Find Your Nutrisearch PractitionerFacts and Questions About CarbChoice and Genetic Testing
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How will I know what to do when I receive my report? +
Your CarbChoice genetic profile report will contain your tolerance range score, information on what you can do to manage your carbohydrate intake and suggested interventions for you. This includes foods to include or avoid in your diet, lifestyle interventions. If you require detailed intervention planning for diet and nutritional needs or exercise, we can refer to a CarbChoice accredited practitioner to assist you. -
Which carbs are right for you? +
Your CarbChoice Report indicates the carbohydrates that will support your body function with a healthy metabolism. Depending on your results If you know you have a lower AMY1 copy number and therefore reduced capacity to breakdown starch then you should think carefully about the type of carbohydrates you eat and the quantity.
The CarbChoice Report gives you options and also interventions to increase your amylase output if you have a low copy number. -
What are high starch foods? +
Dietary carbohydrates include the simple and complex carbohydrates. The simple carbohydrate’s include simple sugars, like sucrose (table sugar), fructose or lactose (sugar found in milk).
The complex carbohydrates include starch and fibre. All starchy foods come from plants. -
Will medication affect my test results? +
A number of medical and health conditions can have an effect on the interpretation of AMY1 CNV results. It is best to speak with your healthcare professional about this. -
Why is genetic profiling important for our health? +
The messages transmitted through gene expression are modifiable, which means our genes are not our destiny. This is good news as DNA damage can be repaired and gene expression can in essence be ‘dialed up or down’ to significantly improve the functioning of our genes with informed, targeted nutrition, exercise and lifestyle choices.
Nutrigenomics can influence your phenotype, which is the sum total of all your visual aspects as a result of the interaction of your genotype (genes) and your environment, for example, hair and eye colour, fasting plasma glucose levels and presence or absence of disease.
In most cases your phenotype is affected by both genetic and non-genetic (environmental or random) sources of variation, and this may change over time as a result of ageing or the onset of disease. -
Why is everybody’s processing ability different? +
As our diets have changed over the years, so have our genes.The AMY1 copy number variant (CNV), that is tested in your CarbChoice genetic profile report, is an adaptation specific to digestion of starch carbohydrate. Scientific research has linked AMY1 CNV to a high-starch diet.The additional copies of AMY1 increase levels and activity of amylase and therefore improve the ability to digest starchy food.
Over 95% of humans have at least one duplication. This indicates that almost everyone has some degree of starch specific adaptation and that as a species we have evolved to eat and digest starch carbohydrates in our diet. To illustrate, apes (who consume less starch than humans) do not show any variation in AMY1 copy number. This shows a recent origin of increasing AMY1 copy numbers in humans, beginning about 200,000 years ago.
Patterns of AMY1 CNV correlate with our different dietary history and changed as humans moved from hunter/gathers to agriculture/farming based societies. With the domestication of cereals, the reliance on starches for dietary energy dramatically increased in many regions of the world.
From an evolutionary point of view, increased AMY1 CNV and salivary amylase concentrations would provide a considerable nutritional advantage. Efficient starch digestion would provide rapid replenishment of blood glucose after intense energy expenditure, such as during farming, hunting, or episodes of lower gastrointestinal malaise or toxicosis. -
What are Nutrigenomics and Nutrigenetics? +
Nutritional genomics, or “Nutrigenomics” is the science of how nutrients and other dietary compounds, and lifestyle choices, influence our and their expression, which in turn, can influence our health and wellbeing.
Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene products, such as proteins which control how our bodies function and our physical traits. For example, how the AMY1 gene, which determines the amount of alpha-amylase enzyme within saliva in our mouths, expresses itself can determine how effectively our body metabolises starch carbohydrates, which can influence such health issues as food intolerances, weight gain, insulin resistance or Type 2 Diabetes.
A Fitgenes CarbChoice genetic profile report identifies the individual’s potential AMY1 enzyme activity, enabling the practitioner to design an intervention plan based on the knowledge of how well the patient metabolises starch carbohydrates and determines those best suited for optimal health and wellbeing.
Nutrigenetics is the study of the impact of inherited genetic variations on our response to nutrition, exercise and lifestyle choices.Whilst you can’t change your inherited genes, you can compensate for their influence by choosing better nutritional matches for your genes. -
How does Fitgenes select the genes for our genetic profiles? +
The Fitgenes philosophy is based on cell health and gene expression. Fitgenes applies a rigorous selection criteria to determine genes that are suitable, these genes must: influence the physiological functioning of our body at the cellular level; have been researched and supported by solid peer reviewed scientific research; have variations greater than approximately 10% in the different ethnic populations; and most importantly, have nutrition, exercise and lifestyle interventions that can change the gene expression and influence our health and wellbeing.
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What People Are Saying About CarbChoice
- Carb Confusion and Weight Management
"Weight management has always been an issue for me. I had previously done the Health and Wellbeing Genetic Profile Report and had some great insights in to my health and lifestyle choices, so I wondered what CarbChoice could offer.
I had an inclination that a low carbohydrate diet suited me best and the CarbChoice profile confirmed this.My profile came back with a starch processing activity… Read MoreJune, 2016
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