Dr. Brandy Victory, Nederland. You’ve heard these lines: “You’ve got your grandmother’s eyes,” or “You’re just like your daddy,” which may lead you to think, “If it runs in my family then I’ll probably get it.” But did you know that most diseases are related to environmental factors more than genetics?

According to Stanford, “Seventy to ninety percent of disease risks are probably due to differences in environments.” That means you have control over 70-90 percent of your chances of getting a chronic disease!

Today there are all kinds of genetic tests and it seems fun for a lot of my patients who go this route, although, this is certainly a double-edged sword. Yes, it can certainly give you a lot of information and help you determine lifestyle practices that can help reduce the chances of getting certain diseases, however, the mind is a powerful thing! If you found out that you had a predisposition to breast cancer, would you be worried about it for the rest of your life? Likely. And, as I’ve said before, what you think about comes about. So, if you’re considering genetic testing, be sure you think long and hard about the consequences.

Ask yourself: Is there anything I can do to change my lifestyle to a healthier one?

If your grandfather died of Alzheimer’s, is there anything you can do to improve your cognition and train your brain right now?

What in my environment may be a catalyst for disease?

If I found out I had a genetic predisposition to a certain disease, how would that change my life, and can I simply implement those changes now?

At this point in time, I have chosen to only run genetic testing on patients when the information can help me treat them more effectively. For instance, when I have a patient with heart disease in their family, I will test certain markers in the cardio-metabolic panel to see if they have that genetic tendency and to see which nutrients are the most beneficial for their own body to help mitigate this potential. Recently a women had test results showing a genetic marker for heart disease and a deficiency of carnitine, a nutrient that helps with cellular energy production. Since the genetic markers cannot be changed with diet and exercise alone, we put her on carnitine to begin lowering apolipoprotein a.

Apolipoprotein a is a marker than reflects the genetic predisposition toward heart disease, and, it can be managed with carnitine! This is a game-changer for her long-term health, and I was so excited to be able to treat her with such specificity. This is bio-hacking at its best. The goal is always to optimize health and optimize lives, and we are surely on the right track with this patient.

There is still a lot to learn in this field and I am all for improving the profession and the lives of our people, so I am thrilled we are learning so much in this day and age. I know that beyond everything else, it’s your mind that matters most. You have the power to change. You have the power to improve your life every day. Beyond that, you really don’t need anything else. Stay positive, connect with your Higher Power, whatever you may call it, help others live better lives, and take care of the planet. Each generation improves upon the last and I am grateful for the evolution that I get to bear witness to at this time on our planet. Thank you for being a part of the Goodness!

(Originally published in the April 4, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)