A year ago, I ordered a DNA whole-genome sequencing (10x) test from Dante Labs. It was on sale for a price I haven’t seen before or since. The medical standard is 30x-200x, but 10x is the first good baseline.
They didn’t staff up for the increase in work. Took many months to get the raw data. These aren’t human-readable, but I couldn’t get anything else to read them either; the files were unrecognizable.
3 weeks ago, I sent a nasty note asking where my readings were. They turned up by return email.
Even though they were in PDF (Portable Document Format, emphasis here on Portable), I couldn’t get my usual PDF readers to open them. Eventually, I used Google Drive as a PDF reader, and that worked.
Results
I’m happy to say that I have no genetic predisposition to gut cancer, alcoholism (bit of a miracle there), or Alzheimer’s.
I’ve got just one genetic tweak that could predispose me to breast cancer, but it’s not the worst of them.
My reading seems to orient on habitus (body shape & size) and inflammation. Keep in mind that this is a company oriented toward the public, and presumably that’s what they’re asked for.
CW/TW: Lots of this material focuses on weight and size. Feel free to skip it if that’s not helpful.
There’s a lot of genetics now known around appetite and weight, as well as inflammation. These days, that doesn’t matter in my case, because mast cell activation, leaky gut, and gastroparesis have turned eating into a recurring nightmare.
CW: specifics on dietary limitations
I can’t eat many things because of mast cell activity (allergic responses), I can’t eat much because of gastroparesis (sickening gut pain & nausea), and I can’t eat sweets or non-squeaky-clean food because my system is highly inflamed and that stuff hurts.
So, all the dietary correction has already happened. Lots of pureed produce and little bits of healthy fowl, with occasional rice or tapioca when I’m especially nauseous, is the extent of my diet– plus all the olive oil I can persuade my body to accept gracefully. A bit of chevre now and then as a treat.
I know people who have it so much worse than I do. It stinks, but I can cope for now.
You just know I have to make this fun. For me, at least. Ready? Here we go…
1. Can’t regulate fat & glucose metabolism correctly. Gonna be chonkeh.
They recommend the Mediterranean diet.
Side note on the “Mediterranean” diet
How many of you have eaten with Mediterranean cooks? Anything strike you about that?
Right! It’s a bleached-wheat diet!
If you tell any Mediterranean-born person to take the white starch off the table, they’ll look at you funny and reach for the pasta, offer you another piece of filo-based yumminess, or grab another piece of bread to clean their plate with.
I mean… if you can digest the wheat, it’s wonderful, but it’s not what is meant by doctors who say, “You should follow the Mediterranean diet!”
If you’re there for breakfast, you’ll see that even most health nuts think a biscuit or pastry and reeeeally strong coffee is the only way to start the day. Check the labels on those biscuits — loads of added glucose!
Mediterranean people do not traditionally follow a diet that limits simple carbs. Simple carbs are the absolute basis of any given meal. It’s a cultural reach — and a moment calling for self-congratulation! — when they use whole wheat or brown rice instead.
These are the people who gave us salt-cured meats. Not only do they eat pork and beef, they slice or chop it fine and eat it raw. As haute cuisine!
Seriously, what US-based nutritionist is likely to recommend that to an impaired gut??
It’s the olive oil and produce that matters. Plus beans and lentils, if your stomach allows. Eating one serving at each meal. These are the dietary things that are typically Mediterranean. (To-go bags are not a thing, because diners expect to get 1 meal out of each order, not 2 or 3.)
I can’t eat leftovers now anyway.
2. Faulty fat processing
Oops, can’t balance Omega 3 and 6 properly; need to supplement with Omega 3, oily fish. (I can’t eat fish. Urgh.) Stay away from oils of corn and sunflower, which are too 6-y.
Why? Because inflammation. (Remember that word.)
3. Faulty fat metabolism
Another way my body can’t process lipids (fats & oils) properly. Harder to de-chonk.
4. More chonk, plus stress-eating
Oh boy, yet more ways my system is coded for chonkage and, specifically, stress-eating and greasy food. Who knew there was a gene for that? (I was never very fond of greasy food, except as an occasional treat.)
Also, watch closely, because there’s a mental tesseract to navigate here…
Melanocortin-4: so much more
The gene (MC4R) that encodes for something called the Melanocortin-4 receptor, which Dante characterizes as “too bad, you’re fat & hungry”, actually has *even more fundamental* roles: it helps to regulate estrogen-related hormones — which, in turn, regulate all sorts of cellular activity, in addition to b**bs & breeding — and it plays an important role in suppressing inflammation.
Dante forgot to mention it, but if you go to PubMed and search for “melanocortin-4” you’ll find it there, in the science.
Chonk AND inflammation. Oh joy.
5. Still more faulty fat & glucose metabolism
So, I’m prone to insulin resistance and Type 2 diabetes.
Nothing new to me there. Since at least my 30s, I’ve been testing out as being close to pre-diabetic. I’d lower my sugar intake and be more consistent about exercise, and it’d normalize again. I’ve got fewer options now.
6. Yet again… faulty fat metabolism
Chonk again: more faulty fat metabolism and potentially more hungry for them. Plus, bad lipid profile.
My lipids first went wonky 4 years ago and, although my last lipid profile was less bad, it was not good either. I knew this was genetic.
7. That MTHFR!
The MTHFR parts of the gene do a lot, because it’s behind all the housekeeping & repair of every cell. The way it skews homocysteine is directly related to developing cardiovascular disease.
To manage problems here, use methylated vitamins. That simple.
I already do. Onward…
7. Il-6: all the inflammation all the time.
Also related to Type 2 diabetes and, obviously, inflammatory disorders.
8. Detox is hard
Got 3 out of 4 variants weakening my system’s ability to clean up the cellular metabolism of some neurotransmitters (catecholamines) and those all-important estrogens (stress & belly fat, bones, skin, heart and vessels).
If I’d never gotten very sick in the first place, these are probably some of the dominoes that wouldn’t have fallen. A bit of extra conscientiousness about what I took in (which I did have) and methylation vitamins could have done the trick.
9. Vitamin D runs low
3 of 3 listed variants that make it harder for my body to manage and process vitamin D correctly.
Dante doesn’t mention it, but this affects not only vitamin D activity, but also calcium regulation (and therefore calcium-channel nerve signalling as well as bone mass) and cellular integrity, because the active form of vitamin D — cholecalciferol — has a role in bringing biologically useful cholesterol to the cell walls. Anybody who’s had edema, sprains, or infected wounds knows exactly what weakened cell walls can feel like.
10. Low caffeine tolerance
I definitely knew that already!
Curiously, many people with my variation tend to overdo caffeine. Perhaps it’s my lousy detox genes that make too much caffeine such an unpleasant experience for me?
11. Alcohol, on the other hand, is fine
Fortunately, I have no problem with it either way.
12. Decidedly lactose intolerant
That’s a bit weird. I had no idea.
13. Health & activity
There’s a lot of verbiage, but it boils down to what I learned long ago:
1. I’m made for power rather than endurance. Adjust workouts accordingly.
2. I need to space my workouts, because my body requires the recovery time. Pace workouts accordingly.
3. Joint stress, yes; joint abuse, absolutely not. Choose workouts accordingly.
In short, the habit I recently had of walking every day was the worst thing I could do for my genome. Too bad, because it was so useful and pleasant!
Good thing I got a rowing machine last year. I’ll be developing shorter, more intense workouts on it (instead of trying to cope with the spiculating agony of the endurance workouts I’ve been trying for) and gradually step up from once a week to every other day. I think that hits all the criteria.
Reflection
Given the above, I am absolutely up to my ears in appreciating what a good job I’ve done for most of my life in staying as fit as I did! I didn’t look well at American size 8 (and my immune system was impaired, despite healthy diet & activity) but I floated around sizes 10-14 — depending on my stress level, LOL — until I got really ill.
Currently, if I eat too little, I keep getting bigger. I can’t eat too much (and eating enough is a bear) because of all the above. I’ve been below a decent size when I had a bout of wasting syndrome 10 years ago, but that mechanism of losing weight through deficient calories is well and truly broken.
Activity is the only thing I can do differently, so, with this useful guidance in hand, that’s my next step.