I sit here staring out my window, my mind wandering through the beauty of the world.
I think to myself: If I had vision that took me far into the recesses of a tree, what is there to find? The beautiful green waving softly against the blue of the sky would fade and my vision would awake to find cells hard at work processing sunlight and transporting nutrients to its various parts.
Even deeper, I would begin to see a series of nucleotides that swirled inside a nucleus, the double helix announcing its solemn truth to cells so a California Oak can grow.
Pretty much everything alive works on this code. We live because DNA says so. Hair, eyes, bones and teeth, everything becomes animated when these strings latch together in their infinite of ways to make an upright evolved ape speak, analyze and build a world.
Right now inside of you, millions of cells are zooming around, forming your skin, pumping your heart, creating memories all because each and every one of them understand what their DNA tells them to do, automatically without your conscious command.
Life by golly is truly a miracle. But as with all miracles, eventually what seems unexplainable becomes a logical pronunciation of answers when dissected under the unwavering eye of scientific breakthroughs.
Welcome my friends to the sequencing of the genome, another piece to life’s puzzle now held squarely in our own hands. Thousands are now privy to their perfections and imperfections boldly printed in a language we’ve only begun to understand.
Genetic testing is finding its way into our medical world that examines DNA at such a level that enables the identification to the vulnerability to certain diseases. Whether it’s a gene or lack of one that creates a predisposition for disease, genetic testing has taken root.
So far several hundred types of tests have been developed, with more on the way. And though many people have been scared enough into surgically removing an organ to eliminate the chance for an inherited disease to manifest, how are we to use this information to enhance our health for prevention instead?
Though the question still hangs out there for an answer, I think that there is a new world in health ready to take the medical world of science and merge it with alternative methods to provide us with a good use of this coded prize.
The identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, that tells you if you are at risk for a certain disease, can be used to suggest nutritional IV therapies, nutraceuticals or if need be medications along with modifications of lifestyle before the disease ever takes hold.
Take note–genetic testing is still in its infancy and it might be wise to grant a little time for this disease prevention to gain better ground. Currently the results from testing can leave a lot of room for interpretation. Looking at a person’s medical history, family history and the type of genetic testing is necessary to determine what the results might mean.
But I do believe that a D.O. (Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine), a N.D. (Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine) and the traditional M.D. can bring together a whole new world of prevention and greater health through integrative and regenerative medicine along with the world of genetic testing. All we need is time for more genetic knowledge to be revealed so we can understand better the whys and hows of disease.
We definitely are on the road to achieving the means to greater health and the banishment of diseases without the need for invasive surgeries, debilitating radiations, chemotherapies, and medications that due more harm than good to the body.
Genetic testing is just a future step away in the ever growing movement to keep us fit and alive the healthiest way possible.
Gina Dostler can be reached at [email protected].
