Dr Christa North — Geneway genetic testing, preventative testing, know your DNA

Hello Krista. Good evening. So good to have you with us man it's that time of the year and it's been it's already feels like this has been like the longest week ever and it's only Monday but that might have had something to do with the birthday yesterday. By the way thank you to each and every one of you for all of the birthday wishes. Yes you know I was even surprised I've made it to 52. One of the reasons Krista is here because we're going to be talking about that so let's get right into it. It is what's involved on this Monday night. As we do each and every Monday we're moving the show up an hour because we've got to just plain on between four and seven. I like to call him just or plain but Darren Scott thank you great show as always it's always good to hear Darren on the radio and we're gonna be going in future from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. Krista was kind enough to come in a little later but I'm glad you did because when we did this whole thing I kind of thought yeah you know hmm not gonna be that complicated. It is so let me take you back in time a little bit. The most wonderful wonderful wonderful awesome amazing PR communications person in the world is Jenny Crystal from Jenny Crystal Communications and she had a chat to me a while ago and she said to me David you need to speak to Dr. Krista and I'm always very because a lot of people want to come and I said like okay well tell me what she does and then she did and I was fascinated and you guys were kind enough to actually perform the test on me. I've been the butt of a lot of jokes about the test because there was we've had the joke tonight already the missing link and everything but let's start right at the very beginning. The company is called GeneWay. Okay and you're with GeneWay you are Dr. Krista North you are you got so many bits and pieces and things and letters and everything but aside from this the gene stuff preventative medicine what did you tell me the fancy word of it? Gene, Gene, Nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics is what she did so I did my whole gene my mouth swab my buckle swab and dutifully sent everything off and you are here to talk about that tonight but let's first start off right in the very beginning tell me a little bit about Krista. Can I call you Krista is it okay? Yes please. Instead of Dr. North. Yeah please do. Okay yeah no so I'm a dietician I've studied dietetics you know at the University of Pottustruem a couple of years ago and the first time when I heard about genetics everything just fell into place for me because even as a educated professional you still are doing a lot of guesswork as well so it's very educated guess but it's still guesswork and the first time I came across you know this genetic testing it actually opened a whole world for me that made me a much better practitioner for my patients because it took a whole lot of guesswork out of the equation for me as well and because it's about pathways physiology as well it's still very very scientific it was just up till now it wasn't affordable and it wasn't easily available and for me it's almost unethical you know to give advice to patients if you don't take the genetics into consideration because while we all have essentially the same genes there's different ones that do different things and some are working some are not working some are a little bit lazy so so to know that and to know what your specific requirements are I think it's absolutely phenomenal you know and the bit of math that amazes me was when I first told people that I was going to do this test they were like what are you doing they taking your DNA they're gonna be like number one I don't know if it's that high-quality DNA so you know if they're gonna go and clone more David Watson's good luck with that one but but there's a there's a is it still this level of fear and paranoia about gene testing for me one of the things that you you're able to do with this gene testing is to see if you've got genetic predisposition to to various illnesses diseases etc so for me there was this mixture of excitement and anticipation because now I know because very very often us as humans we like to do ostrich things and stick our head in the sand and pretend it doesn't happen but I'm a prime example I am a type 2 diabetic and I have it's no no sort of secret I've spoken a lot about it on the show huge neuropathy in my feet I'm in pain all the time we're gonna get on to that because apparently I am a sissy we're gonna get on to that but if I'd known beforehand that genetically this could have happened I'm not saying I could have necessarily stopped it but maybe I could have but I certainly would have been a whole lot more aware and if somebody said to me listen go and do this test and you you won't have to go through what you're going through now I would have said where do I sign up where do I sign up and it gives you markers for all sorts of different diseases doesn't it yeah no exactly this is also called preventative medicine or precision medicine and it's highly motivational if you know for a fact what's going to work for you that's not going to work you know for somebody else perhaps as well so yeah so people love it because we also often say if only I knew you know how often don't we say that and now this is exactly what this is about is to say but now you can know you can know what are the right nutrients for you what is right type of diet for you what supplements will work for you we are you going to waste your money what screening tests you know you should do for example what medications will work for you in which ones won't work for you so it's an absolute win-win situation for all parties concerned now let's just let's before we get into the meat and potatoes of this whole discussion number one I would love to hear from you so you can either whatsapp us four one three four eight those SMS is charged at one rain fifty otherwise whatsapp oh eight four eight double two oh nine three eight that's oh eight four eight double two oh nine three eight if you'd like to ask dr. Krista North any questions if there's anything you'd like to know about genetic testing and and and what it is all about we're gonna cover all of that so feel free to chat to us we'd love to we'd love to hear from you in terms of of my stuff you guys were kind enough to do four tests I believe correct you do offer another couple the one I'm glad you didn't do specifically at my age you do test you do fertility testing as well correct so you know I kind of think that ship is sailed for me so I'm quite happy quite happy with not having done that with that one but once again to you and the gene way team thank you so much for doing this and as I said I'm not gonna lie I was a little nervous coming in here I thought you were gonna go mm-hmm you best say your goodbyes tonight because with those genes young man you are out of here it wasn't all bad news though no no it's not now you see and the thing is also you know one one should differentiate between the classical genetic testing more modern preventative genetic well that was the one question I got asked is oh are they not going to tell you where your ancestors come from no it's not that kind of testing now and also you know there's also a type of genetic testing that is diagnostic you know that is you're more serious stuff which will say you will get a particular disease or not so this is precision medicine or preventative medicine so and you know and this is the way that that medicine is going you know there's no turning back anymore I know that you know especially overseas some of the doctors actually have to take out insurance that if they don't offer genetic testing to their patients you know that is going to be a problem I'll also know in some of the hospitals in America they do it as a standard test you know so if a doctor treats a patient in hospital as they would say let's measure your glucose or your cholesterol and I also measure specific genetic markers to help and assist with the treatment this is the bit that fascinates me because every single person while we've got all of these genes floating around in us they are certain of the genes that are working well certain of them are not working well and it shows you what the genetic disposition is as I said for various illnesses various diseases but also and in my quest specifically with the diabetes in terms of supplementation I suppose up until this point I've very much taken that shotgun approach is like line it up on the table and I'm going to swallow a fistful of pills every day and hope for the best now okay in the past that would have worked but with this this gene testing that you do now you can actually say but hang on maybe you shouldn't be taking this maybe because of this that in the next thing should we talk through some of my stuff yes let me expose myself further to my listeners so so which let's go with with the the one that starts off with me being a wuss and a warrior so which one is which one is that one so that is the health and wellness taste you know and I almost want to say that's probably our flagship taste okay because it's looking at about 18 biological pathways that ranges you know from mental you know those orders heart disease blood pressure diabetes and so forth and and this is where we can actually show somebody you know whether a gene is functioning or not but more importantly what you can do about it to basically talk over that genes function and some of those things are very easy and some of them are maybe not that easy yeah and it wasn't you know it wasn't nearly as scary as you know because I've heard some horror stories and you know you're gonna walk in there and she's gonna say well that's it your heart's gonna give up tomorrow you've got every known cancer available plus a few that haven't been invented yet plus you're gonna go blind and by the way you're dumb and it hasn't been like that I am a warrior not not the proud warrior yay W A R R I O R or W A R I O R I'm the other kind of warrior according to my genes so let's let's go through it I mean we talking we talk about it's a massive report I mean can people get this done and then just take it as it is to their doctor or do they need to go through somebody like you yes so we a gene way we train medical doctors and dieticians and bar kinetuses for example you know how to interpret these reports so it's not a direct to consumer test because it is a medical test as well so you do need to speak to a practitioner you know so that I can explain it to you and put it for you into action steps you can see what you need to do with this massive amount you know of information so the thing is with gene way is that we want to make sure that people get their money's worth and that they actually can change their lives and they know that are going to do you know the right things so it is a lot of information in total the reports ranges you know about you know between 200 pages a report in total you know it can be up to a thousand pages for all the reports as well but we do give a summary as well but the thing is with this is once you know about a particular gene so if I can talk maybe about your warrior gene which also happens to be the gene that that actually you know makes you quite clever as well so we do know that people have got a certain result with this gene actually do you have you know quite a high IQ as well so hopefully you got your team distinction in the trick results at the end of it they say David is trying very trying but with this particular gene for example it's associated with much higher dopamine levels and certain of your neurotransmitters for example and this is why it's associated you know with certain characteristics that make you for example you know more clever but then also you know more likely to be warrior you know that handles certain stress situations you know in a certain way but so when we you know when we get that result you know then and we give you the basic information then you are going to have more questions inside but now tell me more about this and that is why the reports are so long is because we tell you exactly medically speaking you know but in a very sort of layman's terms that we you know give that information what does that gene actually mean and also what does it interact with and then very important the action steps you know and if we look at the action steps it's not only just about lifestyle we will also say should you maybe you know need more specific nutrients you know to overcome that you know to support that gene so and that's why the reports you know are actually so long but it's it's fantastic yeah it really is in essence life-changing for people listen the amazing thing for me and yes number one it was a bit of an oversight I think but is in terms of family history and what's happened I only submitted that after the whole all the testing was done that higher levels of dopamine for example you know it can also lead to a tendency in terms of anxiety you know insomnia sleep difficulties you know it's got to do with that your brain doesn't switch off yeah example you also you know might have a lower pain threshold as well yes this was this was the interesting one where everybody said I'm such a sissy because apparently I do genetically I have a lower pain threshold and you know I've gone through my life saying women are by far the stronger the stronger of the sexes and they've got a much higher pain threshold it's now been you know scientifically proven I am a wuss so that's good so from a practical point of view you know it's got to do first of all also with pain medication as well so a doctor for example would know you know if you go in for surgery now that they would know that you actually need a higher dose of morphine for example as well but also just if we look at something such as in a sports environment so if you are you know participating in sports specifically sort of like in a school setup you know where everybody's got to do the same amount of exercises you will physically experience pain quicker than other people because of the brain chemicals the messages that your body you know must send as well and that is where you might be almost on a psychological lever be made or broken somebody would force you you know for certain amount of time to do certain exercises as well so we also talk about it as exercise tolerance or exercise intolerance yeah which is kind of weird when we discuss this because which we're gonna get to later there's another side of it because I live how should we describe my lifestyle at the moment it's not the healthiest but I do a lot of sitting so I'm not out and about etc etc the one thing that blew me away is that without you even asking me you were like vitamin D there's a problem here you do not spend enough time in the sun and I'm like yep absolutely I don't you know and then if you go out you're so paranoid about getting all the different skin cancer whatever you slap on SPF a hundred and plenty and it's not synthesizing vitamin D and I it shows here that I have a problem with vitamin D you see in vitamin D is actually not quite a vitamin it's actually more of a hormone and that's why your body must make it but it actually needs you know they're the raw ingredients if so to speak you know the stimulus which is the Sun for it to make you know vitamin D and vitamin D is not only important for bone health a huge effect that it has on mood disorders and also your immune system so very very important you know for yeah for that all right you've got a couple of there's some voice notes in which I'll have a listen to you in just a bit somebody wants to know which is it's margin marginally a strange question for me do these guys have liability insurance and for how much I'm not even sure what the relevance there is I mean if you're doing a swab what what liability would you have yeah no so we comply you know with all the rules and regulations and laws yeah so we and say that or you know if people sign up for that as well we we say we do not share yeah this information with any third party whatsoever we are medical laboratory yes yes so yeah so that is you know so we don't share information actually absolutely my special guest in studio dr. Krista North from Jean way we talking preventative medicine right now I think in terms of genetic testing what you're available you know what you're susceptible to I've got my reports they were kind enough to do a couple of these things it's mind-blowing because you know there's there's so much a lot of stuff that I've been struggling with which when we've gone through these reports you're like well there you go now this makes sense so it's absolutely amazing a lot of it is is that that I can address via diet there's going to be some supplementation there's going to be that horrible e-word that you've used exercise anyway we've done we've done the exercise before which was another thing that that blew me away about this and we'll get on to the exercise part of it question though that has already started to come in the different tests that you do you do the health and wellness one what else do you do all right so we've also got a diet test it's called gene diet and that is focusing on what type of diet is the best for you in terms of weight loss but it also includes some micronutrients you know in other words we we familiar with the RDA's recommended dietary lances but for some people based on the genetics you know they are the mini RDA's the micronutrient requirements are basically different than for you know for the general recommendation we also have got a sports test as well that shows you you know what type of sports will work best for you and how to prevent certain injuries and so forth we've got an anti-aging test as well so it's not about just how you look it's also the insight yeah cell aging etc etc correct then we've also got a medication one that tells you what medication will work for you or won't work for you and then we've also got the fertility report which is brilliant I want to get on to all of that and a whole bunch more once again if you'd like to ask any questions SMEs 4 1 3 4 8 those SMS is charged 150 otherwise what's happen 0 8 4 8 double 2 0 9 3 8 my special guest in studio Dr.

Krista North it is what's involved we'll be back with you in just a bit what's involved this Monday night my special guest in studio Dr. Krista North she is from Geneway also a registered dietician and I went for a gene test now let's let's start off with that because a lot of people like oh yeah don't want to go giving my blood to people etc etc with this it's what they call a buckle swab which is basically you swab the inside of your of your cheeks and that connects the material correct yes yeah so we've also specifically chosen you know that methods because it is non invasive and we have customers all over the world and you simply just send it yeah to South Africa or wherever you are we also have got Korea people that we are using to get to get it here as well but it's very simple it's very stable as well ways things such as blood is not only invasive but it's also quite you know unstable in terms of the transport and I mean it's there's no age restriction yeah as long as you got a cheek you're good to go also things such as being pregnant being ill you know taking medications none of that influence it whatsoever your DNA is your DNA and also that's why these tests are only once off you know your DNA is not going to change so this is an investment that you would make in your health in your well-being and once you are armed with this information then you know you can you can prevent a lot of stuff and the stuff that is happening you can you can manage correct yes and it helps the practitioners also a lot you know because then you can focus on the right things at the right time as well now with with me there was there was a lot of you know a lot of things and I found this this whole thing to be absolutely fascinating yeah I want to ask every last question all of the time but we don't necessarily have time for that but one of the things that that that you said along with my being a whisked gene and the pain gene is I also have one of the genes that can be associated with road rage so so just when you when you get the report the red the little red ones those are the ones that are challenge yellow not so much and then green everything's cool so in essence how it works because we actually have got two genes of each gene because you get obviously one from your mom and one from your dad except not for the x and y chromosomes however so when we indicated as a read just to make it easier for people to is um you know to understand then it usually means that both your parents gave you a non-functioning gene and the yellow means one parent gave you functioning the other one non-functioning and green means that both genes that you got you know or functioning my parents got a lot of explaining to do is all I can say but one of those you interestingly you mentioned is a gene that they've seen can be linked to road rage correct there's actually a very interesting stories you know if people Google they will pick it up as well of you know of lawyers who managed to get time reduced for you know of their clients murdered somebody in the first case was indeed a road rage incidence and that is why they call it the road to HD where the people say it because this gene cause certain of your neurotransmitters some of your brain chemicals to be completely out of balance and because that's how you born that they actually say that this person was not you know in control of this they actually did manage you know to get time off and they were a couple of cases like that as well but from a physiological point of view and this is how genes work it's all physiology pathways and so forth is that if that gene doesn't work properly it means that your brain neurotransmitters are not going to be at the levels which should be so it's much more easier to push somebody over the edge because they already start at such a high level of certain of those neurotransmitters and that also you know like cortisol our stress hormones you know serotonin I mean some people I almost want to say you know in a light-hearted way but are basically born unhappy because they the the genes that codes for enzymes to make serotonin they're actually just not working well that's one of the things that you've that you've said here because one of it is the the health genes and nope that's on the next page I want to go to brain brain health and neurotransmitters you talk about now I'm deficient in in a couple of these things which you said to me means that my brain isn't you know producing enough of these chemicals and it is a lot of it is the feel-good chemicals am I right yes so so for example if you look at serotonin now interestingly enough serotonin which we know is the happy chemical is actually made 95% of this is made in the gut it only binds in the brain that's why a healthy gut is so extremely important and very often the solution is actually get sort your gut out you know ensure that you eat healthy that you've got your probiotics and so forth because that is where the neurotransmitters are actually made it just binds to the brain in inside the brain to those receptors now some of the genes that we've seen so there are certain genes that must make serotonin and then there are some that must transport serotonin and those ones that are transported is where the SSR eyes or the antidepressants come in and then it needs to bind you know in the brain to those serotonin receptors yeah and yeah and what we have seen is that basically the process the gene of yours that must make serotonin are not functioning optimally as well but there is a way around that you know and that is in that pathway for example you get a supplement called 5 HTTP and that is going to work very well for you because your body does not make that and the other problem with that is that if your body can't make serotonin it also means it can't make melatonin so very often the solution if people don't sleep well you know it's got to do with this pathway that we need you know to sort out as well so yeah so that's one of the things that we've seen we also saw that one of the genes of yours that has to manage you know or control gabber which is our neurotransmitter that must calm one down it's also not functioning so well so one can almost say that you go you know it's going to take much longer for you you know to calm down you know and that high is going to be there you know much longer so in essence I can get really upset with somebody I have the gene for road rage but because of the serotonin and everything most of the time I just couldn't care less I think that's what you say but we wanted to do so we're going to sort that out yeah so this is this is the the interesting thing is because of you know what what I've learned here is I was almost on the right path in terms of what I was doing but now it's it's very much like being fine-tuned this is what you need to do this is what you need to look at so yeah so yeah so it helps these no trial and error or the trial and error basically you know it would be reduced significantly because you don't have to say let me try the supplement this work for this one this diet worked for that one so here we can say you know this is what's working for you what won't work for you so an essence I almost want to say so make peace with that that you have to follow for example a low carb diet yes you can't follow you know a high fat diet or whatever the situation is now interestingly enough in my life a lot of a lot of people you know it was it's always about you know eating the balanced meals your future is well blah blah blah and then coffee was was like a big no-no you know people used to don't drink coffee you know if you have too much coffee now as it turns out the way I would have I generally prefer eating which is high protein or higher protein low carbs is the way I should be and I have a tolerance for caffeine my body likes caffeine so yeah so that is indeed why different people respond to different diets differently yes and it just happens to be that your genes are really sensitive to carbohydrates it really doesn't not understand quite well what to do with carbohydrates when you eat too many of that hey having said that we all do need a minimum amount of carbohydrates for brain function and amongst other things to sleep actually well so we will never recommend for example a no carb diet as well and then on the other hand as well higher proteins your body work well with proteins but we do have to take into consideration for example like you've mentioned the type 2 diabetes so we also don't want to stress your kidneys out as well so and yeah and then of course the the moderate fat as well that is also what was shown in your results yeah I am a bit of a fat fan though not not just a fan that is fat I'm a fan of oh David stop digging stop digging I'm just gonna get myself in a hole yeah we're gonna talk iron when we come back though because that's one thing that I had no idea about and it's and it's something that came up very strongly and and you know if there was anything that was a little concerning in this entire exercise it was that I would get some bad news delivered this isn't necessarily bad news but it at least is it to me hang on look out for this talk about that when we come back with also I'd like to talk about costs a lot of people are asking how much does this cost because you know it's probably hectic Lee expensive I'm very impressed though that you mentioned it's done in South Africa and that you have that you have international people sending their samples yeah we can do it in South Africa I think it's brilliant my special guest in studio dr. Kristin North from Jean way she's also a registered dietician we'll be back chatting with her a little bit more Monday night my special guest in studio with me dr. Kristin North from Jean way we are talking genetic testing toner there by the way and Rosanna so some one of our listeners just sent us a voice note saying that they got tested and they got tested it was it was actually a blood test that they did for I think for a specific gene and it turned out that the whole family had it and the story continued about what they decided to do this this particular listener felt that you know knowing up front and being able to then make a decision has certainly changed her life and perhaps even saved her life so yes it is it's an amazing thing somebody's just gone in okay how much there we go there's there's a bunch of these coming in how much does a test like this cost where would you go do you have I mean do you have a price for one test I mean I was fortunate enough I got four of them done oh hang on let me let me do that there you go I didn't turn your microphone on all right yeah so the different tests have got different prices but what we did for you for example we did four tests for you it's called the gene combo and it's four and a half thousand rand for the four tests together and the thing is that but now you also have to remember how much information you get you know so we are testing 420 genes throughout that for that four and a half thousand rand so it basically comes down to about less than 40 rand per gene and I mean that you spend on you know one and a half bags of apples please initially people are gonna look at it and go that's a lot of money and for some people it is a lot of money it's not make any bones about that somebody else has just said can we get our medical aid to pay for it I don't know I'm not a medical aid lucky person so I don't know yeah now medical aids don't don't pay for that and part of the reason for that as well is because of confidentiality as well so that this information is not being shaped you know with any insurance companies or medical aids okay so there's a point but I mean if you think about this it's four and a half thousand rand and let me look at and use myself as an example if I'd had this test eight or nine years ago if it was available I would have known about my susceptibility to type 2 diabetes I could then have done something at that stage because you don't just wake up one morning and you are a type 2 diabetic it's something that happens and if you can see that predisposition which comes out I mean it's glaringly obvious you know now I don't think you guys even know I was top 2 diabetes until afterwards but it comes it comes out and and you know if I could have avoided the pain and the suffering that I've gone through and and not have to be on the medication which I'm now going to be on for the rest of my life and not have had to give up all of my fizzy cold drinks and chocolates it I would have paid four and a half thousand rand with a smile on my face yeah it's it's very seldom in fact I can't recall of anybody who's actually ever said no it was a waste of time or money as well and I mean and with your results as well I mean the one of the things that we actually have picked up is your thyroid yeah so your thyroid like I've mentioned to you before is I basically you know I feel very very confident that if you do you do your thyroid tests you know that it's not going to come out yeah they're going to say there's a and I'm going to feed back on this okay everything that Kristin are talking about I will feed back and tell you okay this is what happened this is how it happened so thyroid was the one yes and the other was iron what was the the the the haemochromatosis yes I overload yes yeah yeah so that was also your quite interesting it's not so often you know that we see it now haemochromatosis or the iron overload is simply about your body absorbs too much iron so if it sees a piece of iron in food it absorbs just way too much for off and the thing is now there's a good side good side and a bad side about that so the bad side of that is that unfortunately that excess iron will go and it will lie in your liver yeah and it also many other organs as well and basically it can cause over time liver cirrhosis but it's very easily preventable as well and for example the treatment for that is to deny blood but the thing is is that if you're not aware of it it happens so gradually that one day when you're in your 60s and I look at your liver function taste and obviously the first thought is going to be that you are you know drinking too much alcohol well it happened to me I was sent for a liver function test and it came back and I got this disapproving look from my doctors like how much do you drink young man because you have the liver of whatever and I'm like actually not that much all things considered I really you know I don't it's not like I hit the bottle every single day I'll have a couple of drinks at the weekend or whatever or if I'm out somewhere I might have a drink or two but not a lot and now when you said that that was when I suddenly remembered back to that particular test and you know hemochromatosis is can be a killer yeah no so it can yeah because it basically damages your liver and it can also definitely be linked to tiredness as well which big thing with me yeah because both an iron deficiency as well as an iron overload both can cause you know tightness and fatigue and of course also you like your thyroid as well but there's also a good side about that hemochromatosis yeah well we're going to get on to the sports side of this as well now because that's fascinating because if you if you anybody knows me if you've seen me I do not look like a sporty person these days just to go back to our SMS and whatsapp line very quickly somebody else wants to know can you test for one particular predisposition for example Alzheimer's or arthritis I think you can but your test covers most of that because you you mentioned that to me in this test yeah no so we do cover that as well so the reason why our tests are so affordable compared to what you will find in the rest of the world is because we basically can test many genes at a time so whether if we only test for two or three genes or for all hundred and twenty you know the costs are pretty much you know because the effort yeah it's basically the same but dementia and Alzheimer's are also included in this gene wellness test I would I would say we didn't cover that have I got an Alzheimer's risk all right so let's have a quick squeeze and then get on to this oh don't so I'm just going that's all by myself my body's not helping me this is that I'm driving myself mad okay cool but you see I also want to say because obviously Alzheimer's is an absolutely devastating absolutely and again this is about that we say you might have the predisposition but we say exactly what you can do about it to reduce that risk yeah significantly so this is what it's about because I mean yeah there's a lot of stuff like like even when you when you spoke to me but in terms of the diabetes insulin resistance there's stuff you can do to to delay it to prevent it or whatever the case may be it's not to say now that you've done it it's a hundred percent guaranteed but let me tell you if I'd if I'd somebody said to me diabetes is inevitable for you but you can delay it by five ten fifteen years by doing X ones in I would have done it without blinking really I would have the other thing also that we've picked up in your report is that you're quite sensitive to mercury to maybe metals yeah so that is something that one would like to test for but for you it's going to be quite important that to make sure that your supplements such as your omega-3 you know of free enough mercury you know if you eat your the big fish you know not tuna and so forth you know that's quite rich in mercury your body is going to struggle to detox and make sure what you're doing it's it's becoming aware so let's talk about the iron and let's talk about the sports thing because I promise you I think even Kristin just had to look at me I nearly fell off my chair and she told me about this in terms of because there is a sports one as well that you do an exercise one which I would imagine if you're in any way shape or form a professional or semi-professional athlete this thing is indispensable for you absolutely and and you know because it's so helpful you know for the athlete but also you know for the bio-kineticist all the coaches who's actually working with him to absolutely fine-tune and that ability you know that they've got as well but even for your average person you know yesterday we had the 94.7 here you know and people of all shapes and sizes you know we're exercising so it's also for those weekend warriors or when you do you go to the gym three times a week how do you make the most of it in terms of your genetics and in terms of your time available as well but the one thing that we have picked up with you is that you've got really exceptional endurance genes it's basically on a professional level it must just be developed hmm now how weird is this that I've got like the sissy-boy pain gene and an endurance gene I mean it just doesn't make sense yeah so I can I can stick it out for a long period of time but I'm gonna bitch and moan the whole way yeah you see also now we know you know what to do to help with that sort of like pain levels as well and one of the ways is that you not so overexert yourself and give you enough time to recover as well and you seen these days they are so much technology available there in such nice methods that barking netises for example can use to really maximize you know your ability to still get the most out of this as well but you definitely do have your very good genes and actually one of those genes that helps you with your endurance is exactly this hemochromatosis gene that's the iron one yeah yeah because and in my personal experience so far all the professional athletes that I've been working with so in struck me players and comrades marathonist and so forth you know all of them actually have got this hemochromatosis gene because in an athletic scenario it actually gives you an advantage because you you know athletes use far more oxygen than the rest of us and it's that fact that they've got so much iron in their bodies and it's not the same if you just drink too much iron it's actually a whole different physiology yeah that gives him that advantage to utilize that oxygen in their bodies but the problem is once they stop exercising you know start accumulating you you have and I don't know if we're at Liberty discuss this but you have worked with some of the professional sporting teams and sports people quite a lot yes are we allowed to say who on air can we is it allowed do you have a an India let's just say some very well-known rugby people how's that yes I'm always fascinated because when you look at and and for example top athletes people where peak performance is an issue if you look at what they're doing then you go well there's a reason that they're doing that if they're going for this this genetic testing there's a reason for it and yes from the sporting aspect I think it's it's absolutely brilliant again one of the things that you brought up at that I'd never mentioned is with this endurance I have an aversion to to weights and gym training and as soon as you said look I can see that in the genie I'm not you're absolutely correct I hated doing weights and weightlifting it just wasn't for me so you know instinctively I didn't do that I did a lot more martial arts which is generally a lot more endurance based so it's it's it's fascinating to find the stuff out because do we almost out of time yeah so I thought maybe I can mention so like Caroline Woodsworth who won the comrades and the two oceans in the same year so we've done her genetics Renee calmer just so comrades runner but she's also an Olympic you know she also competed Olympics as well so yeah so we did her genetic tests as well and dear dry Larkin so she is now 88 years old and an excellent runner as well she runs you know like six minutes per per kilometer you know as well yeah and she's eight eight so we've done your her tests yeah as well Joel Stransky for example as well so you know these yeah okay now just before we end up I want to end up with where people can get this done but fertility the fertility sign because there's some people have asked some of my friends was like okay tell us about this fertility gene testing what is that all about can we can we talk about that before we go sure yes yeah so this is absolutely an amazing program that we've just launched very very recently as well and in fact before I came here I actually saw the scan you know of our first couple that you know that sort of confirmed you know that they are now pregnant three three months today in fact yeah so we are hoping that we can keep track of that but in terms of what it is about it's basically aimed at couples you know with unexplained infertility as well you know with we physical causes have been excluded you know the obvious things yeah so and it's far more affordable in terms of that but it's also for all the couples you know who probably need to go the IVF route for example as well and people have got a history of miscarriages as well so it's all like I other tastes hundred percent based you know on science you know that it can make a difference you know in terms of that you know then as a couple of as an individual what you need to avoid for example maybe one thing I can quickly mention is is fluoride fluoride can actually you know for certain people who can't detoxify it yeah decrease their fertility significantly as well so that's one of the things for example that we test for you know people taking certain medications antihistamine certain asthma medications can actually all contribute you know to that as well so yeah so it's an absolutely you're a fantastic taste what happens if and I'll tell you why I'm gonna ask this question because my sister was born with spina bifida and hydro careful ish now later on we were told research showed that if my mom had supplemented with folic acid the chances would have been in been a lot less what are the what is it sort of future wise if you have a look at your gene profile and your partner's gene profile and we come to a gene way or a dr. Christian also we said okay these are the genes okay so how are they gonna fit together is that is that something is that a thing okay so for people who are experienced in the interpretation of this you know we would definitely be able you know to see that and that's pretty much what's also going to help you know with this fertility testing specifically because they are actually certain genes in men you know that can cause a miscarriage in the female as well so very often you know that thing about your but it's the female is it the male so always say fertility is a couple's problem you know as well so we do want to look at the two you know together and indeed yes we can say you know that it's important you know for both parties as well and then maybe if you can just mention something in terms of that folic acid now folic acid is a synthetic vitamin you don't get it naturally in food folic acid is made in a laboratory now your genes and we test for some of those genes is it's your genes that takes folic acid and folate in food and convert it into an active folate and and that is why it's important for some people to already take the activated folate and we have a range of supplements such as with that activated folate as well available because for some people they just can't convert it into the active format yeah and yeah and it's specifically the spina bifida you know can is associated with that yeah I think some people sometimes miss out some of the things I say why a trained genetic counselor is not explaining the genetic testing in a medical geneticist should be doing the testing a medical geneticist does the testing yeah no we know and Krista's pretty much trained yeah so maybe what I can explain you're in terms of that so we you know is that we are focusing a lot on the nutrigenomic side yes you're tonight you're as well yes so yes you're so but now I you know I do think I'm qualified and but what we do do is that we do have associations with genetic counselors and if need be we will tell a person that I can go and see it but these are not the classical testing no what we're talking about is is what I need to know in terms of looking after my health yeah so let's just be very clear of that thank you for your question though Michelle do you appreciate that and and and I do you know we like to we like to share what the listeners ask so we're doing that Krista we out of time though if somebody's keen and interested where do they go can they get hold of you go gene way directly what's the best course of action yes I think the best would be to go to our website gene way dot co dot zi or they can email info at gene way dot co dot zi and I will then you know refer the patient you know to appropriate department or you know practitioner and so forth so it's G N E W A Y so gene way nine out of ten times you know once you've made contact with them as well go through your doctor you know I mean that's that's certainly what I'm doing I'm going to should not be sitting with my doctor and go yeah you understand all these dots and and you know in conjunction with what you and I have discussing making some changes to my diet I will be feeding back as well and telling everybody how it has worked for me because it's just in terms of preventative medicine you know the old Chinese always used to say that the Chinese doctors used to pay them to keep you healthy if you got sick you didn't have to pay them this is very much what this is all about you know we're looking at we're taking our health into our own hands yeah you are being empowered yeah okay so gene way dot co dot zi today if they'd like to get hold of you in terms of from a nutritional aspect Krista where did they where did they get hold of you there so they can also reach me via the info gene way dot co okay so you will actually also send it to me okay I can also give you my cell number and then they can what's up me you're gonna get a lot of phone calls let's just go with the info it gene way okay info it gene way dot co dot said a doctor Krista North thank you so much for coming in thanks for doing the test thanks for sharing it with me I'm certainly gonna check out all the iron things and reluctantly explore the endurance aspect of fitness but it's helped me an incredible amount and I'm looking forward to seeing some positive changes thank you thank you Krista have yourself a wonderful evening we'll chat again one of these fine days that was dr. Krista North my special guest in studio hopefully we can do a follow-up next year sometime technology is changing I'd love to chat to Krista again don't forget times have changed for all the shows on the station you probably know by now but what's involved used to be from six until eight on a Monday night it's now running seven to nine all right however tonight I couldn't change my my next guess times so what I decided to do is normally at eight o'clock it is time for Pete and Dean and the musical time machine so we thought you know what let them come and do their last show because they're not gonna be able to do they'll explain everything but they're gonna be in next so have yourselves a great time I think I'm gonna chat to them before I even let them go and as soon as I technically he stamps his feet saying it is my hour.