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Nutritional Genomics

Back Clinic Nutrigenomics & Nutrigenetics

Nutrigenomics, also known as nutritional genomics, is a branch of science that studies the relationship between the human genome, nutrition, and overall health and wellness. According to nutrigenomics, food can affect gene expression, the process by which instructions from a gene are utilized in the biosynthesis of a functional gene product, such as a protein.

Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology that focuses on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. Nutrigenomics utilizes that information to create a custom dietary program to help improve a person’s overall health and wellness with food.

Nutrigenetics is a branch of science that focuses on how the human body responds to nutrients based on their genetic variation. Due to the differences in people’s DNA, the absorption, transportation, and metabolization, among other functions, of nutrients can be different from one person to the other. People can have similar characteristics based on their genes but these genes are actually not identical. This is what is known as genetic variation.


Beneficial Micronutrients With Dr. Ruja | El Paso, TX (2021)

Introduction

In today’s podcast, Dr. Alex Jimenez and Dr. Mario Ruja discuss the importance of the body’s genetic code and how micronutrients provide the necessary functional nutraceuticals that the body needs to promote overall health and wellness. 

 

What Is Personalized Medicine?

 

[00:00:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Welcome, guys. We’re Dr. Mario Ruja and me; we’re going to be discussing some essential topics for those athletes that want the advantage. We’re going to discuss fundamental necessary clinical technologies and information technologies that can make an athlete or even just the average person a little bit more aware of what’s happening in terms of their health. There’s a new word out there, and I have to give you a little heads up where we’re calling. We’re actually coming from the PUSH Fitness Center, and that people still work out late at night after going to church. So they’re working out, and they’re having a good time. So what we want to do is bring in these topics, and today we’re going to be talking about personalized medicine, Mario. Ever heard of that word?

 

[00:01:05] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, Alex, all the time. I dream about it. There you go, Mario.

 

[00:01:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There you go, Mario. Always giving me a laugh. So we’re going to be talking about is the personalized arena of what we have now. We’ve come to a state where many people tell us, Hey, you know what? It would be best if you had some more proteins, fats, or they come up with some convoluted idea, and you’ll end up with your eyes crossed and, most of the time, more confused than anything else. And you’re pretty much a lab rat to all these different techniques, whether it’s the Mediterranean, low fat, high fat, all these kind of things. So the question is, what is it specific to you? And I think one of the frustrations that many of us have, Mario, is that we don’t know what to eat, what to take and what’s good exactly. What’s good for me doesn’t mean that it’s suitable for my friend. You know, Mario, I’d say it’s different. We come from a whole other type of genre. We live in a place, and we’ve gone through things that are different from two hundred years ago. What do people do? We’re going to be able to figure this out nowadays in today’s DNA dynamics; though we don’t treat with these, it gives us information and allows us to relate to the issues that are affecting us now. Today, we will be talking about personalized medicine, DNA testing, and micronutrient assessments. So we’re going to see what it is that how are our genes, the actual predisposing issues, or they’re the ones that give us the the the workings of our engine. And then also, if it’s good for that, we want to know what our level of nutrients is right now. I know Mario, and you had a very dear and near question the other day with one of your, I think, was your daughter. Yeah, so what was her question?

 

[00:02:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So Mia had had a well, excellent question. She was asking me about utilizing creatine, which is very predominant in athletes. You see, it’s the buzzword, you know? Use creatine to build more muscle and such. So the point that I talk to you about, Alex, is that this is something so important that we cannot let in terms of the sports environment and performance environment. It’s like taking a Bugatti, and you’re saying, “Well, you know what? Do you think about just putting synthetic oil in it?” And well, is it the synthetic oil necessary for that Bugatti? Well, it’s good because it’s synthetic. Well, no, there are lots of different synthetic forms, you know, it’s like five-thirty, five-fifteen, whatever it is, the viscosity level it has to match. So same thing for athletes and especially for Mia.

 

[00:04:06] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Let the audience know who Mia is, what does she do? What kind of things does she do?

 

[00:04:08] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Oh, yeah. Mia plays tennis, so her passion is tennis.

 

[00:04:13] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: And she’s nationally ranked?

 

[00:04:15] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Nationally, and she plays internationally on the international circuit ITF. And she’s right now in Austin with Karen and the rest of the Brady Bunch, as I call them. You know, she’s working hard and through all this COVID kind of disconnect. Now she’s getting back into the fitness mode, so she wants to optimize. She wants to do her very best to catch up and move forward. And the question about nutrition, a question about what she needed. I needed a specific answer, not just general. Well, I think it’s good. You know good is good and better is best. And the way we look at it in that conversation of sports performance and genetic, nutritional, and functional medicine, it’s like, let’s get really functional, let’s be on point instead of buckshot. You know, it’s like you can go in and say, you know, generalities. But in terms of this, there is not a lot of information out there for athletes. And that’s where the conversation is linking the genetic and linking the micronutrients. That is phenomenal because, as you mentioned, Alex, when we look at the markers, genetic markers, we see the strengths, the weaknesses, and what’s at risk and what is not. Is the body adaptive, or is the body weak? So then we have to address the micronutrients to support. Remember, we talked about that to support that weakness in that DNA, that genetic pattern with something that we can strengthen. I mean, you can’t go and change your genetics, but you surely can increase and be specific with your micronutrients to change that platform and strengthen it and decrease the risk factors.

 

[00:06:24] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s fair to say now that the technology is such that we can find the, I wouldn’t say weaknesses, but the variables that allow for us to improve an athlete at the genetic level. Now we can’t alter the genes. That’s not what we’re saying is that there’s a world of what they call SNPs or single nucleotide polymorphisms where we can figure out there’s a specific set of genes that can’t change. We can’t change like eye color. We can’t do those. Those are very coded in, right? But there are genes that we can influence through neutral genomics and neutral genetics. So what I mean by my neutral genomics is nutrition altering and affecting the genome to more adaptive or opportunistic dynamics? Now, wouldn’t you like to know what genes you have that are vulnerable? Wouldn’t she want to know where her vulnerability is as well?

 

Is My Body Receiving The Right Supplements?

 

[00:07:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What do we all want to know? I mean, whether you’re a high-level athlete or you’re a high-level CEO, or you’re just a high-level mom and dad, that’s running around from tournament to tournament. You cannot afford to have low energy that, when we talked about the markers, you know that methylation within the body we want to know, are we processing or how are we doing in terms of the oxidative pattern within ourselves? Do we need that extra boost? Do we need to increase your knowledge of that green intake detoxified pattern? Or are we doing well? And this is where when we look at the patterns of genetic markers, we can see that we are well-prepared or we are not well prepared. Therefore, we have to look at the micronutrients. Again, those markers to say, “Are we meeting our needs, yes or no? Or are we just generalizing?” And I would say 90 percent of athletes and people out there are generalizing. They’re saying, Well, you know, taking vitamin C is good and taking vitamin D is good and selenium, you know, that’s good. But again, are you on point, or are we just guessing right now?

 

[00:08:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Exactly. That’s the thing when we’re in that store, and there’s a lot of great nutritional centers, Mario, that are out there, and we’re looking at a wall of a thousand products. Crazy. We don’t know where we have holes, and we don’t know where we need them. You know, there are certain deficiencies. You’ve got bleeding gums; most likely, you’ve got some scurvy or some kind of issue there. That unit may need a specialist, but let’s assume if we look at things like scurvy, right? Well, we know that gum starts bleeding. Well, it’s sometimes not that obvious, right, that we need certain things. There are hundreds and thousands of nutrients out there. One of the things that we call them, we call them, is cofactors. A cofactor is a thing that allows an enzyme to work right. So we are a machine of enzymes, and what codes those enzymes? Well, the DNA structure. Because it produces the proteins that code those enzymes, those enzymes have code factors like minerals like magnesium, iron, potassium, selenium, as you mentioned, and all different components. As we look at this, this hole that we’re we’re facing a wall. We would love to know exactly where our holes are because Bobby or my best friend says, you know, you should take protein, take whey protein, take iron, take what may be so, and we’re hit or miss. So today’s technology is allowing us to see precisely what it is, where we have the holes.

 

[00:10:00] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And this point that you mentioned about the holes, again, the majority of the factors are not that extreme like scurvy, you know, bleeding gums. We’re not, I mean, we live in a society where we’re gosh, I mean, Alex, we have all the foods that we need. We’ve got too much food. It’s crazy. Again, the issues that we talk about are overeating, not starving, OK? Or we’re overeating and still starving because the nutritional pattern is very low. So that’s a real factor there. But overall, we are looking and addressing the component of what subclinical issues, you know, we don’t have the symptoms. We don’t have those significant marker symptoms. But we do have low energy, but we do have a low recovery pattern. But we do have that problem with sleep, that quality of sleep. So those are not huge things, but those are subclinical that erode our health and performance. For example, little by little, athletes cannot be just good. They need to be the tip of the spear top. They need to recover quickly because they do not have time to guess their performance pattern. And I see that they don’t.

 

[00:11:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, as you mentioned that, I mean, most of these athletes, when they want to, they want to assess their bodies. They want to know where every weakness is. They’re like scientists and laboratory rats for themselves. They’re pushing their bodies to the extreme, from mental to physical to psycho-social. Everything is being affected, and put it in at full throttle. But they want to know. They want to see where that extra edge is. You know what? If I could make you a little bit better? If there was a little hole, what would that amount to? Will that amount to a two more second drop over a while, a microsecond drop? The point is that technology is there, and we have the ability to do these things for people, and the information is coming faster than we can even imagine. We have doctors worldwide and scientists around the world looking at the human genome and seeing these issues, specifically at SNPs, which are single nucleotide polymorphisms that can be changed or altered or assisted in dietary ways. Go ahead.

 

Body Composition

 

[00:12:21] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I’ll give you one: the Inbody. How about that? Yeah, that’s a tool right there that is critical for a conversation with an athlete.

 

[00:12:31] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The Inbody is the body composition.

 

[00:12:32] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, the BMI. You’re looking at it in terms of your hydration pattern; you’re looking at in terms of like, yes, body fat, that that whole conversation everyone wants to know, you know, I’m overweight my belly fat again. We had discussions on metabolic syndrome. We talked about risk factors, high triglycerides, very low HDL, high LDL. I mean, those are risk factors that put you in a pattern in that line towards diabetes and that line towards cardiovascular disease in that line of dementia. But when you’re talking about an athlete, they’re not worried about diabetes; they’re concerned about, am I ready for the next tournament? And I’m going to make the cut going to the Olympics. That’s yes, I mean, they’re not what they want to do that Inbody. They’re the micronutrient, the combination of genome nutrition, that genomic nutrition conversation on point allows them to honor their work. Because I’m telling you, Alex, and you know, this here, I mean, everyone’s listening to us, again, the conversation I share with people is this, why are you training like a pro when you don’t want to be one? Why are you trained like a pro when you are not eating and have the data to support that pro-level workout? What you’re doing? If you don’t do that, you are destroying your body. So again, if you’re working as a pro, that means you’re grinding. I mean, you’re pushing your body to little miss neuromuscular. Furthermore, we’re chiropractors. We deal with inflammatory issues. If you’re doing that, you’re redlining that, but you are not turning around to recover through micronutrition-specific chiropractic work. Then you’re going to damn it; you’re not going to make it.

 

[00:14:26] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We’re going to show that we’ve been able to see in a lot of times cities come together for specific sports, such as like wrestling. Wrestling is one of those notorious sports that puts the body through massive emotional and physical stresses. But a lot of times, what happens is individuals have to lose weight. You’ve got a guy who’s 160 pounds; he’s got a drop-down 130 pounds. So what the city has done to avoid these things is to use body-specific weight and determine the molecular weight of the urine, right? So they can tell, are you too concentrated, right? So what they do is that they have all these kids line up all the way to UTEP, and they do a specific gravity test to determine if they’re able to lose any more weight or what weight they are allowed to lose. So someone who’s about 220 says, You know what? You can drop up to about, you know, x y z pounds based on this test. And if you violate this, then you do that. But that’s not good enough. We want to know what’s going to happen because when the kids are in a load and are fighting another person that is just as good of an athlete, and he’s pushing his body, that’s when the body collapses. The body can handle the load, but the supplementation that the person has had, maybe their calcium, has been so depleted that suddenly you got this kid who was 100 injuries; the injuries, the elbow snapped dislocated. That’s what we see. And we wonder how did he snap his elbow because his body has been depleted from these supplements?

 

[00:15:59] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And Alex, on the same level, you’re talking about one on one like that pugilistic, that intense three minutes of your life on the other level, when it comes to tennis, that’s a three-hour conversation. Exactly. There are no subs there. There’s no coaching, no subs. You are in that gladiator arena. When I see Mia playing OK, I mean, it is intense. I mean, every ball that’s coming to you, it’s coming to you with power. It’s coming in like, can you take this? It’s like someone fighting across a net and looking at it. Are you going to quit? Are you going to chase this ball? Are you going to let it go? And that is where that definitive factor of optimal micronutrition connected with the conversation of what exactly you need in terms of genomic conversation will allow someone to scale up with a decreased risk factor of injuries where they know they can push themselves more and have the confidence. Alex, I’m telling you this is not just nutrition; this is about the confidence to know I got what I need, and I can redline this thing, and it’s going to hold. It’s not going to buckle.

 

[00:17:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know what? I’ve got little Bobby. He wants to wrestle, and he wants to be the biggest nightmare is the mom. Because you know what? They’re the ones that wish Bobby to thump the other Billy, right? And when their kids are getting thumped on, they want to provide for them. And moms are the best cooks. They’re the ones who take care of them, right? They’re the ones that make sure, and you could see it. The pressure on the child is immense when parents are watching, and sometimes it’s incredible to watch. But what can we give moms? What can we do for the parents to provide them with a better understanding of what’s going on? I got to tell you today with DNA tests. You know, all you have to do is get the kid in the morning, open his mouth, you know, do a swab, drag that stuff off the side of his cheek, put in a vial, and it is done within a couple of days. We can tell if Bobby’s got strong ligaments, if Bobby’s micronutrient levels are different to provide the parent with a better kind of a roadmap or a dashboard to understand the information that’s affecting Bobby, so to speak, correct?

 

[00:18:27] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Because and this is what we’ve come a long way. This is 2020, guys, and this is not 1975. That’s the year when Gatorade came over.

 

[00:18:42] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Come on; I got my tub. It’s got a lot of things on the side of it. I will have everything you look like Buddha when you develop diabetes with so much sugar from those protein shakes.

 

The Right Supplements For Kids

 

[00:18:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We have come a long way, but we cannot just go in and go; oh, you need to hydrate here drink these electrolytes, Pedialyte and all that. That’s not good enough. I mean, that’s good, but it’s 2020, baby. You got to scale up and level up, and we can’t use old data and old instrumentation and diagnostics because the kids now start at three years old, Alex. Three years old. And I’m telling you right now at three, it is unbelievable. By the time they’re five and six, I mean, I’m telling you the kids that I see, they’re already in select teams.

 

[00:19:33] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario…

 

[00:19:34] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Six years old, they’re in a select team.

 

[00:19:36] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: The thing that determines if a child is ready is their attention span. Yeah, I got to tell you, you can watch this. You got to see a kid who’s at three years and six months, and he isn’t paying attention. Three years and eight-month, all of a sudden, he can focus.

 

[00:19:50] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It’s on like a light switch.

 

[00:19:52] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: In front of the coach, right? And you can tell because they wander and they’re not ready. So we’re bringing the kids and exposing them to loads of experiences. Then what we need to do is give moms and dads the ability to understand and athletes of the NCAA and see how I can see what’s happening in my bloodstream? Not a CBC, because the CBC is for basic stuff, like a red blood cell, white blood cell. We can do things. Metabolic panel tells us a generic thing, but now we know more profound information about the susceptibility of the gene markers and see this on the test. And these reports tell us precisely what it is and how it pertains now and progression.

 

[00:20:37] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So this is where I love. This is where I love everything in the world of performance is pre and post. So when you’re a sprinter, they time you. It’s electronic time; when you’re a wrestler, they look at you. Do you know what your winning ratio is? What’s your percentage? Anything, it’s all data. It’s data-driven. As a tennis player, a soccer player, they will track you. Computers will track how strong? How fast is your serve? Is it 100 miles an hour? I mean, it is crazy. So now, if you have that data, Alex, why is it that we do not have the same information for the most critical component, which is that biochemistry, that micro nutritional, the foundation of performance is what happens inside of us, not what happens outside. And this is where people get confused. They think, “Well, my kid works four hours a day, and he has a private trainer. Everything.” My question is that is good, but you’re putting that kid at risk if you are not supplementing on point, say precisely when it comes to the special needs of that child or that athlete, because if we don’t do that, Alex, we are not honoring the journey and the battle, that warrior, we’re not. We’re putting them at risk. And then, all of a sudden, you know what, two-three months before a tournament, BAM! Pulled a hamstring. Oh, you know what? They got fatigued, or all of a sudden, they had to pull out of a tournament. You see, I see tennis players doing all of that. And why? Oh, they’re dehydrated. Well, you should never have that problem. Before you go in exactly where you are, you should already know what you’re doing. And I love the combination and a platform that we have for all of our patients because, within two or three months, we can show pre and post, can we?

 

[00:22:39] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We can show body composition to the Inbody systems and the incredible systems we use. These DEXAS, we can do bodyweight fat analysis. We can do a lot of things. But when it comes down to predispositions and what’s unique to individuals, we go down to the molecular level, and we can go down to the level of the genes and understand what the susceptibilities are. We can go on once we have the genes. We can also understand the micronutrient level of each individual. So what’s pertaining to me? I may have more magnesium than you, and the other child may have depleted magnesium or calcium or selenium or his proteins or the amino acids or are shot. Maybe he’s got a digestive issue. Perhaps he’s got lactose intolerance. We need to be able to figure out these things that affect us.

 

[00:23:29] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We can’t guess. And the bottom line is there’s no need for that. Everyone has that beautiful conversation, Alex, about, “Oh, you know what? I feel OK.” When I hear that, I cringe, go, and feel OK. So you mean to tell me that you are putting your health the most precious thing you have and your performance based on a feeling like, wow, that means that your urine receptors and turns the pain tolerance are dictating your health. That’s dangerous. That is completely dangerous. And also, so clinically, you’re not able to feel your deficiency in terms of vitamin D, your deficiency in terms of selenium, your deficiency in vitamin A, E. I mean, all of these markers, you can’t feel it.

 

[00:24:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We need to start presenting to the people out there, the information, it’s out there because what we want to let people know is that we’re going deep. We’re going down to these gene susceptibilities, the gene understanding as it is today; what we have learned is so powerful that it allows parents to understand a whole lot more of the issues pertaining to an athlete. Not only that, but the parents want to know what my susceptibility is? Do I have a risk of bone arthritis? Do we have issues with oxidative stress? Why am I always inflamed all the time, right? Well, believe it or not, if you got the genes for, let’s say you got the gene that makes you eat a lot, well, you’re likely going to gain weight. You can raise 10000 people’s hands who have that same gene marker, and you’re going to notice that their BIAs and BMI are way out of there because it’s the susceptibility to that now. Can they change it? Absolutely. That’s what we’re talking about. We’re talking about understanding the ability to adapt and change our lifestyle for the predispositions we may have.

 

[00:25:26] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, this is wonderful. And I see this quite frequently in terms of the conversation about losing weight, you know, and they go, “Oh, I did this program, and it works great.” And then you have 20 other people doing the same program, and it doesn’t even work, and it’s almost like hit and miss. So people are becoming disillusioned. They’re putting their bodies through this incredible roller coaster ride, which is like the worst thing you could do. You know, they’re doing these unnecessary things, but they cannot sustain it because why? At the end of the day, it’s not who you are. It wasn’t for you.

 

[00:26:05] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You may need a different type of diet.

 

[00:26:06] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yes. And so we, again, our conversation today is very general. We’re starting this platform together because we have to educate our community and share the latest in technology and science that addresses the needs.

 

[00:26:26] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Personalized medicine, Mario. It’s not general; it’s a personalized health and personalized fitness. We understand that we don’t have to guess if a diet is better for us, such as a low calorie, high-fat diet or a Mediterranean style food or a high protein diet. We won’t be able to see that these scientists are putting information together from the information we are continuously gathering and compiling. It’s here, and it’s a swab away, or blood works away. It’s crazy. You know what? And this information, of course, let me be mindful of before this starts. My little disclaimer comes in. This is not for treatment. Please do not take anything; we’re taking this for treatment or diagnosis. You got to talk to your doctors, and your doctors have to tell you exactly what’s up there and what’s appropriate for every individual we integrate.

 

[00:27:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: The point is that we integrate with all healthcare professionals and physicians. We are here to support and champion functional wellness. OK. And as you mentioned, we’re not here to treat these diseases. We’re here to optimize again when athletes come in and want to be better. They want to get healthier and help the recovery rate.

 

Can Stress Age You Faster?

 

[00:27:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You know, that’s it. Do you know what the bottom line is? The testing is there. We can see Billy’s not been eating well. OK, Billy has not been eating well. I can tell you, well, he eats everything, but he hasn’t had this level of protein. Look at his protein depletion. So we’re going to present to you some of the studies out here because it’s information, though it’s a bit complex. But we want to make it simple. And one of the things that we were talking about here is the micronutrient test we were providing here. Now I’m going to present you guys to see a little bit here. And what we use in our office when a person comes in and says, I want to learn about my body. We present this micronutrient assessment to figure out what’s going on. Now, this one was, let’s say, just it was in a sample for me, but it tells you where the individual is. We want to be able to level the antioxidant level. Now everyone knows that, well, not everyone. But now we understand that if our genes are optimal and our food is optimal, but we live in an oxidative stress state…

 

[00:28:45] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Exactly

 

[00:28:46] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Our genes will not function. So it’s important to understand what the problem is.

 

[00:28:51] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It’s rust. I mean, when you’re looking at this, and I see two markers, I see the one for oxidative, and then the other one is the immune system. Yes, right? So again, they correlate together, but they are different. So the oxidative I talk about is like your system is rusting out. Yeah, that’s oxidation. You see apples turning brown. You see metals rusting. So inside, you want to absolutely be at your best, which is in the green in that 75 to 100 percent functional rate. That means you can handle the craziness of the world tomorrow, you know?

 

[00:29:31] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes, we can look at the stress of the human body, Mario. What we can see actually what’s going on, and as I continue with this kind of presentation here, we can see what this individual is and what is his actual immune function age. So a lot of people want to know this stuff. I mean, I want to know where I lie in terms of the dynamics of the body, right? So when I look at that, I can see precisely where I lie, and my age is 52. OK. In this situation, OK, now as we look down, we want to know.

 

[00:30:02] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Hold on. Let’s get real. So you mean to tell me that we can get younger through this incredible system? Is that what you’re telling me?

 

[00:30:14] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It tells you if you’re aging quicker, OK, how does that sound, Mario? So if you can slow down, if you’re in that top 100, the green, you’re going to be looking like a 47-year-old man when you’re 55. Right? So from the structure, immune function, and oxidative stress in the body, what’s going to happen is that we’re going to be able to see exactly where we are in terms of our body.

 

[00:30:37] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: So that is correct? Yes. So we could be our birth certificate could say 65, but our functional metabolic markers can say you’re 50.

 

[00:30:51] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yes. Let me make it real simple, OK? People often understand oxidative stress; yes, we hear about antioxidants and reactive oxygen species. Let me make it simple, OK, we’re a cell. You and I, we’re having a family meal right where we’re enjoying ourselves. We are normal cells. We’re happy, and we’re functioning where everything is appropriate. All of a sudden, there’s a wild-looking lady. She’s got blades and knives, and she’s greasy, and she’s slimy, and she comes on. She hits the table, boom, and she kind of walks away. You know, it’s going to unsettle us, right? It’s going to be, let’s call her an oxidant, OK? She’s called a reactive oxygen species. Now, if we got two of those walking around the restaurant, we kind of keep an eye on her, right? All of a sudden, a football player comes and takes her out. Boom knocks her out, right? In that situation, this greasy, slimy weapon-looking lady, correct, that’s scary. That was an antioxidant. That was vitamin C that wiped her out, right? There’s a balance between oxidants and antioxidants in the body. They have different purposes, right? We have to have antioxidants, and we have to have oxidants in order for our body to function. But if you got 800 of those ladies like zombies all of a sudden.

 

[00:32:02] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*:I could see them as zombies.

 

[00:32:07] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It is. You know what you’re going to want. Where are the football players? Where are the antioxidants, right? Take them out. The football players come in, but there are just too many of them, right? Anything that you and I do in a conversation could be healthy cells, and we’re having this conversation at the dinner table. We’re disrupted totally. We cannot function in an oxidative stress environment. No. So basically, we may have all the supplements, and we may have all the nutrients, and we may have the proper genetics. But if we’re in an oxidative state, right, an elevated level, we’re not going to be aged. It will not be a comfortable night, and we will not recover.

 

[00:32:46] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: We will be at a higher risk factor for injuries. Exactly. And the other thing is we also have the risk factor where we will age faster than we should.

 

[00:33:04] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: That night would be rough is there’s like a hundred of those people around. So we need to know the state of the balance in life, the antioxidants we see, and all the antioxidants foods like A, C, E. That is what this test does. It shows you the level of oxidants in the body.

 

[00:33:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Hey, Alex, let me ask you this. Everyone loves to work out. When you work out, does that increase or decrease your oxidative stress? Please tell me, because I want to know.

 

[00:33:30] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It increases your oxidative state.

 

[00:33:31] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: No, stop it.

 

[00:33:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It does because you’re breaking the body down. However, the body responds. And if we are healthy, Mario, right? In that sense, our body first has to break down, and it has to repair. OK? We want to have antioxidants because it helps us go through the process. Part of healing and part of inflammation is oxidative balance. So, in essence, when you’re working out too hard or running hard, you can overburn the bar, and those are the things that you and I have to kind of look at, and this is the balance.

 

[00:34:08] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Now this is like the paradox, right? You know what, if you overwork, you’re going to look fabulous. But you know what? You’re actually breaking down. And if you don’t work out, there goes your cardio. There go other risk factors. So this is where it is so critical that we need to balance and know precisely what each person needs to be at their best. And we can’t guess; you can’t take the same supplements as me and vice versa.

 

The Right Cofactors For Your Body

 

[00:34:41] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I can, we can. But it’s to me, I may not be a lot of waste of money, or maybe we’re just missing the whole process. So in this entire dynamics here, just looking at this test, Mario, just using it at this particular assessment, we want to see also what our cofactors are on. We talked about proteins; we talked about genetics. We talked about things that make these enzymes work, our body functions, and pure enzymes in this particular model that you’re seeing what the cofactors are and the metabolites are. Well, you see amino acids levels and where they are in your body. If you’re an extreme athlete, you want to know what those things are.

 

[00:35:14] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Oh yeah, I mean, look at that. Those aminos. Those are critical.

 

[00:35:20] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: You think Mario?

 

[00:35:21] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Yeah, I mean it’s like every athlete I know, they’re like, Hey, I got to take my aminos. My question is, are you taking the right ones at the right level? Or do you even know, and they’re guessing. Ninety percent of the people are assuming you’re looking at antioxidants. Look at that. That’s the beast right there, glutathione. That’s like the granddaddy of antioxidants right there. And you want to know is, is that football players, that linebackers are going to crush those zombies, you know? And again, vitamin E, CoQ10. Everyone talks about CoQ10 and heart health.

 

[00:36:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Coenzyme Q, exactly. A lot of people take cardiac medications specifically to lower their cholesterol.

 

[00:36:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: What does CoQ10 do, Alex? I want to get you started.

 

[00:36:15] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Because you know what? Many documentation came out early on when they did many of these medications. Yeah, they knew they had to end it and put coenzyme Q in it. They knew, and they patented it because they knew that they had it. Because if you don’t give coenzyme Q right, you have inflammatory states and neuropathies. But these people have issues, and now they’re starting to understand. That’s why you see all the commercials with the coenzymes. But the point is that we need to know where our present state is right. So when we understand those things, we can look at the tests. And we can look at the dynamics of it. Wouldn’t you like to know which antioxidants? It’s so clear.

 

[00:36:52] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I love this. I mean, look at that. You know what? It’s red, green, black and that’s it. I mean, you can see it right away. This is your board. This is your command center. You know, I love the command center. It’s like, everything’s there.

 

[00:37:10] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I know Mario, you know, with those athletes, they want to be at the top level. Yes, it looks like this person’s floating somewhere in the middle, but they want to top it at 100 percent, right?

 

[00:37:19] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Alex, they’re on the bench.

 

[00:37:23] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah. And when they’re under a lot of stress, who knows what? Now, these tests are straightforward to do. They’re not complex to go in. Take a lab test sometimes are these are urine tests, something we can do.

 

[00:37:33] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: And we can do those in our offices in a matter of minutes, precisely in a matter of minutes. Crazy.

 

[00:37:38] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: It’s crazy.

 

[00:37:40] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: This is why it’s so simple. It’s like my question is, what color is the red bus? I don’t know. It’s a trick question.

 

What Supplements Are Right For You?

 

[00:37:50] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, going back into our topic today was personalized medicine and personalized wellness and personalized fitness. Doctors around the country are starting to understand that they cannot just say, OK, you’re pregnant. Here’s a folic acid pill. OK, here are some nutrients, though every doctor has to be taking care of their own clients. They’re the ones that are doing this. But people have the ability to understand; where are the other holes? Wouldn’t you want to make sure you have suitable selenium?

 

[00:38:17] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Before you have symptoms. That’s the thing, and this is why we are not treating. We’re not saying that issues, diagnosis issues, what are you doing to optimize and decrease your risk factors?

 

[00:38:35] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: There’s the issue of longevity, too, because I mean, the issue of longevity is if you’re providing your body with the right substrates, the right cofactors, the right nutrition. Your body has a chance to make it to 100 years plus and actually function. And if you have a depleted life, well, you’re burning the engine, so the body starts having issues, you know, so as we look at those kinds of things…

 

[00:39:00] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Can you return to our two markers? Look at that immune system.

 

[00:39:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Yeah, there’s a reason they stop here at 100 because that’s the whole idea. The entire idea is to get you to live 100 Centennial. So if we can do this, if you’re a person who’s, let’s say, 38 years old, and you’re in the midst of your life, and let’s say you’re a business person and you’re a junkie for business. You’re a junkie for entrepreneurship. You want to throttle you against the world. You do not want a kind of Nicholas the worm weakness, so to speak, taking you out of your football run in life. Because otherwise, you can trip up on things. And what we want to be able to provide people through nutritionists who registered dietitians to doctors through the information out there to supplement your lives better. And it’s not just about little Bobby; it’s about me, it’s about you. It’s about our patients. It’s about every single one of them who wants to live a better quality of life. Because if there’s a depletion in certain things, it’s not now. But in the future, you may have a susceptibility that will bring out diseases. And that’s where those susceptibilities are. We can take it to the next level because we can see what’s going on. In terms of this, I’m going to go ahead and bring this back up here so you can just see what we’re looking at. You can see the B-complex is now we have a lot of B-complexes, and we got people texting all over the place here, and I’m getting zapped with messages.

 

[00:40:42] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Your oxidative stress is going up, Alex.

 

[00:40:45] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Well, it’s crazy that we’ve been here an hour, so we want to be able to bring information out for you guys as time goes on. I want to go through this and talk about the individual antioxidants now; those are your football players, man, those are the ones taking those people out. Making your whole life a lot better, right, Mario. This is the kind of stuff that we look at. You know your glutathione on your knees. Your coenzyme Q selenium is your vitamin E’s carbohydrate metabolism.

 

[00:41:10] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Look at that, I mean, glucose and insulin interaction called energy. The last time I checked, it was called turbo.

 

[00:41:21] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: We got to listen; we got a lot of good doctors. We got like Dr. Castro out there. We got all the great doctors out there that are running over.

 

[00:41:30] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I mean, we’re going to get in trouble.

 

[00:41:32] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: All right. Facebook is going to knock us out.

 

[00:41:41] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: It will put a time limit on this.

 

[00:41:43] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I think it’s our views. But the bottom line is to stay tuned. We’re coming. This can’t cover everything. Hey, Mario, when I went to school, we were terrorized by this machine called the psycho cycle.

 

[00:41:58] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*:How many ATP’s, Alex?

 

[00:42:00] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: I mean, how many miles? Is it glycolysis or aerobic or anaerobic, right? So when we start looking at that, we start seeing how those coenzymes and those vitamins play a role in our energy metabolism, right? So in this individual, there were certain depletions. You can see where the yellow comes in. It affects the whole metabolic process, energy production. So the person is always tired. Well, we kind of understand the dynamics of what’s going on. So this is critical information as you and I kind of look at this, right? We can see what is it that we can offer? Can we provide information to change how the body works better dynamically? So this is crazy. So, in terms of it, we can go on and on, guys. So what we’re going to be doing is we’re probably going to be coming back because this is just fun. Do you think so? Yeah, I think we’re going to come back to what we’ve got to change the way that all El Paso is and not only for our community but also for those moms who want to know what is the best for their family members. What can we offer? The technology is not. We’re not going to allow ourselves in El Paso to be ever called the fattest sweaty town in the United States. We do have unbelievable talent out here that really can teach us about what’s going on. So I know that you’ve seen that, correct? Yeah.

 

[00:43:18] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: Absolutely. And what I can say is this Alex? It’s about peak performance and peak ability. And also, getting the correct specific customized genomic nutrition pattern for each individual is the game-changer. That’s the game-changer from longevity to performance and just being happy and living the life that you were meant to live.

 

Conclusion

 

[00:43:51] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*: Mario, I can say that when we look at this stuff, we get excited about it, as you can tell, but it affects all our patients. People come in all depleted, tired, in pain, inflamed, and sometimes we need to find out what it is. And in our scope, we are mandated to be responsible and figure out where this relies upon and where this lies in our patients’ problems. Because what we’re doing, if we help their structure, the musculoskeletal, neurological system, their mind system through a proper diet and understanding through exercise, we can change people’s lives, and they want to be able to fulfill their lives and enjoy their lives the way it should be. So there’s a lot to be said. So we will come back sometime next week or this week. We’re going to continue this topic on personalized medicine, personalized wellness, and personalized fitness because working with many doctors through integrative health and integrative medicine allows us to be a part of a team. We have GI doctors, you know, cardiologists. There’s a reason we work as a team together because we all bring a different science level. No team is complete without a nephrologist, and that person will figure out precisely the implications of all the things we do. So that person is very important in the dynamics of integrative wellness. So for us to be able to be the best kind of providers, we have to expose and tell people about what’s out there because a lot of people don’t know. And what we need to do is bring it to them and let the cards lie and teach them that they had to tell their doctors, “Hey, Doc, I need you to talk to me about my health and sit down. Explain to me my labs.” And if they don’t, well, you know what? Say you need to do that. And if you don’t, well, time to find a new doctor. OK, it’s that simple because today’s information technology is such that our doctors cannot neglect nutrition. They cannot neglect wellness. They cannot overlook the integration of all the sciences put together to make people healthy. This is one of the most important things that we got to do. It’s a mandate. It’s our responsibility, and we’re going to do it, and we’re going to knock it out of the ballpark. So, Mario, it’s been a blessing today, and we’ll continue to do this in the next couple of days, and we’ll keep on hammering and giving people the insights as to what they can do in terms of their science. This is a Health Voice 360 channel, so we’re going to talk about many different things and bring a lot of other talents. Thanks, guys. And you got anything else, Mario?

 

[00:46:11] Dr. Mario Ruja DC*: I’m all in.

 

[00:46:12] Dr. Alex Jimenez DC*:All right, brother, talk to you soon. Love you, man. Bye.

 

Disclaimer

Good Foods to Help Promote Longevity

Good Foods to Help Promote Longevity

The foods we eat can have the potential to be beneficial or harmful to our health. Poor nutrition can cause a variety of health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, proper nutrition can make you feel energized, reduce your risk of health issues, as well as help maintain and regulate a healthy weight. If you want to promote longevity, you have to fuel your body with good foods. In the following article, we will list several good foods that can ultimately help promote longevity by also helping to improve overall health and wellness.

 

Cruciferous Vegetables

 

Cruciferous vegetables have the unique ability to change our hormones, trigger the body�s natural detoxification system, and even reduce the growth of cancerous cells. These must be chewed thoroughly or eaten shredded, chopped, juiced, or blended in order to release their beneficial properties. Sulforaphane, found in cruciferous vegetables, has also been found to help protect the blood vessel wall from inflammation that can cause heart disease. Cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and broccoli are several of the most nutrient-dense foods in the world.

 

Salad Greens

 

Raw leafy greens have less than 100 calories per pound, which makes them the perfect food for weight loss. Eating more salad greens has also been associated with the reduced risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and several types of cancers. Raw leafy greens are also rich in the essential B-vitamin folate, plus lutein and zeaxanthin, carotenoids that can help protect the eyes. Fat-soluble phytochemicals, such as carotenoids, found in salad greens like lettuce, spinach, kale, collard greens, and mustard greens also have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body.

 

Nuts

 

Nuts are a low-glycemic food and a great source of healthy fats, plant protein, fiber, antioxidants, phytosterols, and minerals, which also helps to reduce the glycemic load of an entire meal, making them an essential part of an anti-diabetes diet. Regardless of their caloric density, eating nuts can help promote weight loss. Nuts can also reduce cholesterol and help reduce the risk of heart disease.

 

Seeds

 

Seeds, much like nuts, also provide healthy fats, antioxidants, and minerals, however, these have more protein and are rich in trace minerals. Chia, flax, and hemp seeds are rich in omega-3 fats. Chia, flax, and sesame seeds are also rich lignans or breast cancer-fighting phytoestrogens. Moreover, sesame seeds are rich in calcium and vitamin E, and pumpkin seeds are rich in zinc.

 

Berries

 

Berries are antioxidant-rich fruits that can help promote heart health. Research studies where participants ate strawberries or blueberries daily for several weeks reported improvements in blood pressure, total and LDL cholesterol, and even signs of oxidative stress. Berries also have anti-cancer properties and have been shown to help prevent cognitive decline associated with aging.

 

Pomegranate

 

The most well-known phytochemical in pomegranates, punicalagin, is responsible for more than half of the fruit’s antioxidant activity. Pomegranate phytochemicals have anti-cancer, cardioprotective, and brain-healthy benefits. In one research study, older adults who drank pomegranate juice daily for 28 days performed better on a memory test compared to those who drank a placebo beverage.

 

Beans

 

Eating beans and other legumes can help balance blood sugar, reduce your appetite, and protect against colon cancer. Beans are an anti-diabetes food that can help promote weight loss because they are digested slowly, which slows down the increase of blood sugar after a meal and helps prevent food cravings by promoting satiety. Eating beans and other legumes twice a week has been found to decrease the risk of colon cancer. Eating beans and other legumes, such as red beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and split peas, also provides significant protection against other cancers.

 

Mushrooms

 

Eating mushrooms regularly is associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer. White and Portobello mushrooms are especially beneficial against breast cancer because they have aromatase inhibitors or compounds that inhibit the production of estrogen. Mushrooms have shown to have anti-inflammatory effects as well as provide enhanced immune cell activity, prevention of DNA damage, slowed cancer cell growth, and angiogenesis inhibition. Mushrooms should always be cooked as raw mushrooms have a potentially carcinogenic chemical known as agaritine that is significantly reduced by cooking.

 

Onions and Garlic

 

Onions and garlic provide cardiovascular and immune system benefits as well as provide anti-diabetic and anti-cancer effects. These have also been associated with a lower risk of gastric and prostate cancers. Onions and garlic are known for their organosulfur compounds which help to prevent the development of cancers by detoxifying carcinogens, decreasing cancer cell growth, and blocking angiogenesis. Onions and garlic also have high concentrations of health-promoting flavonoid antioxidants, which have anti-inflammatory effects that may help provide cancer prevention.

 

Tomatoes

 

Tomatoes are rich in a variety of nutrients, such as lycopene, vitamin C and E, beta-carotene, and flavonol antioxidants. Lycopene can help protect against prostate cancer, UV skin damage, and? cardiovascular disease. Lycopene is better absorbed when tomatoes are cooked. One cup of tomato sauce has about 10 times the amount of lycopene as a cup of raw, chopped tomatoes. Also keep in mind that carotenoids, like lycopene, are best absorbed when accompanied by healthy fats, so enjoy your tomatoes in a salad with nuts or a nut-based dressing for extra nutritional benefits.

 

 

The foods we eat can have the potential to be beneficial or harmful to our health. Poor nutrition can cause a variety of health issues, including obesity, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, proper nutrition can make you feel energized, reduce your risk of health issues, as well as help maintain and regulate a healthy weight. If you want to promote longevity, you have to fuel your body with good foods. Good foods can also help reduce inflammation associated with a variety of health issues, including joint pain and arthritis. Healthcare professionals, such as chiropractors, can offer diet and lifestyle advice to help promote health and wellness. In the following article, we will list several good foods that can ultimately help promote longevity. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight

 


 

Image of zesty beet juice.

 

Zesty Beet Juice

Servings: 1
Cook time: 5-10 minutes

� 1 grapefruit, peeled and sliced
� 1 apple, washed and sliced
� 1 whole beet, and leaves if you have them, washed and sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped

Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.

 


 

Image of carrots.

 

Just one carrot gives you all of your daily vitamin A intake

 

Yes, eating just one boiled 80g (2�oz) carrot gives you enough beta carotene for your body to produce 1,480 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin A (necessary for skin cell renewal). That’s more than the recommended daily intake of vitamin A in the United States, which is about 900mcg. It’s best to eat carrots cooked, as this softens the cell walls allowing more beta carotene to be absorbed. Adding healthier foods into your diet is a great way to improve your overall health.

 


 

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�

 

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.

 

References:

 

  • Joel Fuhrman, MD. �10 Best Foods You Can Eat to Live Longer and Stay Healthy.� Verywell Health, 6 June 2020, www.verywellhealth.com/best-foods-for-longevity-4005852.
  • Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=24.
The Importance of Folate and Folic Acid

The Importance of Folate and Folic Acid

Folate is a B vitamin naturally found in a variety of foods. The body can’t produce folate, that’s why it’s important to get it from folate-rich foods. Folate is naturally found in various plant and animal foods, including citrus fruits, avocado, spinach, kale, broccoli, eggs, and beef liver. Folate is also added to foods, such as bread, flours, and cereals, in the form of folic acid or the synthetic, water-soluble version of folate. Folate and folic acid have different effects on the body.

 

Our body utilizes folate for a variety of essential functions, including cell division, development of red blood cells, conversion of homocysteine to methionine, an amino acid used for protein synthesis, production of SAMe, and DNA methylation. Folic acid is also important for various metabolic processes. Folate deficiency has ultimately been associated with a variety of health issues, such as the increased risk of heart disease, birth defects, megaloblastic anemia, and cancer.

 

Daily Intake of Folate and Folic Acid

 

Our body stores between 10 to 30 mg of folate, most of which is stored in your liver while the remaining amount is stored in your blood and tissues. Normal blood folate levels range from 5 to 15 ng/mL. The main form of folate in the bloodstream is known as 5-methyltetrahydrofolate. Daily intake of this essential nutrient is different for people of different ages. The recommended daily allowance of folate for infants, children, teens, adults, and pregnant women are as follows:

 

  • 0 to 6 months: 65 mcg
  • 7 to 12 months: 80 mcg
  • 1 to 3 years: 150 mcg
  • 4 to 8 years: 200 mcg
  • 9 to 13 years: 300 mcg
  • over 14 years: 400 mcg
  • during pregnancy: 600 mcg
  • during lactation: 500 mcg

 

Folic acid supplements play an important role in making sure that people who are in greater need of folate are getting enough of their daily intake. Increasing the daily intake of folate-rich foods is also important because these foods generally offer plenty of other nutrients that all act together to support overall health. Recommended folate daily intake increases during pregnancy and breastfeeding to promote rapid growth and help prevent neural tube defects in the fetus.

 

Folic acid is available in dietary supplements and fortified foods, including bread, flours, cereals, and several types of grains. It is also added to B-complex vitamins. Folate is also naturally found in a variety of foods, including:

 

  • oranges
  • orange juice
  • grapefruit
  • bananas
  • cantaloupe
  • papaya
  • canned tomato juice
  • avocado
  • boiled spinach
  • mustard greens
  • lettuce
  • asparagus
  • Brussels sprouts
  • broccoli
  • green peas
  • black-eyed peas
  • dry-roasted peanuts
  • kidney beans
  • eggs
  • Dungeness crab
  • beef liver

 

Uses of Folate and Folic Acid

 

Both folate and folic acid are frequently utilized for a variety of reasons. Although folate and folic acid supplements are generally used to treat similar health issues, they do offer different effects in the body and, therefore, it may affect our overall health in different ways. Moreover, getting the proper daily intake of folate and folic acid can improve overall health. The following are several of the most common uses of folate and folic acid supplements, including:

 

  • folate deficiency
  • inflammation
  • diabetes
  • brain health
  • heart disease
  • kidney disease
  • mental health issues
  • fertility problems
  • birth defects and pregnancy complications

 

For information regarding the importance of folate and folic acid, please review the following article:

The Importance of Folic Acid

 


 

 

Folate is a B vitamin that is naturally found in many different types of food. Because we can’t produce folate, it’s important to get it from foods that are high in folate. Various folate-rich foods include citrus fruits, avocado, spinach, kale, broccoli, eggs, and beef liver. Folate is also added to foods like bread, flours, and cereals, in the form of folic acid, the synthetic version of this essential nutrient. Folate and folic acid have different effects on the body. Our body uses folate for many important functions, including cell division, development of red blood cells, conversion of homocysteine to methionine, an amino acid used for protein synthesis, production of SAMe, and DNA methylation. Folic acid is also essential for many metabolic processes. Folate deficiency has ultimately been associated with a variety of health issues, such as heart disease, birth defects, megaloblastic anemia, and even cancer. Daily intake of this essential nutrient is different for people of different ages. Furthermore, folate is also naturally found in a variety of foods, such as bananas, avocado, boiled spinach, and eggs. Both folate and folic acid supplements have a variety of uses and they can help improve various health issues, including inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, birth defects, and pregnancy complications. Adding healthy foods to a smoothie is a fast and easy way to get your daily intake of folate. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insight

 


 

Image of ginger greens juice.

 

Ginger Greens Juice

Servings: 1
Cook time: 5-10 minutes

� 1 cup pineapple cubes
� 1 apples, sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled, and chopped
� 3 cups kale, rinsed, and roughly chopped or ripped
� 5 cups Swiss chard, rinsed, and roughly chopped or ripped

Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.

 


 

Image of soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs.

 

Eating cholesterol-rich foods doesn�t increase your cholesterol

 

According to research studies, eating foods with HDL cholesterol or “good” cholesterol doesn’t increase your overall blood cholesterol levels. When you eat healthy cholesterol-rich foods, such as prawns and eggs, your blood cholesterol levels decrease, so your blood cholesterol levels stay balanced, or they’re only raised minimally. It’s actually saturated fats that you have to look out for when it comes to high blood cholesterol levels. Simply choose healthier food options.

 


 

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation as to how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�

 

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.

 

References:

 

  • Kubala, Jillian. �Folic Acid: Everything You Need to Know.� Healthline, Healthline Media, 18 May 2020, www.healthline.com/nutrition/folic-acid#What-is-folic-acid?
  • Ware, Megan. �Folate: Health Benefits and Recommended Intake.� Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 26 June 2018, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/287677#recommended-intake.
  • Felman, Adam. �Folic Acid: Importance, Deficiencies, and Side Effects.� Medical News Today, MediLexicon International, 11 Mar. 2020, www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/219853#natural-sources.
  • Berg, M J. �The Importance of Folic Acid.� The Journal of Gender-Specific Medicine: JGSM: the Official Journal of the Partnership for Women’s Health at Columbia, U.S. National Library of Medicine, June 1999, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11252849/.
  • Dowden, Angela. �Coffee Is a Fruit and Other Unbelievably True Food Facts.� MSN Lifestyle, 4 June 2020, www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddrink/did-you-know/coffee-is-a-fruit-and-other-unbelievably-true-food-facts/ss-BB152Q5q?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout#image=23.

 

MTHFR Gene Mutation and Health

MTHFR Gene Mutation and Health

The MTHFR or methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene is well-known due to a genetic mutation that may cause high homocysteine levels and low folate levels in the bloodstream, among other essential nutrients. Healthcare professionals believe that a variety of health issues, such as inflammation, may be associated with an MTHFR gene mutation. In the following article, we will discuss the MTHFR gene mutation and how it can ultimately affect your overall health.

 

What is an MTHFR Gene Mutation?

 

People can have single or multiple mutations, as well as neither, on the MTHFR gene. The different mutations are often referred to as “variants”. A variant occurs when the DNA of a specific part of a gene is different or varies from person to person. People that have a heterozygous or single variant of the MTHFR gene mutation have a decreased risk of developing health issues like inflammation and chronic pain, among other diseases. Moreover, healthcare professionals also believe that people that have homozygous or multiple variants of the MTHFR gene mutation may ultimately have an increased risk of disease. There are two MTHFR gene mutation variants. These specific variants include:

 

  • C677T. Approximately 30 to 40 percent of people in the United States have a mutation at gene position C677T. About 25 percent of Hispanics and about 10 to 15 percent of Caucasians are homozygous for this variant.
  • A1298C. There are limited research studies for this variant. A 2004 study focused on 120 blood donors of Irish heritage. Of the donors, 56 or 46.7 percent were heterozygous for this variant and 11 or 14.2 percent were homozygous.
  • Both C677T and A1298C. It�s also possible for people to have both C677T and A1298C MTHFR gene mutation variations, which includes one copy of each.

 

What are the Symptoms of an MTHFR Gene Mutation?

 

Symptoms of an MTHFR gene mutation can be different from person to person and from variant to variant. It’s important to remember that further research around MTHFR gene mutation variants and their effects on health are still needed. Evidence regarding how MTHFR gene mutation variants are associated with a variety of other health issues is currently lacking or it has been disproven. Conditions that have been suggested to be associated with MTHFR variants include:

 

  • anxiety
  • depression
  • bipolar disorder
  • schizophrenia
  • migraines
  • chronic pain and fatigue
  • nerve pain
  • recurrent miscarriages in women of child-bearing age
  • pregnancies with neural tube defects, like spina bifida and anencephaly
  • cardiovascular and thromboembolic diseases (blood clots, stroke, embolism, and heart attacks)
  • acute leukemia
  • colon cancer

What is the MTHFR Diet?

 

According to healthcare professionals, eating foods with high amounts of folate may help naturally support low folate levels in the bloodstream associated with MTHFR gene mutation variants.�Good food choices can include:

 

  • fruits, such as strawberries, raspberries, grapefruit, cantaloupe, honeydew, banana.
  • juices like orange, canned pineapple, grapefruit, tomato, or other vegetable juice
  • veggies, such as spinach, asparagus, lettuce, beets, broccoli, corn, Brussels sprouts, and bok choy
  • proteins, including cooked beans, peas, and lentils
  • peanut butter
  • sunflower seeds

 

People with MTHFR gene mutations may also want to avoid eating foods that have the synthetic form of folate, folic acid, however, the evidence is not clear if that�s beneficial or necessary. Supplementation may still be recommended for people with MTHFR gene mutation variants. Furthermore, always make sure to check the labels of the foods you buy, as this vitamin is added to many enriched grains like pasta, cereals, bread, and commercially produced flours.

 

For information regarding the MTHFR and its effects on health issues like cancer, please review this article:

Folate, Methyl-Related Nutrients, Alcohol, and the MTHFR 677C >T Polymorphism Affect Cancer Risk: Intake Recommendations

 


 

MTHFR, or methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, gene mutations may cause high homocysteine levels and low folate levels in the bloodstream. We believe that a variety of health issues, such as inflammation, may be associated with an MTHFR gene mutation. People can have single or multiple MTHFR gene mutations, as well as neither. The different mutations are often referred to as “variants”. People that have a heterozygous or single variant of the MTHFR gene mutation have a decreased risk of developing health issues like inflammation and chronic pain. Moreover, doctors also believe that people that have homozygous or multiple variants of the MTHFR gene mutation may ultimately have an increased risk of disease. The two MTHFR gene mutation variants are�C677T, A1298C, or both C677T and A1298C. Symptoms of an MTHFR gene mutation can be different from person to person and from variant to variant. Following what is referred to as the MTHFR diet can ultimately help improve overall health in people with MTHFR gene mutation variants. Also, adding these foods into a smoothie can be an easy way to add them into your diet. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insights

 


 

 

Image of protein power smoothie.

 

Protein Power Smoothie

Serving: 1
Cook time: 5 minutes

� 1 scoop protein powder
� 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
� 1/2 banana
� 1 kiwi, peeled
� 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
� Pinch of cardamom
� Non-dairy milk or water, enough to achieve desired consistency

Blend all ingredients in a high-powered blender until completely smooth. Best served immediately!

 


 

Image of leafy greens smoothie.

 

Leafy Greens Hold the Key to Gut Health

 

A unique type of sugar found in leafy greens can help feed our beneficial gut bacteria. Sulfoquinovose (SQ) is the only known sugar molecule to be made up of sulfur, an extremely essential mineral in the human body. The human body uses sulfur to produce enzymes, proteins, and a variety of hormones as well as antibodies for our cells. A fast and easy way to get leafy greens into your diet is to toss a couple of handfuls of them into a delicious smoothie!

 


 

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, and sensitive health issues and/or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our posts, topics, subjects and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate and support directly or indirectly our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. We understand that we cover matters that require additional explanation as how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at�915-850-0900. The provider(s) Licensed in Texas*& New Mexico*�

 

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.

 

References:

 

  • Marcin, Ashley. �What You Need to Know About the MTHFR Gene.� Healthline, Healthline Media, 6 Sept. 2019, www.healthline.com/health/mthfr-gene#variants.

 

The Connection Between Nutrition & the Epigenome

The Connection Between Nutrition & the Epigenome

Nutrition is considered to be one of the most well-understood environmental factors associated with changes in the epigenome. Nutrients in the foods we eat are processed by our metabolism and turned into energy. One metabolic pathway, however, is responsible for producing methyl groups or fundamental epigenetic marks that regulate our gene expression. Essential nutrients, such as B vitamins, SAM-e (S-Adenosyl methionine), and folic acid are important components in this methylation process. Diets with high amounts of these essential nutrients can quickly change gene expression, especially during early development. In the following article, we will discuss the connection between nutrition and the epigenome.

 

Nutrigenomics and Health

 

Healthcare professionals discuss that when it comes to dealing with health issues like inflammation and chronic pain, understanding how nutrigenomics affects our overall health is important. Nutritional genomics, or nutrigenomics, is a science that studies the relationship between nutrition, health, and the genome. Researchers in the nutrigenomics field believe that changes in epigenetic marks may be associated with a variety of health issues, including inflammation or the development of diseases like obesity, heart problems, and cancer. Studies have demonstrated that we may be able to control the effects of the nutrients we eat in order to change gene expression associated with various health issues.

 

Approximately more than 1 out of 3 adults in the United States have been diagnosed with obesity which ultimately increases the risk of a variety of health issues, including prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, among other diseases. Previous studies have demonstrated that changes in epigenetic marks during early development may even predispose individuals to obesity. Moreover, changes in epigenetic marks were also demonstrated to affect metabolic pathways that may increase the risk of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Healthcare professionals in the nutrigenomics field have created new ways to be able to better find balance through a wholesome understanding of nutrition and the epigenome.

 

“An epigenetic test can provide data that is useful for healthcare professionals. It may also offer information about how certain metabolic pathways are affected by essential nutrients, such as vitamins and minerals”.

 

What is the Epigenetics Diet?

 

The term “epigenetics diet” was first coined by Dr. Trygve Tollefsbol in 2011. It is medically defined as a group of compounds, such as resveratrol in red grapes, genistein in soybeans, isothiocyanates in broccoli, and many other well-known types of foods, which have been demonstrated to help change epigenomic marks and gene expression. According to researchers, the epigenetics diet can prevent the progression of tumors by regulating enzymes that control these epigenomic marks and gene expression, including DNA methyltransferases, histone deacetylases, and certain non-coding RNAs. Several types of foods included in the epigenetics diet are demonstrated in the following infographic:

 

Image of the epigenetic diet.

 

Researchers used recently advanced technologies that demonstrated how several bioactive compounds may aggravate damage to the epigenome caused by environmental pollutions. By way of instance, dietary supplementation with methyl donors, such as vitamin B12, choline, and folate, among others, as well as the isoflavone genistein, can regulate changes to epigenome marks and gene expression caused by bisphenol A, a hormone-disrupting chemical. B vitamins may also prevent the loss of DNA methylation caused by air pollution. According to these same studies, dietary supplementation with folic acid has also been demonstrated to help prevent the negative side-effects caused by heavy metals.

 

We believe that foods in the epigenetics diet could be used to counteract changes to gene expression and epigenomic marks caused by environmental pollution. Environmental pollutants in several types of foods, such as pesticides in fruits like strawberries and leafy greens like spinach, bisphenol A in the plastic containers of foods and drinks, dioxins in fatty foods, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons produced when meat is grilled or smoked at high temperatures, and mercury in several types of seafood like king mackerel and swordfish, have been associated with changes to epigenomic marks and gene expression. Those exposures, especially during early development, may cause various health issues.

 

For more information regarding the connection between nutrition and the epigenome, please review this article:

Nutrition and the Epigenome

 


 

Nutrition is one of the most understood environmental factors associated with changes in epigenomic marks and gene expression. Essential nutrients found in the different types of foods we eat are metabolized and turned into molecules in order to be used for energy by the human body. One metabolic pathway is responsible for creating methyl groups, important epigenetic marks that regulate our gene expression and epigenomic marks. Essential nutrients, including B vitamins, SAM-e (S-Adenosyl methionine), and folic acid are fundamental components in DNA methylation. Diets that are rich in these essential nutrients can quickly change epigenetic marks and gene expression, especially during early development. Furthermore, adding a variety of good foods to a smoothie can be a fast and easy way to add essential nutrients to your diet. Below is a fast and easy smoothie recipe to help feed your genes. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insights

 


 

Image of ginger greens juice.

 

Ginger Greens Juice

Servings: 1
Cook time: 5-10 minutes

� 1 cup pineapple cubes
� 1 apples, sliced
� 1-inch knob of ginger, rinsed, peeled and chopped
� 3 cups kale, rinsed and roughly chopped or ripped
� 5 cups Swiss chard, rinsed and roughly chopped or ripped

Juice all ingredients in a high-quality juicer. Best served immediately.

 


 

Image of smoothie with nasturtium flower and leaves.

 

Add Nasturtium to Your Smoothies

 

Adding nasturtium flowers and leaves to any smoothie can add extra nutrients. These lovely plants are easy to grow and the entire plant is edible. Nasturtium leaves are high in vitamin C, which is essential for a healthy immune system, and they also contain calcium, potassium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and iron. According to healthcare professionals, the extract from the flowers and leaves have antimicrobial, antifungal, hypotensive, expectorant, and anticancer effects. Antioxidants in garden nasturtium occur due to its high content of compounds such as anthocyanins, polyphenols, and vitamin C. Due to its rich phytochemical content and unique elemental composition, the garden nasturtium may be used in the treatment of a variety of health issues, including respiratory and digestive problems. Not to mention, the flowers and leaves look absolutely lovely in smoothies.

 


 

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask�Dr. Alex Jimenez�or contact us at�915-850-0900.

 

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.

 

References:

 

  • Kirkpatrick, Bailey. �Epigenetics, Nutrition, and Our Health: How What We Eat Could Affect Tags on Our DNA.� What Is Epigenetics?, What Is Epigenetics? Media, 11 May 2018, www.whatisepigenetics.com/epigenetics-nutrition-health-eat-affect-tags-dna/.
  • Li, Shizhao, et al. �The Epigenetics Diet: A Barrier against Environmental Pollution.� On Biology, BMC Media, 23 May 2019, blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-biology/2019/05/20/the-epigenetics-diet-a-barrier-against-environmental-pollution/.
  • Learn. Genetics Staff. �Nutrition & the Epigenome.� Learn. Genetics, Learn. Genetics Media, learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/epigenetics/nutrition/.

 

Nutrigenomics and Traits Between Generations

Nutrigenomics and Traits Between Generations

Researchers are trying to understand how nutrigenomics can affect a person’s health. Studies have shown that epigenetics increases the risk of several health issues. Other studies have also shown that nutrition can change the risk of disease. For many years, researchers have studied the way that traits in plants and animals are passed down between generations. However, this process is still not well understood. A recent study evaluated how epigenetic marks are passed down between generations of pregnant rats given personalized nutrition. The findings showed both genetic and characteristics changes in the rats’ offspring. This suggests that maternal traits and diet may send different signals to the fetus.

 

Another study showed methylation changes in mice given more methyl donor intakes over six generations. These findings demonstrated that genetic and characteristic changes passed down between generations may be how environmental factors affect genes in plants and animals to allow adaptation to different environments.�The purpose of the following article is to discuss how nutrigenomics and traits between generations can ultimately affect a person’s overall well-being.

 

Epigenetics, Nutrition, and Exercise

 

Researchers have determined that the role of epigenetics in health issues like cancer is caused by methylation changes in several different types of genes and it is commonly associated with aging. However, the increased risk of cancer may be due to factors in the person’s immediate course of life where changes in epigenetics may happen years before the development of health issues like cancer. One study found that methylation of the breast-cancer-related gene is associated with the increased risk of early-onset breast cancer. Other studies have shown that resveratrol prevents methylation changes while folic acid affected gene expression associated with changes in methylation and other functions.

 

Eicosapentaenoic acid also caused methylation changes in the tumor suppressor gene associated with leukemia cells. This study demonstrated the effect of a polyunsaturated fatty acid on epigenetics. Another study found that methylation increased in women diagnosed with human papillomavirus that didn’t have cervical intraepithelial neoplasia. The changes in methylation were associated with higher concentrations of folate and cobalamin in the blood stream. Another study also found that methylation changes in the tumor suppressor gene L3MBTL1 were ultimately associated with overall health. Further studies are necessary to determine how nutrition can affect epigenetics and traits between generations.

 

Two studies evaluated the effects of exercise on methylation. One of the studies showed methylation changes in people who participated in physical activities for about 30 minutes every day compared with people who engaged in physical activities for less than 10 minutes every day. In the other study, volunteers who participated in exercise demonstrated changes in methylation and gene expression. These findings suggest that methylation is affected by physical activity.

 

Nutrigenomics and Risk of Health Issues

 

Numerous studies have evaluated the role of epigenetics in people with diabetes. According to researchers, changes in methylation of several genes have been shown to be associated with insulin resistance in patients with diabetes. A single change in gene expression caused significant methylation changes in people with diabetes compared to healthy controls. However, other studies found changes in traits between generations and obesity. Furthermore, methylation changes did happen in people with normal glucose metabolism which then developed impaired glucose homeostasis. Various genes have been shown to be different in people with diabetes compared to healthy controls, according to the studies.

 

According to numerous other studies, twins were found to have increased methylation associated with increased insulin resistance. These findings suggest that epigenetic marks associated with diabetes may occur before symptoms and determine the risk of disease. In conclusion, increasing evidence has demonstrated that nutrition can ultimately cause changes to a person’s epigenetics and how these are associated with the increased risk of developing health issues.

 

For more information regarding how epigenetics affects personalized nutrition, please review this article:

Epigenetics: Are There Implications for Personalised Nutrition?

 

 


 

Healthcare professionals and researchers have demonstrated that we can change our epigenetics and gene expression as well as improve the risk of developing a variety of health issues, including inflammation and cancer, which can ultimately cause chronic pain, by controlling the food we eat and focusing on our nutrigenomics. Starting in the kitchen and then taking it directly to the genes, if we follow balanced nutrition, we will see a significant change in our overall health and well-being. At our clinic, we have the ability to assess your specific genetic factors and what dietary guidelines are best for you. One test we use for this is from DNA life, called DNA Diet. A sample of this report is shown below:�

 

www.dnalife.healthcare/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/DNA-Diet-Sample-Report-2019.pdf

 


 

Studies show that nutrition can affect methylation and gene expression. These studies have also found that balanced nutrition can improve how good food affects our overall health and well-being. The following article discussed how our epigenetics can affect traits passed down between generations, including methylation and the risk of disease. Although a good diet is essential it may be difficult for some people to follow. Drinking juices or smoothies can be easy ways to include the balanced nutrition we need to promote our health and well-being. Below, I’ve provided a smoothie recipe so you can address your nutrigenomics from the kitchen to your genes. – Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T. Insights

 


 

Image of the Berry Bliss Smoothie

 

Berry Bliss Smoothie

Servings: 1
Cook time: 5-10 minutes

  • 1/2 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, preferably wild)
  • 1 medium carrot, roughly chopped
  • 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed or chia seed
  • 1 tablespoons almonds
  • Water (to desired consistency)
  • Ice cubes (optional, may omit if using frozen blueberries)Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth and creamy. Best served immediately.

 


 

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask�Dr. Alex Jimenez�or contact us at�915-850-0900.

 

Curated by Dr. Alex Jimenez D.C., C.C.S.T.

 

References:

 

  • KA;, Burdge GC;Hoile SP;Lillycrop. �Epigenetics: Are There Implications for Personalised Nutrition?� Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 15 Sept. 2012, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22878237/.

 

The Factors Of Increased Immunity

The Factors Of Increased Immunity

With everything that is going on in today’s world immunity is especially important. Without a properly functioning immune system, our bodies can become inflamed and more susceptible to viruses. Inflammation can cause a weakened immune system, joint pain, headaches, fatigue and more!

So what can we do to build up our immunity and help give our bodies a fighting chance? First off, washing your hands is highly important. Not just now, but always. Be sure to wash your hands with warm water and scrub everywhere. Second, get plenty of sleep. Rest is how the body recovers. If you do not give your body adequate sleep, the strength you’re cells have to fight off infection lessens. Third, eat healthy food, hydrate, and exercise. Finally, last but not least help kick up your immune system by supplementing the body with all-natural supplements.

There are many supplements that will be beneficial to the body. However, two of the most important are NAC and Glutamine.

 

What Are They?

 

NAC stands for N-acetyl-Cystine. NAC is an amino acid that the body can produce but the body can also greatly benefit from taking additional NAC in supplemental form. NAC plays an important role in helping the liver to detox. In addition to this, NAC helps to replenish the glutathione levels in the lungs and can help to reduce the inflammation. This is highly beneficial in helping to relieve the symptoms of a respiratory infection.

NAC is also greatly beneficial in boosting brain health. NAC helps to regulate glutamate levels and replenish glutathione. However, one of the most important factors of NAC is its ability to boost Glutathione levels.

Glutamine is an amino acid that helps the body perform many functions. Glutamine plays a crucial part in the immune system.

 

The Connection & How It Impacts Immunity

 

However, one of the most important factors of NAC is its ability to booze Glutathione levels. NAC and glutathione can help to boost an individual’s immune health. In research studies shown, NAC has been shown to lessen the effects of a virus and its ability to replicate. When it comes to immunity NAC and Glutamine are powerful molecules. Stoping the replication of a virus can help reduce the spread and the length of the virus in an individual.

Many infections and diseases have been linked to low glutathione levels. When the glutathione levels are low this is typically due to enhanced oxygen radicals. Studies have been done and show that when supplementing NAC to those who have low glutathione levels, it directly boosts their levels and helps with infection.

Especially with everything happening today, we want to increase our immunity and decrease the inflammation in the body.� Essentially, think of the body as a road trip. For this trip we need two main things: the gas for the car, and the car to take you to the end destination.� NAC is the gas that drives the car. We need the gas to get to our end destination. Our end destination is being healthy and giving our body the best chance to fight off infection (increased Glutathione). So by giving our body gas (NAC) we provide it with what it needs to take us to where we want to go (increased Glutathione, leading to increased immunity).

 

How Can I Benefit?

 

Overall, NAC is great to decrease inflammation. Inflammation is an extremely common underlying issue relating to other health conditions individuals suffer from. By providing your body with additional supplements, you can help increase your immunity and decrease your chances of contracting a virus and/or the length of the virus. Always discuss supplements with your primary care doctor before you begin them, but consider adding these into your daily routine!

I always recommend talking to your primary care provider and taking supplements daily. Supplements, in general, are a great way to help provide the body with the essential vitamins and minerals you may be missing. However, now more than ever supplementation is key. By building up and providing the body with the nutrients it needs for proper function, it will help prepare your body to fight off an infection. Supplementation like NAC is great to have already running in your system to help combat an infection if you were to catch one. Remember to be smart, talk to a primary care doctor before beginning supplementation, and keep in mind that not all supplements are created equal.� -Kenna Vaughn, Senior Health Coach��

The scope of our information is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, and nervous health issues or functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We use functional health protocols to treat injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We also make copies of supporting research studies available to the board and or the public upon request. To further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.�

References:
Dinicola S, De Grazia S, Carlomagno G, Pintucci JP. N-acetylcysteine as powerful molecule to destroy bacterial biofilms. A systematic review.�Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2014;18(19):2942�2948.
Goodson, Amy. �Top 9 Benefits of NAC (N-Acetyl Cysteine).� Healthline, 2018, www.healthline.com/nutrition/nac-benefits#section3.
Wessner B, Strasser EM, Spittler A, Roth E. Effect of single and combined supply of glutamine, glycine, N-acetylcysteine, and R,S-alpha-lipoic acid on glutathione content of myelomonocytic cells.�Clin Nutr. 2003;22(6):515�522. doi:10.1016/s0261-5614(03)00053-0