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Your Health - You Own It!
Manage It As Your Most Important Asset “I spend $40,000 a year maintaining my airplane … what good is that to me if I can no longer fly it? I owe myself the best healthcare I can find, whether it costs $10,000 or $20,000 or more!” Granted, we don’t all own intricate machines that cost forty thousand annually to maintain, but this man makes a telling point. A similar comment I heard recently from a client went something like this: “Our business owns a very large fleet of trucks. We don’t let any of them go a day over schedule for maintenance. But when I look at my management team, they sure don’t treat their health that way. Some haven’t had a check-up in four years! That’s going to change!” Why is it that we take our health for granted? That is, until we have a health scare, a crisis, or somebody close to us does. The Healthcare “system” does not deliver! It is geared to process, not to serving patients, or “clients”. Our “wellness” is not assessed, only our “illness” is of concern. We are not informed, enlightened or empowered in the process so that we might take greater, more intelligent control. It’s all about the procedure. And we face financial disincentives to do anything other than wait until we’re really sick! Transparency is lacking – we are given very little information on the results of our check-up’s and, when we do get a report, everything is made complicated. Convenience, user-friendliness – who ever heard of that? In order to “own” our health we need to be empowered to know where we stand, what risks and opportunities we face AND what we can do about it all. That shouldn’t mean that you and I have to enroll in medical school. It does mean that we should have sufficient understandable information and guidance to make wise day-to-day choices, under periodic transparent scrutiny of our chosen health professionals.
Peter Cooper
Your Diet: Are You Getting What You Truly Need? Feeling overwhelmed with the constant bombardment of diet and supplementation information in the media? Confused with conflicting research study findings? Do you wish someone would just tell you what your body specifically needs to be at optimal health? Each of the over 60 trillion cells in your body functions as an eco-system within the whole, taking in nutrients, converting them to energy, performing specialized functions, and reproducing as necessary. They are able to do this with the help of innumerable messengers (such as hormones, enzymes, and neurotransmitters) that facilitate hundreds of interconnected chemical pathways. What drives this complex, miraculous metabolic engine? Quite simply: your diet. What you eat affects every single organ function in your body. On a daily basis, this translates into your energy levels, and predisposition to disease. It stands to reason that a deficiency or excess in the minutest nutrient can have far reaching consequences, both immediate and cumulative. In addition, your unique genetic constitution and lifestyle means that your absorption and utilization of the same food differs from that of someone else. No wonder, then, that adhering to general dietary guidelines or following one of the numerous diets and/or supplementation regimens touted in the media still leaves you in less than optimal health! Rather than consuming a vague cornucopia of cookie-cutter vitamins, minerals, and other supplements, wouldn’t it make better sense to adjust your intake to reflect what your own body truly needs? Thankfully, nutritional assessment has come a long way. Tools such as the Nutrient and Toxicity Metabolomics blood test offered at Scienta, measure your metabolic state of affairs in great detail, and provide a personalized nutritional profile that allows for precise correction. How is this different from any other test out there? It starts with measuring levels of key nutrients, including amino acids, essential fatty acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6), organic acids (vitamins & minerals), and toxins (e.g. lead, mercury). This is followed by a detailed analysis of your functional need (i.e. specific to the make-up of your body) for these nutrients. Any dysfunction in your digestive, immune, and absorption systems, and oxidative stress is also detected. A targeted diet and supplementation regimen is then drawn up to address the gaps identified. For example, Simon, a successful, active, and otherwise healthy 45 yr old entrepreneur, came to Scienta with persistent low energy and fatigue. His nutritional profiling revealed a deficiency in all of his essential amino acids [the building blocks of protein], as well as vitamins B2 and B6. The replacement protocol designed for him was successful in achieving higher and sustained levels of energy. Lisa, a 58 year old executive, came to us with a chronic unexplained facial skin rash. Her nutrient profile pointed to toxic levels of tin and mercury. Treatment with an oral chelation protocol – a specific 3-month regimen of supplements that “drew” the metal toxins out of her system – helped clear the rash. If you demand personalized care in other areas of your life, it’s time to do the same with the single most important asset you have: your health. Welcome to the era of customized nutrition profiling. Parneet Pal, MS, MD Shelley Burns, ND Close
“Food Allergy Testing Saved My Life!” Could This Happen To You? Easily missed, and often ignored, food allergy may explain the chronic, nagging symptoms you have been experiencing, such as reflux, bloating, wheezing, skin rash. What does the word “allergy” mean to you? Does it conjure up images of nasal congestion, watery eyes, and sneezing in response to pollen or a pet animal? Perhaps you’re visualizing an emergency room scene brought on by eating seafood or peanuts?
Parneet Pal, MS, MD Shelley Burns, ND Close
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Our purpose is to inform and keep you abreast of important new facts and ideas affecting your health. If you can’t make it to the clinic, Scienta has introduced
a new online tool to assess and guide your need for nutritional
supplements. Click Please email our editor with any comments or questions. We want to hear from you!
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DNA-Based Screening For Colorectal Cancer We put off our colonoscopy because of the unpleasant, disruptive
experience. Did you know that colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer (after lung cancer)? This largely “unglamorous” cancer is also one of the most preventable. A person with colorectal cancer has no symptoms at first - the only way to catch it early is by screening. Probability of curing colorectal cancer if it is detected early is estimated at 90%; this drops to 10% if detected at an advanced stage! The message - screening saves lives! 93% of colorectal cancers occur after age 50. This is also the age to start a screening program, as per current health care guidelines i.e. routine colonoscopy. Unfortunately, too many of us put that colonoscopy off until we hear of a colleague diagnosed with cancer. Lack of awareness about the disease is a factor, but the more likely reason is the inconvenience of the entire screening experience! The table below outlines more information regarding colonoscopy and its alternatives.
The only non-invasive tool, thus far, has been the Fecal Occult Blood Test [FOBT]. It tends to be unpopular because of the manual handling of stool samples involved, and lower sensitivity and specificity rates of detection. Scienta has just introduced to Canada a new generation of non-invasive genetic testing - PreGen Plus. It is a stool test with much higher sensitivity and specificity than the Fecal Occult Blood Test. This is how it works. Cancer cells have DNA mutations. When cancer develops in the colon, it sheds cells into the stool. PreGen-Plus tests the stool sample for a panel of 23 DNA markers associated with colorectal cancer and pre-cancerous polyps. Unlike other screening methods, PreGen-Plus does not require
any special bowel preparation, stool handling and/or alteration
in diet or medications prior to testing. The stool sample is collected
by a simple, easy method in the privacy of the client’s
home. PreGen-Plus is not intended as the primary screening tool for those at higher risk of disease such as family/personal history of colorectal cancer, hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes or long standing inflammatory bowel disease such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. It is an excellent screening tool for asymptomatic, average risk patients 40 yrs old and older and also a powerful, more convenient complementary method between colonoscopies, often recommended only every 3 or 4 years – an interval too long for problems to go undetected. Parneet Pal, MS, MD Elaine Chin, MD, MBA Close
Test Your Health Awareness True or False? We shed light on a couple of common food myths.
For a 100g serving of each type, compare the differences in the omega-3 [beneficial fat] and mercury toxicity:
An analysis of the caloric and carbohydrate content reveals that being “brown” doesn’t equal “healthy”.
Compiled by Shelley Burns, ND Close
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