Excel Gene Report

I recently did a DNA test with Excel Gene to assist in the development of my training, recovery and nutrition plan. About 10 days ago I wrote a post about how I believed it was tough for me to lose bf and that I was carb sensitive, only to have that totally blown away by the Poliquin results Krista came up with and then confirmed by the DNA test. Today I am going to give you a summary of the rest of the results and what they mean for me. The report is courtesy of the fab Liz Nelson.

BODY FAT METABOLISM - EXCELLENT

You have a positive variation in your PPARy2 gene activity which reduces your risk for Type II diabetes and other associated cardiovascular illnesses. It also means you are less likely to develop insulin resistance.The fact that your genetic makeup indicates a positive variation in the gene, it supports the notion that your carbohydrate tolerance and your ability to utilize carbohydrate is better than most.

Training Notes: cardiovascular exercise geared towards improving fitness will help kick along a fat loss goal even further.

LEAN BODY MASS DEVELOPMENT – AVERAGE

Your GeneElite profile determined three negative variations – in ACE and MTHRF which have to do with cardiovascular health.

You are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis. HOWEVER, you’re in the right sport to deal with potential osteoporosis and eating foods that contain plenty of folate (leafy greens) goes a long way to preventing accumulation of homocysteine (a product of the expression of MTHFR ) B Vitamin supplementation is also worth considering.

Training Notes: doing some aerobic training (in off season) will go a long way in keeping you more cardiovascularly fit. Doing something like RPM where there is also a lot of explosive work for those Type IIs is not a bad option.
The positive variation in your HIF-1 means that you have good potential to be a better endurance athlete than most.

RECOVERY – GOOD
The only negative variation here is TNFalpha which is a gene that activates the substances and molecules involved in inflammation. This variation can lead to overstimulation of the inflammatory process which can lead to problems such as cardiovascular disease, joint pain, asthma and slow tissue healing.

Layman's terms and training notes: Be careful of a heavy training load where you are getting heaps of inflammation and DOMS. Cycle your training so that your workload is fairly even – within a weekly microcycle and during each macrocycle (block of training or preparation). Plan to take active recovery weeks as well. Recovery modalities such as deep water work, massage, steam etc also help alleviate inflammation and promote recovery.

NUTRITION: GOOD

Thesegenes are all about how well our liver detoxifies our system and how well we deal with free radicals which accelerate age related illnesses.
You only have one negative variation, GSTM1, which suggests that overall, you’re pretty good at dealing with Xenobiotics (toxic substances which accumulate in the body)

Layman's terms; This is where nutrition plays such an important part. As you also have a negative variation in Col1A1 (osteoporosis risk), a diet rich in calcium is recommended. This could be covered by 3 serves of dairy or supplementation.

Dietary fats also help minimize the inflammatory response so using cold water fish (or supplementation eg Krill Oil),flax and organic meats, eggs and dairy will help with potential inflammation and your recovery.

SUMMARY:
I feel that this GeneElite report and the recommendations suggested almost mirror what we started doing nutrition wise and even more so with what Krista is recommending – so I really believe that you are evolving down a path that is tailor made for you, so I’m really not surprised at your response to the training, eating and supplementation.

Lisa