Patients are influenced by their genetic results
Many outside functional and personalized medicine poo-poo the whole genomic’s craze claiming that all these SNP testing don’t lead to real clinical outcomes. Basically, they claim it doesn’t help anyone. While I could sit back and feel confident in what I see in my patients as we apply different genetic findings to their health (and ignore the nay-sayers), I will share this one article with you.
This Finnish based study assessed whether or not patients receiving genetic report data made lifestyle changes that might affect their health. The quick answer is that yes, when patients heard that their genetics put them at higher risk they had a higher chance of making real lifestyle changes for their health benefits. This included higher smoking cessation rates. Downside, some still did not follow through on changes despite knowing they had a higher risk. At least the ones who made changes appeared to keep them as new habits for the 1 1/2 years of the study.
I really didn’t need this study to continue applying genomics to patient care so that our patients can live a healthier life, but hey, the next time the nay-sayer complains, I have a little more ammunition on my side. Blessings.
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.