Gene testing is becoming one of the hottest and fastest ways to identify underlying drivers for all sorts of health conditions. From something as simple as a saliva swab, your genetic "blueprint" can be unlocked to display a wide of body processes and how you, as an individual, perform them.

Unlike the recently-publicized BRCA1 genes that are "directly" linked to an illness, Nutrigenomic Testing can reveal imbalances, strengths, and weaknesses in the building blocks of your body it can tell you how your body processes and metabolizes nutrients and therefore predict with good accuracy any relevant strengths and weaknesses which may manifest physically.

Your body is constantly making new cells. To do this, cells must make a copy of the DNA contained in them. Sometimes they make small errors during this process. These errors are called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs (pronounced "snips"). SNPs represent a difference in a single nucleotide (A, T, C, or G) in a DNA sequence.

SNPs are the most common type of genetic variation among people. In fact, it is estimated that you have around 10 million SNPs in total. While many SNPs don’t seem to have any obvious effects, some may lead to differences in your health or physical appearance.

They may also help predict your risk of developing certain diseases, your response to different medicines, and your susceptibility to environmental factors such as toxins. SNPs can also be used to track the inheritance of disease genes within families.

Nutrigenomic testing is preventative medicine at its best! There is no other way of obtaining such a wide variety of extremely individual information about your body. As a practitioner, I find this tool amazing when dealing with long-term or chronic illnesses. It has also proven very useful for hard-to-manage weight loss clients, as it can identify the underlying drivers of the hormonal imbalances that so often drive it.

We use two different companies to analyze our client's gene profiles, depending on what we are looking for and also for cost.

The profiles can range between $90 for "a few" genes to be analyzed, to $495 for entire profiles which can cover up to 100 gene "SNPs".

Recently, one of the companies released a "new and improved" profile of testing.  Covering 100 genes, the test covers:

• Lipid Metabolism
• Metabolic Syndrome and Diabetes
• Inflammation
• Sodium Sensitivity
• CoQ10
• Omega 3 and Omega 6
• Vitamins – B2, B6, B12, C, D, E
• Choline
• Methylation - Folate, and cofactors
• Caffeine Metabolism
• Coeliac Disease
• Lactose Intolerance
• Oxidative Stress
• Phase I and Phase II Detoxification (liver metabolism of toxins)
• Weight management
• HPA axis and stress responses
• Sleep and seasonal variations
• Exercise Response 

This is by far the most comprehensive test in Australia at the present time.  For anybody curious about their family's health concerns, please feel free to contact us for more information. This is such a HUGE topic, I will write some more again on how various components of the test might help you unlock your own potential to the best possible health you can have!