored approach to
nutrition is becoming more practical, more sophisticated and vastly more
promising ¯ not just for the acutely ill or severely deficient, but for average
individuals who want to maintain their ideal weight, maximize vitality, slow
aging and steer their bodies out of genetic danger zones. Getting On the "You" Boat
Most of us have gotten used to receiving our nutritional wisdom in the form
of lowest common denominators and rules of thumb – food pyramids and RDAs aimed
at no one in particular, new-deal diets and supplements that work for some
people, and wreak havoc on others.
Well, to heck with recommendations for the average individual: This is all
about your chemistry, your genetics, your own biological quirks and
physiological anomalies. Armed with the right knowledge (most of which is
currently available in the form of relatively straightforward lab tests), you
can proceed much more directly to the diet and supplementation that is precisely
right for your unique body.
Individualized nutrition helps you detour around the over-generalized advice,
vitamin-bottle hyperbole and popular-diet fads that define most people's
approach to nutrition. It also helps you bypass the trial-and-error approach
that traps so many in mystifying yo-yo weight cycles and low-energy eddies, and
saves you the trouble, expense and potential danger of supplementing and
medicating in areas you shouldn't be.
Individualized nutrition is not to be confused with popular diets, like the
Blood Type Diet, that simply group people into blood or metabolic “types.” The
theory behind such diets is that our type characteristics reflect the path of
our ancestral evolution over 40,000 years or so, and that this evolutionary path
– the result of natural selection based on genetic variations – determines our
core physiology and the nutrition we require to feel and function our best.
While useful in some ways, the weakness with purely type-based diets is that
they only present part of the story – a story that is long on theory and
historical conjecture but short on confirmed, individually based fact. Rather
than link your nutritional plan to educated guesses about where your physiology
came from, most individualized nutrition experts would rather see you consider
precise, clinically established data about where your biochemical and genetic
makeup stand right now.
Just as no two people have matching fingerprints, neither do the have
identical biochemical, anatomical and molecular characteristics. Roger Williams,
Ph.D., a renowned biochemical expert who in 19566 published Biochemical
Individuality – the first major work on this topic – proved that we inherit
unique nutrient needs because we inherit unique digestive, absorptive and
enzymatic patterns. The complex interlay of these patterns, and enormous
resultant variety of biochemical results, Williams argues, means that there is
no such thing as a “normal” or “average” human body, and that in fact,
“practically every human being is a deviate in some respects.”
Over the period of a day, one “normal” person’s body may metabolize and
excrete several times more of a particular mineral than another’s might. Over a
period of weeks or months, one person may require significantly more of a
certain nutrient to stay healthy. It stands to reason that if a large group of
people were fed precisely the same dietary intake, some would thrive, while
others would suffer symptoms of excess or deficiency. For some, the results of
such an excess or deficiency might be relatively minor. In others, the
deficiency might cause the emergence of allergies or intolerances that weren't
previously apparent; it might also flip a genetic "switch," causing them to
develop a hereditary disease that, under ideal nutritional conditions, they
might have successfully avoided.
As Williams wrote in Biochemical Individuality, "The whole problem of human
health and welfare is vastly different if the population, instead of being
composed mostly of individuals with normal attributes, is made up of individuals
all of whom possess unusual attributes – individuals who deviate from the normal
range in several of the numerous possible particulars."
Of course, Williams' 1950s hypothesis has now been conclusively borne out by
the mapping of the human genome. We now know that there are more than a million
single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) – points in the genome where individuals
differ in their genetic sequence. These account for an astonishing number of
"possible particulars," and perhaps even more astonishing implications for the
health industry.
It is now apparent, for example, that two individuals with slightly different
genes will metabolize substances (such as those found in food, supplements and
pharmaceuticals) at tremendously different rates and with very different
effects. They may be prone to totally different diseases, and respond very
differently to nutrient and drug therapies. These are factors, however, that
remarkably few traditional diet, supplementation and pharmaceutical strategies
take into account. And that's something crusaders for individualized nutrition
are determined to change. Designer Diet
Dr. Gregory H. Tefft, a chiropractor, board-certified naturopathic physician
and author of For Your Body Only, is one such crusader. In his book, Tefft begs
his readers to forego "miracle" diets and one-size-fits-all nutritional advice,
and instead opt for a plan as unique as they are.
Tefft's book (and, ultimately, the entire argument for individualized
nutrition) is based on the premise that because each person is biochemically
unique, each requires a customized diet for optimal health. Individualizing your
diet, says Tefft, can relieve the root causes of diseases, as well as eliminate
the cause of many chronic problems like fatigue, rashes and weight gain. By
giving your body precisely the nutrients it needs, you can achieve a state of
unprecedented wellness while sidestepping the all-to-common and dangerous
practice of superficially treating the symptoms of deficiency and
intolerance.
Of course, arriving at all the right answers involves acquiring some solid
data. In his book, Tefft suggests an astonishing variety of detailed typing and
profiling mechanisms, from "quick checks" based on home-based evaluations of
easily observable data like blood and body type, pH balance, pulse rate, hair
and skin characteristics, to a battery of clinical tests that deliver precise,
detailed and quantitative profiles of your body's biochemical, hormonal,
metabolic and genetic makeup. This information, by extension, can reveal latent
imbalances, dysfunctions and inherent physiological patterns that, with expert
guidance, you can often effectively correct or compensate for without medical
intervention.
Profiling of this kind usually requires you to supply some combination of
urine, hair, saliva and/or blood samples (the number, nature and schedule of
such samples will depend on the profiles you request). Your samples are analyzed
in a laboratory, and the results are compiled and reported to you and/or your
health professional.
Getting the results is easy. Interpreting and weighing the evidence is a bit
trickier, and that's where having good professional guidance is essential. It's
important to note, for example, that many blood, saliva and urine tests provide
only a snapshot of your body's biochemical status at a given time. Real
expertise is required to administer tests in the proper combination and at
proper intervals, to interpret the complex results, identify pathologies and
then determine a proper course of action. Genetic testing reveals the
information permanently encoded in your DNA, but it cannot, by itself, evaluate
how your genetic predispositions are currently playing out or suggest specific
strategies to optimize your genes' "expression" in the future. For that you need
professional experience and expertise, and some insightful suggestions about how
you can tailor your diet, supplementation and exercise strategies to fit your
personal biochemistry. Know It All
Unfortunately, while all the clinical knowledge and technology for
personalized typing and testing is currently available, and its value well
established, the actual practices of typing and testing are still not widely
understood or offered by most health professionals. As a result, individuals
seeking this sort of personalized-nutrition guidance may have trouble finding
it. "Sadly, there still aren't very many docs out there who know about this
testing or do it regularly," acknowledges Tefft. "Most doctors, when presented
with the research and results, become very interested. Still, it usually takes
months of studying the data to make them comfortable."
Dr. Heith Root, a chiropractic neurologist in San Antonio, Texas, has offered
individualized nutritional testing for several years, and has recently begun
offering patients nutritional guidance based on genomic testing for SNPs. While
the insights available through such tests are enormously important, he asserts,
"they still aren't being employed in most traditional healthcare practices." But
it's just a matter of time, he believes, until they are.
"Genomic tests can tell you which diseases you may be most predisposed
toward, to which preventative and treatment therapies you're likely to respond
best, and what kind of proactive nutritional program is most likely to keep you
in good health," says Root. The required DNA sample can be collected by a simple
mouthwash-swish procedure, and the costs are surprisingly reasonable. The line
of genetic tests Root offers – Genovationstm from Great Smokies Diagnostic
Laboratories (www.gsdl.com) – run $150-$250
each, and while some doctors mark them up, Dr. Root says he doesn't intend
to.
"I'm really happy to offer this at the lowest possible cost because it's so
important and so empowering for both the patient and the practitioner," he
explains. "It is like getting to finally pick up and look at cards you were
dealt at birth – cards that up until now have been lying face down on the table.
Once you know the hand you're playing with," says Root, "you can direct your
energy in a more focused, effective way."
Individualized-nutrition proponents like Dr. Root and Dr. Tefft particularly
appreciate that individual testing helps patients reclaim responsibility for
their own health through diet, exercise and lifestyle changes. Rather than
inadvertently triggering problems through inappropriate diet and supplementation
choices, waiting for symptoms to show up and then seeking a doctor's help, this
testing, Root points out, lets you make more informed, proactive life choices.
It also lets you employ your doctor more as a health advisor and less as an
emergency fix-it person.
"Once you know what your genetic and biochemical weak links are, you can
learn how to avoid activating or exacerbating them," Root explains. "And even if
they are already activated, you and your doctor at least know how to treat the
problem most effectively."
To make information and access to individualized nutrition more widely
available, Tefft and others are launching a network called the American Society
for the Advancement of Personalization (ASAP). You can find out more about
individualized nutrition and ASAP by visiting www.dragondoor.com/b20.html or
calling 800-899-5111. You can also start researching health professionals in
your area who offer individualized-nutrition and genomic-testing guidance, or
who can offer more information on personalized-medicine clinics where you can
get tested.
Resources
For Your Body Only: Discover the Diet You Were Born to Eat by Gregory Tefft,
N.D., D.C. (DragonDoor, 2002)
Biochemical Individuality by Roger Williams, Ph.D. (McGraw Hill, 1998, second
edition)
Genetic Nutritioneering by Jeffrey S. Bland, Ph.D. with Sara H. Benum, M.A.
(McGraw Hill, 1999)
Print | Share
| Comment
|
|
Share on Digg
