Gene analysis
At a glance:
- With gene analysis, we can find out your predisposition to certain diseases.
- With epigenetics, it is possible to "turn off" these genes and thus prevent the disease.
- Genetics play an important role in your individual detoxification, drug dose and combination.
- Gene analysis in functional medicine should not be confused with analysis for mutations in the field of genetics.
Genetics in preventive and functional medicine
What is the role of genetics in our medicine?
Genetics - What is that?
Genes are sections of DNA that contain instructions for the structure and function of our bodies. Genetics studies how genes are inherited and how they can influence our traits, diseases and behaviors.
What does genetics mean for preventive medicine and functional medicine?
In preventive and functional medicine , genetics plays an important role in identifying disease risks and developing personalized treatment and prevention strategies..
Durch die Analyse von genetischen Variationen und Polymorphismen können wir Informationen über die individuellen Risiken eines Patienten für bestimmte Krankheiten sammeln. Dies kann dazu beitragen, Krankheiten in einem frühen Stadium zu erkennen und Maßnahmen zu ergreifen, um das Risiko weiterer Krankheitsentwicklungen zu verringern.
Genetics with the example of rheumatism
Rheumatism is a common joint disease that is always accompanied by severe inflammation of the joints. Inflammation is a complex response of the immune system to a threat or injury that serves to protect and heal the affected areas. In the case of rheumatoid arthritis, however, a faulty or overactive immune response can cause the immune system to attack healthy tissue and cause inflammation that can lead to pain, stiffness and damage to the affected areas.
But why does the body react like this in the first place? This is the most important question in functional medicine. And does this mean that the body also reacts in other situations with a strong readiness for inflammation? This readiness for inflammation is often genetically inherited. Knowing this, preventive treatment (with antioxitants) must be given, for example, in the case of an upcoming necessary operation where an inflammatory response is to be expected.
Why are gene analyses performed in functional medicine?
Making use of the knowledge about your own genes through gene analysis.
How good are my genes?
In functional medicine, gene analysis is used to identify individual weaknesses or strengths in a patient's genetic code. This can help us find possible causes for chronic diseases or otherwise unexplained symptoms and develop personalized treatment plans.
Thus, we get a picture of his/her personal vulnerable areas. For example, we can use a gene analysis to determine whether a patient has a genetic predisposition to a certain disease, such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease. If we detect this at an early stage, we can reduce the risk of a disease or even prevent its onset with targeted preventive measures.
It is important to note that in our practice we always perform gene analysis on a given indication, which has come to light in the detailed Medical history , not earlier.
Genetics in detoxification
Genetics also plays an important role in detoxification in your body. All foreign substances but also some of the body's own substances must be converted by your liver, kidneys, intestines, lungs and skin into less harmful substances and then excreted. This is done by certain enzymes for each substance. However, if your body, genetically, can produce this required enzyme less well or not at all, harmful substances remain in the body and accumulate. A gene analysis provides information about this ability of your body to detoxify certain substances. Detoxification is also an environmental medicine issue and thus one of our core areas in functional medicine.
Using genetics to better treat your known diseases
Gene analysis can also be helpful in the treatment of diseases. By analyzing the genes, we can find out which drugs are best for you and which should be avoided. Here we can also find out if two drugs need the same enzyme to break down and therefore do not work together because it is not possible to predict which one will be broken down and how. This helps to avoid many side effects and drug interactions..
In addition, genetic analysis can provide clues as to which supplements or diets are best suitedto meet your specific epigenetic needs.
We can offer our consultation to privately insured patients as well as to patients with statutory health insurance as self-pay patients. You can easily book appointments in our preventive medicine yourself via our online calendar here:
Epigenetics in functional and preventive medicine.
Preventing the onset of disease with the help of epigenetics
What is epigenetics?
Epigenetics describes changes in gene activity that are not due to changes in the DNA sequence. These changes can affect the activity of genes by altering their accessibility to the cell's transcription machinery. Various factors such as the environment, nutrition, stress and behavior - in other words, your life circumstances and everyday life in general - can trigger this state and influence which genes are read out and which are not. The insight from this is: we are therefore not as at the mercy of our genes as long assumed. A disease with a certain genetic risk does not necessarily have to break out.
Epigenetics as the key to your genes
By changing our lifestyle, we achieve that some genes are "turned on or off". Thus, with our epigenetic approach, we have a powerful key to lock diseases out of your life for which you are genetically at risk in the long term.
Epigenetics in prevention
If we know, for example, that you have a family history of an increased risk of diabetes , we can create a personalized treatment plan based on your specific epigenetic markers for diabetes. This results in a highly individualized medicinethat is geared to your organism.
Epigenetics also plays a role in the early detection of diseases in your body. According to a study by the DZD (German Center for Diabetes Research) and DIfE (German Institute of Human Nutrition) for example, certain epigenetic markers in the blood can predict the onset of type 2 diabetes, long before the actual diagnosis. The results were published in the journal "Diabetes" here.
But epigenetics is also very valuable for the actual prevention of disease . A 2015 study showed that eating broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables (in this case, the phytochemical sulforaphane) induces epigenetic changes that can lower the risk of cancer and other diseases. A good summary of the epigenetic effects of nutrition can be found here.
Epigenetics in functional medicine
Epigenetics is a huge field of activity, especially in terms of root cause disease research, i.e., functional medicine, which is about understanding and treating the Why of a condition, the causes of ailments and diseases, rather than the symptoms.
For example, there are many studies looking at the role of epigenetic changes in the development of Alzheimer's disease. One example is a study published in 2014 in the journal "Nature Neuroscience" . In this study, the researchers investigated epigenetic changes in brain cells of patients with Alzheimer's disease and healthy control subjects.
The results of the study showed that epigenetic changes in certain genes associated with Alzheimer's disease play an important role in the development and progression of the disease. Specifically, the researchers found that changes in the methylation of DNA in these genes were associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.
These findings contribute to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease and may contribute to the development of new therapies and prevention strategies.
We can offer our consultation to privately insured patients as well as to patients with statutory health insurance as self-pay patients. You can easily book appointments in our preventive medicine yourself via our online calendar here:
Good to know
Do I have a genetic risk for a certain disease in my family?
Where prevention can help and where it can't.
An important difference: mutation or polymorphism?
Do I have a risk of getting a disease if a family member has it? In order to answer this question, one must first clarify which disease it is, because this determines the further procedure. In the field of genetics, there are gene mutations and polymorphisms.
A mutation refers to a change in the genetic material within the gene. Gene mutations are rather rare (less than 1% within a population), but bring with them a high probability that one could, and probably will, contract the associated diseaseThere is generally little room for maneuver here. For example, there are two main genetic analyses for mutations for breast cancer. Genetic analyses for mutations are the domain of the geneticist, not the preventive medicine physician. If you want to know whether you are a gene carrier for serious diseases, you should visit a specialist department for genetics, e.g. the Institute for Medical Genetics and Human Genetics at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin as soon as possible.
