Modern medicine is a wonderful thing. We have treatments and cures for many conditions that decades ago would have seriously harmed us or been fatal. But we all know the saying “prevention is better than cure”.
What if there were a way of knowing what conditions you, as an individual, are prone to? Heart disease, breast cancer, diabetes and many others? What if then you could also find out how to tailor your diet, exercise and lifestyle choices to optimise your health and which medicines or supplements are safest and most effective for YOU as opposed to generically recommended?
This is indeed considered to be the future of modern medicine. A test (from a sample of your saliva) that is able to analyse your DNA, the very building blocks of your body and look at all your 22,000 genes. By sequencing your genome the findings can be prioritised and together with a doctor you can discuss the findings and what changes you can make or extra screening you can have.
Genetic testing at ROC clinic
At ROC Clinic we offer genomic testing using the leading market technology offered by NAG, that includes the world’s first artificial intelligence platform in analysing what your genome means.
The partnership between NAG and our clinical expertise offers individuals a unique opportunity to optimise their health early before illness occurs.
We are able to:
- Routinely find medical issues that people are at higher risk for
- Discuss specific areas of interest when it comes to your health and answer special requests to how your genome may relate to those areas
- Report on diet and exercise recommendations, as well as ancestry
NAG reports anything they can find about your DNA, so long as there is a peer-reviewed, published paper to back it up. There are currently more than 200,000 health-related findings in their database, and that number grows every day.
Lifelong access to your genomic portal
You then have lifelong access to your own genomics portal and can check-in now and again, whether it be to see:
- what new conditions may now be identifiable from our genomes,
- maybe you have a specific health concern that has cropped up or
- specific questions about what exercise might suit you better in the run up to a sports event or
- if you’re considering a change in diet and want to see if it is wise for you.
The other very useful thing that we can glean from genetic testing is how certain medications suit some people better than others, certain vitamins work better for certain individuals and specific therapies may or may not be beneficial for you.
Once you have a NAG portal we will be able to input medications into that and see what your genomic information has to say about whether it is best suited to you or not.
The responsibility that comes with genomic sequencing
There is more to genomic testing than sending a testing kit off and receiving your results. Genomics is far more complicated than many realise and running through the volume of results that can come back can be overwhelming.
Many of us have a propensity to a variety of health conditions but it does not mean that we will definitely go on to develop them. Likewise, there are certain conditions that are rare and receiving a result informing you that you might carry a rare gene or even suffer from a rare genetic disease could be life changing information that shouldn’t be faced alone and without a clinician to support and guide you where to go next for further help or treatment.
For this reason, it is best to discuss your plans for genomic testing with a doctor first and carry out the test plus discussion of results with a healthcare professional too.
Genetic testing at ROC
At ROC we will discuss the risks and benefits of genetic testing and carry out a pre-testing consultation during which we assess your personal health, and questions you may have.
On receipt of the results, these may be forwarded to you in a summary report but the bulk of information is available in the portal you will be given access to.
You will then receive feedback from our doctors on how your genome translates into a personalised future health plan.
Want to find out more? Get in touch to ask for more details or book an appointment.
