The K6 Wellness Revolution
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The K6 Wellness Revolution
Transforming Your Health with Genetic Testing with Dr. Yael Joffe
In this episode of the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast, we share a fascinating discussion with Dr. Yael Joffe, Founder and Chief Science Officer of 3X4 Genetic Testing. Dr. Joffe takes us on a journey from her beginnings in architecture to becoming a pioneer in nutrigenomics, where she now leads the charge in personalized health care. Throughout the episode, Dr. Joffe demystifies the critical differences between genetics and epigenetics, offering insights into how genetic testing can unlock personalized wellness strategies that address chronic health issues and optimize individual health outcomes.
Listeners will gain a deeper understanding of the life-changing potential of the genetic testing, which integrates genetics into practice by offering a pathway-based approach to health. Dr. Joffe explains how the test provides actionable insights into dietary changes, lifestyle recommendations, and supplement suggestions, all tailored to individual genetic profiles. We also explore how environmental factors like toxins and cultural practices influence gene expression, emphasizing the importance of understanding these impacts on overall wellness.
Real-world examples throughout the conversation highlight the practical applications of genetic testing, demonstrating how it can guide practitioners in developing future health solutions. From managing chronic conditions to optimizing fitness plans, genetic testing empowers individuals to shift from generic health advice to personalized health programs. This episode is packed with thought-provoking insights and actionable advice, proving that in the world of health and wellness, there truly is no one-size-fits-all approach.
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This is not medical advice – we do not diagnose or prescribe. This conversation is for educational purposes only. Please seek advice from your health practitioner.
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DISCLAIMER:
This is not medical advice – we do not diagnose or prescribe. This conversation is for educational purposes only. Please seek advice from your health practitioner.
Interested in what we do here at K6 and want to learn more? Click the link below to book a Discovery Call!
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Welcome to the K6 Wellness Revolution podcast. My name is Elena from K6 Wellness Center in Dallas, texas, and on this episode we have a very special guest, dr Yael Jaffe, founder and chief science officer of 3x4 Genetic Testing. Today I will be talking with Dr Jaffe all about her company, how the 3x4 genetic test works, why her testing is different from other typical genetic testing on the market, and so much more. We talk about the 3x4 genetic test here at K6 Wellness all the time, and it is definitely my favorite test that we offer, because you know, we strive to educate our clients as much as possible about every aspect of their health and wellness, but when you take a 3x4 genetic test through us, we are able to dig deeper and more specifically into your health than with any other tool, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:So this episode is for those of you who may want an even deeper understanding of these genetic tests and a full knowledge of what these do for your health. So with that, I'd like to say welcome, dr Jaffe, and I'm very happy to be here. Yes, this is something I've looked forward to because, like I said, this is my favorite test, so I'm hoping to even learn a little bit more as we go through some questions here, but I'd love for you to share a little bit about who you are and your role at 3Genetics before we go even deeper.
Speaker 2:Great, it's a good place to start. So I, amazingly enough, didn't even start in genetics or in science or nutrition. I actually started in architecture and, as many of us in this world have a moment, we either get ill or we have someone who's dear to us who gets ill mother, who died from cancer, and I was like you know, it was some time ago um, why did? Why did you get cancer? You know, why did you get it? Why couldn't we have, um, prevented it? Why couldn't we have managed it better? And so I kind of left architecture and went looking for answers and I I studied to be a dietician so I am a dietician but was really, really disappointed in the answers, or the lack of answers.
Speaker 2:Now, granted, this was a couple of decades ago, but still, you know, it just didn't give me any insight into the why. Why did she get cancer? And so I kind of went on my journey once I got my degree and was lucky enough to be living in London and met an amazing woman, one of my first mentor, dr Rosalind Gil-Garrison, who was a geneticist and she believed that the future of medicine and health would be genetics and nutrition. And I was like, really Seriously Like, what is even the relationship. So that started my journey very slowly and after a couple of years working with her, went back to university. I got a PhD in genetics, but all the time specializing in this area of what we call nutrigenomics, nutrition genomics and and the relationships between our genes and what we eat and the life we live, and we'll talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 1:And that was 24 years ago wow, wow, I I love you know, I actually didn't start in health either. I started in musical theater and had a health crisis, and that's what brought me to this. And in all the years of all my searching for myself so I could do my job better and I could live better, once again, this test was a turning point for me.
Speaker 2:Amazing.
Speaker 1:But before we get into that, I think we probably should begin by discussing a common confusion that people have when it comes to genetics. You know what is the difference between genetics and epigenetics? Because I find that people often think these two are interchangeable.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, and that's a great place to start and you know, I think it's always good when we have a podcast like this is to make sure that we all have our definitions right, that we all know what we're talking about, because otherwise it gets a bit messy as we go along. So I'd love to just define what is genetics, what is epigenetics and what is the relationship between them, because epigenetics has become a very big buzzword and I love epigenetics, but I don't think anyone ever truly understands what we mean by that. So let's start with genetics. So the best way to describe genetics is we all have a code in our body, right, it's our blueprint.
Speaker 2:You've heard about chromosomes, and chromosomes contain our DNA, and this DNA, in essence, is the language of who we are. So in English, we talk about 26 letters of the language, and we make words and we make sentences and we make stories and paragraphs. It's kind of the same with genetics, except instead of having 26 letters, we have four letters A, t, g and C and what we do with these letters is we make them into words, we make them into sentences and ultimately what we're doing is we're saying what are these genes, what are the proteins they're making in our body and the proteins they're making in the body define who we are. Now, 99.9% of that code is identical between all of us, but at 0.1% we are different from each other and that means that three to four million places in our DNA our spelling is a little bit different. And this isn't a bad thing. This is just who we are. This is evolution. But the amazing thing is these spelling changes, which we often call slips or polymorphisms. I like spelling changes gives us insight into who we are and how we respond to the world around us, to the food we eat, the supplements we take, the exercise we do, the stresses we have, the trauma we endure, the toxins in our environment. So genetics when we do a genetic test like 3x4, we're gaining insight into that response. So that's genetics.
Speaker 2:Now epigenetics. So the word epi means above. Epigenetics is above genetics. So this is not about our sequence code. This is not about our blueprint and our code. This is about how genes switch on and off code. This is about how genes switch on and off Every second of every day of our lifetime.
Speaker 2:Genes are continuously being switched on and being switched off by the choices we make in our life, and we'll talk a little bit about that. And when we switch on a gene, we make a protein or an enzyme or a hormone or a brain message, and when we switch them off, we stop making that protein. So what is the relationship between these two? So I always talk about genetics as gaining insight into who you are. It's our code and it's those little changes in code that make us different.
Speaker 2:Epigenetics is what happens when we make choices in our lives. So when we're consuming a lot of toxins and we're living in Beijing and there's a lot of pollution and we're very stressed, those environmental things are going to change the genes that switch on and off. By the same way, if we're making great choices, we're meditating and cold water immersion and we're eating beautiful foods and we have a connection, foods and you know we have a connection and love in our lives we are switching on only the best genes. So I talk about genetics and epigenetics as yin and yang we cannot have one without the other.
Speaker 2:They totally work together. The one gives us insight and the other one is the actions that we take.
Speaker 1:So you kind of have a little more control over your epigenetics. I mean, you do have control Genes. That's what you're born with, but epigenetics that's up to you.
Speaker 2:And so that's a great relationship, right? Yeah? So people say oh, my genes are set in stone, there's nothing I can do. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no. So your genes are what you inherit. They give you insight into who you are, and, based on your insight and understanding of who you are, we then help you make choices that will optimize the way those genes switch on and off, and that's how we get to health or how we resolve disease.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I love it. I just love it. So, with all that in mind, what led you to develop the 3x4 test and why 3x4 as the name?
Speaker 2:okay, good, both good questions. So I um, I have been in this world of genetics and for for 24 years and have built many genetic testing companies and I also built an education company teaching clinicians like yourself how to how to use genetics in practice. And then, about about eight years ago I call it the dark night of my genetic soul I just had this moment where I looked at everything I'd done in my career and I looked at what was happening in the marketplace and there are hundreds of genetic tests. I know I read a statistic of 300 to 400 genetic tests in the US marketplace. That's like horrific, anyway. And I was looking at them, right, and I was like, wow, I'm like 15 years into my career in genetics and we're doing a shitty job. Like we're doing a shitty job and I'm part of that journey, right, so I'm part of those companies. I was was like, how did I work so hard for 15?
Speaker 2:years and I get to this point and I look back and I go, no, like not good enough. So I I had like a year to reflect on, on this disappointment and disillusionment, and this often happens to me I'll get excited about something and do it and then get disillusioned and then do something else and I was like, and I try to spend a year trying to figure out where did we go wrong?
Speaker 2:What are the things in the genetic testing industry that led us astray, that we not only failed clinicians like yourself, but we failed consumers, we failed the public. We just did not give them the value that genetics actually offers, the potential. So I spent one year kind of thinking about it and then I spent a year thinking about okay, I need to either step away, go and find another profession, or I need to step in. I love that was my mission to to step in and build a company where everything that I perceived we had done poorly I would get an opportunity to fix and so so that is, that was my mission behind 3x4.
Speaker 2:we're now six years in, six plus years in, and um, and obviously it was my dreams have come true. Um, and I'll. I'll tell you briefly, you briefly, that's part one of your question, and part two is why the name? So no one ever guesses it, so I'll have to tell you. So when I was teaching clinicians the courses, I built a model of how clinicians could use genetics in their practice, how clinicians could use genetics in their practice and I always say you know, if you can't create a one-page summary for your patient from a genetic test, then you shouldn't be doing this kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Amen, right, right. So how do you do that? How do you build a one-pager? So I used to teach this method and the method was that once you've reviewed a genetic report, you need to identify what are the three most important areas of health I need to focus on. So it could be detox, could be glucose insulin, it could be hormones right, what are the three areas that need the most attention? The second would be what are the three most important dietary changes I can make in my life that are going to have the greatest impact? So we say, 20% change in your, in your diet or lifestyle, for 80% impact, right? The third thing would be three lifestyle recommendations and the last would be three supplement recommendations. So it's three, three, three, three, which is three X four.
Speaker 1:That's brilliant, Absolutely brilliant. And you know I will say that that report is the easiest report I've ever seen. And the order of it, obviously it's your architect background coming out. There it is. It's so neat and tidy, I love it. But OK, so with that, why would you say it's important to test our genetics? I feel like you kind of hinted on that, but what would you say? You know, why should people test their genetics?
Speaker 2:So there's I'm going to. I'm going to give you what my kind of philosophy on is, but I just want to tell you one thing about genetics. So genetics gives you your why. So when you see things happening in your life and it may be hormones, it may be hair loss, it may be exhaustion, it may be that you can't achieve what you're trying to in your weight loss goals like when you see things like that happen in your life, genetics is your why. Genetics gives us the insight about the why of what is happening. Why and this and this goes back to my grandmother right why did she go on to get cancer? What was happening in her body over 10, 20, 30, 40 years that she went on to get cancer? So I always say genetics is the why. That's the first thing.
Speaker 2:Then, on a more practical level, why should you do a genetic test? Why not just go to a lab and order every single thing in the lab that you can order Blood test? Why not just go to a lab and order every single thing in the lab that you can order blood tests and neurotens and all kinds of tests like? Why do genetics and I divided up like this I said we call it a genes first approach. Why test your genes before anything else? So the first thing is know where to start. So if I come to you and I've got a whole lot of stuff happening with me, we need to figure out where are the most important areas to focus on so that I can get the greatest impact. Again, 20% intervention for 80% impact. So we say the first thing is genetics helps you figure out where to start. We have the genes having the greatest impact that if I address that with diet and lifestyle, I'm going to get a great impact. Okay, the second thing is know what you don't know and I love this about genetics. There is always I call them the clinical gems. There is always a gem in a genetic report and you've used them so you can see it as well that you could not have guessed that no matter how fabulous you are as a practitioner, there are going to be things that you learn about your patient or we learn about ourselves that we couldn't have guessed that. So know what you don't know. Third thing personization. Personizing diet and lifestyle recommendations. We want you to live your best life. We want you to have the most optimal diet and lifestyle you can have. Genetics helps us reach that level of optimal personalization.
Speaker 2:Next one precision testing. So if I am going to order tests for you, I want to order them because I know they're going to be valuable to me as a clinician. I don't want to just order them because I'm going to order everything and see what comes up, what I call like a fishing expedition, so we can use genetics as a screening tool to help us figure out what are the tests that we really need to do, so we don't waste your money, that we use your money very carefully by deciding what tests we need. And the last one actually speaks to the same point it's targeted supplementation.
Speaker 2:I want to use supplements for you, but I don't want to order every supplement just because the scientific literature says it's valuable. I want supplements that are going to do two things they're going to be exactly what you need and they're going to optimize your gene expression. They're going to optimize the way your genes switch on and off. So those are all the reasons why, as a once-off test remember genetics is a once-off test. Remember genetics is a once-off test. You do it once, you never pay again, you never swab again. The value of it is so, so high.
Speaker 1:You know, when you think about the value, it's incredibly cheap to get this test and I have to tell people because I don't know if even all of our listeners know I think you've picked up by now. You don't do. If even all of our listeners know I think you've picked up by now. You don't do this test again because your genes will not change. What will change is which ones have been turned on or off, and you'll know based on your symptoms and your point of health. But it never changes. So it really is such a great deal for that specific information. And I've spent a lot of time with the 3x4 tests. I just love it. I dream in 3x4 test results.
Speaker 1:Not just me. It's great to hear, and you know I love exploring the different genes that show up and explaining them to people. But I am sure to always explain that this is, you know, here's the specific genes. That are only one part of it, and typically people are using their genetic tests to either look at their ancestry or they're fixating on these certain genes. And I think the most common question we get from clients is well, how is this different from 23andMe or Ancestrycom? And I'm not trying to slam them, but they just aren't as useful to the consumer. Well, they're a different test, right? Right, different purpose. And when I get those results, I'm like I still need you to do 3x4 so I can see the pathway. 3x4 is a pathway-based test, so can you explain for our listeners the difference between the gene-focused versus pathway-based genetic testing, which obviously is what sets 3x4 apart from all the other tests?
Speaker 2:So, yes, yes and yes, preaching to the converted. You know, when I was talking about that terrible year I had where I was kind of coming, trying to come to terms with where we had gotten wrong. Um, and and this speaks to your 23andme conversation and 23andme is a great ancestry company, and and ancestrycom is a great ancestry company, yep, but they're not health companies. So what happened in the industry over the last 20 plus years is that we landed up with these two kind of things happening. On the one side, there were a lot of companies selling data that's like come to our genetic test. We're going to give you 100,000 genes, or 50,000 genes, or 5,000 genes, and we're going to tell you who your cousins are and where you came from. And we're going to tell you your health and we're going to tell you your disease. And we're going to tell you health and we're going to tell you disease and we're going to tell you what drugs to take or not to take. And so it was like more is better. If I test more genes, it's better, and my, my test is better if I can test more. So that was happening on one side of the industry. On the other side of the industry.
Speaker 2:We had this complete opposite idea, which is, if I only test one gene I don't know if some of you are listening may have heard of this gene called MTHFR or APOE or COMPT and what happened is there were entire industries it's like an industrial complex that were built around testing the single gene, mthfr, and what happened is all these companies had supplement companies. So you would test MTHFR, they would make all these assumptions about your health and your disease, often without using a practitioner like Elena, and then they would say and you need this supplement and this supplement, this supplement and 20 supplements later, not only had you spent thousands of dollars on supplements, but you were probably feeling incredibly ill, because the reality is that's not how your body works, right? We don't want to do that. So we had this single gene come out overkill and we had this data overkill, and so what I was trying to understand is neither of these actually answer the question what does? So? I built something called pathway-based results, and the idea is that when you look at a pathway in your body and all of you can relate to inflammation, detoxification, glucose and insulin hormones right, these pathways are not one gene.
Speaker 2:If you ever see an article in Time or newsweek or cnn or whatever it is. You watch for your media, tiktok or instagram, and it tells you that they found the fat gene or they found the brain gene or they found. It's just not true. It's really just not true. Too good to be true. If it's too good to be true, it it usually is right.
Speaker 2:So, how does it work? There is no single gene that is going to determine any of that, but when we look at these pathways take inflammation as an example there are many, many genes that will contribute to inflammation, and so what we do at 3x4 is we look at that pathway. We have five full-time geneticists. We don't use AI, we don't use search engines. They're real humans and they review the scientific literature and we determine what are the genes that are going to give us the greatest insight into inflammation.
Speaker 2:We group them together and we score them for every single patient. We score them for every single patient and so by scoring them like that, we're able to determine if, for you, your inflammatory genes are going to make you more susceptible. We don't know that you absolutely have information, but we know that you are more susceptible to it and then, having that information, you work with your clinician, like Elena, to be able to manage that and see how that's playing out, like Elena, and to be able to manage that and see how that's playing out. So pathway-based analysis, just again, is a polygenic score, a grouping of genes that have been scored together based on a metabolic pathway that is happening in your body, and we do that in 36 pathways. So we get 36 of these scores, which is what you get in your report.
Speaker 1:Well, and you know it's interesting that the pathways can be surprising. I know for mine. You know, blood pressure showed up and I'm like all right, no one in my family has that. And yet all of us test for the blood pressure dysregulation. But you know, once again for listeners who are learning about this test for the first time, just because it comes up as one of your top three pathways doesn't mean that it's actively working against you. It's just saying hey, if you don't make the right choices, this is what can happen and this is going to be a weak spot for you.
Speaker 2:Can I tell a story about that? It's such an interesting point. So often I do feedback reports and I was actually meeting with a doctor one of the most highly respected doctors in the US and I was doing his report. I was actually meeting with a doctor one of the most highly respected doctors in the US and I was doing his report. I was quite nervous and I'm looking at an image of him and he looks ridiculously healthy. I mean, he runs ultramarathons and he's healthy and oh, he just looks amazing.
Speaker 2:And I'm looking at his report and I'm seeing one of our pathways is around mood right. One of our pathways is around mood right, mood and behavior, anxiety, depression, addhd, addiction, behavior all these things I mentioned have a strong genetic component to them, right? And so I'm looking at him and I'm going like you're the picture of health. I cannot figure out why I'm seeing what I'm seeing in the report. Right, remember, we don't know what we don't know, right. So I said to him like I'm a little embarrassed, I'm seeing this in the report, right, remember, we don't know what we don't know, right. So I said to him like I'm a little embarrassed, I'm seeing this in your report, but everything I know about you is like you're the healthiest person I know.
Speaker 2:And when I told him what I'd seen which actually some genes around, anxiety, depression, some addiction he said to me oh my gosh, I was an alcoholic when I was 21. Wow, yeah. And he says I have alcoholism in my family, that's. And he said my family's all obese. There's a lot of drug and alcohol.
Speaker 2:And I managed to find my way out into the world of health and functional health diet, he says. And he says now I exercise a lot. So he said I I acknowledge that I swapped one addiction behavior for another, which is why I run endurance events, but I managed to maintain my health and I was like, oh, so that's why I was seeing what I'm seeing. So sometimes, when you don't see it manifest, it's because we're making great choices already and also remember that these chronic diseases, whether it's cardiovascular or it's diabetes or any of these, take decades. They don't happen overnight. So while if you're young and nothing's happening, that's great, but we're trying to manage those next couple of decades, Right right, all the choices you make in your current decade will determine your next couple.
Speaker 1:Hopefully you have a couple more. But you know, going back to a certain pathway or gene, you know a lot of people are familiar with methylation or MTHFR, but it doesn't stop there and you know for those of you listening who don't know methylation is one of the most important processes happening continually in nearly every cell of your body that can influence your overall health and genetic expression. But this is only one piece of the puzzle and you could be missing out on the full picture if you fixate on this particular aspect and a lot of tests only test methylation. So what would you say is the risk of only looking at methylation?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I have the same attitude to only methylation as I do to only one gene is that we can never look at a single gene in the methylation pathway. We need to look at all the genes in the methylation.
Speaker 2:And we can never look at methylation without the context of everything else that's happening in our body. So, you know, we talk about, as you know, in 3x4, in those core cellular systems. Methylation is fascinating and important, so is inflammation, and so is detoxification, and so is, you know, oxidative stress, and so is histamine, and so is hormone. So the reason we built 3x4 like it is you don't get to choose that I only want to do methylation or I only want to do weight management, or I only want to do methylation, or I only want to do weight management, or I only want to do sports or I only want to do brain. We don't actually give you the option. We give you everything, because we don't know what we don't know right.
Speaker 2:We don't know. So someone, as another example someone comes to you and they've been battling to lose weight their whole life and we have a lot of pathways around how we consume energy, how we burn up energy, how genetics impacts our eating behavior and our hunger and appetite. But sometimes someone will come to you and they'll say I've been battling with my weight my whole life. I've tried every diet to stop working. It must be because of my metabolism or I'm hungry. And when we look at the genetic report, it's actually detox and inflammation. It's not about calories and energy. It's actually detox and inflammation. It's not about calories and energy. It's actually happening in detox. And if your detox and your inflammation are not functioning optimally, you're not going to lose weight. So that's just another example of why we built it in the way we built it and why we never recommend you. Only look at one pathway like methylation.
Speaker 1:Thank you for that and I just wanted to bring that one up, since that is one of the most well-known ones and people. You will be surprised. I thought methylation was my problem. Then I did the 3x4 and realized, oh no, I have other problems. That one was actually okay, but because I had all these other things that I wasn't addressing appropriately, then methylation had to work harder. So you'll always be surprised. But what I love too, that you know, even though it's not a specific gene focus, in the 3x4 report there are what you call the pop stars. Can you explain what the pop stars are in this test and why it's important in this test? And why it's important? Yeah, so you'll see if you do your own genetic report.
Speaker 2:You'll see on your reports some genes have a little yellow star next to them and we call them pop stars. And the reason we call it pop stars is what we do is, every time we make a decision which genes to include in our report, we obviously do a full review of the science, but it's not just about is the science good enough? We always ask the question will this be useful to you, will this help you make better and more meaningful and more personalized decisions? And we score all these questions how good is the science and how useful is this clinically? And every single gene that we review, every single gene variant, gets a score. Every single gene that we review, every single gene variant, gets a score. And some gene variants are just quite amazing.
Speaker 2:The scientific literature is amazing. Their impact on the body is significant. How useful they are. For you to know about them is really important. And they score really high. When you, when they score above 90 which means they pretty much ticked every box of every criteria we were looking at they get pop star status. And so when what we teach everyone is when you're looking at a report and you see a pop star, pay attention, pay attention. It's not that by itself it's so important that you ignore the pathways, but it is more impactful than most of the other ones that we've included.
Speaker 1:It's a big player and I love how you keep it so positive. It gets this gold star and you think, oh, I'm a winner. It's like well, okay, you can be, let's just work on these things.
Speaker 2:You can be because you wouldn't like paying attention to resolve something that you could have ignored. So Because you wouldn't like paying attention to resolve something that you could have ignored.
Speaker 1:So you know, Right, I love that. Well, you know. Yet another thing that I just love doing with this test is it's fun to compare test results between family members. I have nine siblings and so far I've gotten almost half of them to do their 3x4. And I got my mom to do it, and my dad's supposed to do it soon. Four, and I got my mom to do it and my dad's supposed to do it soon. And it's just interesting to see that my one sister and I have almost identical results, whereas another sister and I only have a few similarities, namely the blood pressure one. But you know, aside from it being fun and interesting, how important would you say it is for family units to do the testing together?
Speaker 2:do the testing together. I get asked that question a lot, so I think it's valuable. You know, I've worked with lots of families before and what you can do is you can have mom and dad done or whatever that configuration is, and then you can kind of guess which combination of genes the child inherited. Sure, but there's no way of knowing if you're right. So I've seen it in families Like again, you know, I know a family where both parents are very overweight, they're obese. Three children, two are very obese, one is like a string bean, right, so genes aren't inherited equally from parents, and so you can guess. But I always say, everyone always asks me but we should do a genetic test, and I'm like, really Everyone should do a genetic test. I'm so sweet, it's a once-in-a-lifetime test. So if you do it, if you're at one. And the other question is how young is too young? There's no too young, right?
Speaker 2:Because the soonest you know that information, the soonest you can start curating that environment to optimize the health and whether it's a child with ADD or it's a child who suffers from anxiety or hormones in a teenager who you want to think about. What hormones are you know? You know how many, how many young girls are put on contraceptive pills when we don't understand the why of what their hormones are doing. Sure, there's never a bad age to do it and there's never a person who wouldn't benefit from it. So, you know, I know there's times where it cost is an issue and you're like I'm going to test this one and this one in the family and I'm not going to test that one. But ideally you want to know.
Speaker 1:You want to know because you can't actually guess what you're taking on in person, and knowledge is power. I look at my one sister who tested her six-year-old and he actually had some very similar genes to me and I've had a long health journey. My health crashed in college. I had to start over, rebuild my life and it took me years and years to reach a point of stable health again. So when I saw she did his test and his results, I'm like I'm just so happy and grateful that this kid can be spared.
Speaker 1:Or my little sister, the one who had similar results with me. She's 15 years younger than me and I'm like hey, sis, don't worry, I'm 15 years older, I can help you do the right things, Cause I did everything the wrong way first. But now we have this genetic test and you don't have to spend your twenties and thirties trying to get health back. So it's so valuable. So so valuable. But would you say that there are specific things you see more often than not within a certain population in regards to genetic variants? You know? And if so, why do you think that? What do you mean?
Speaker 2:by a particular population or even cultures.
Speaker 1:I should say, you know, in specific cultures do you see certain things that are going to be reflected? You know certain genes that have been passed down. Does that play into it at all?
Speaker 2:Well, look, I'm Jewish, me too, are you also right? So we know we didn't get the pot black of genes Right. So we know that there are different populations the Indian population, the Jewish population, some of the Greeks who, we do, tend to inherit some of the genes that make health more difficult, and we know that, around things like Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, some around heart disease and even some of the cancer. So there definitely is an inheritance, and we know this, about the frequency of the way the genes appear. But you know, I don't think that's relevant to 3x4 actually, okay, great, yeah, yeah, I love that when we build our test, we don't look at just caucasians or just hispanic or just asian. We use something called a global frequency, um, and that means we're looking across all different populations. Whether it's Asian, hispanic, jewish, caucasian, like it doesn't matter, We've got to cover it.
Speaker 2:And so it's more important about what is happening in this metabolic process that your genes are impacting than what is the culture I mean. What's interesting, of course, is which is more cultural is what are we eating? Sure, sure. Where are we sourcing our food and what is the environment of eating like? Are we cooking? Are we are we? Are we cooking at home.
Speaker 2:Some cultures are better than others, that are, we sharing food amongst the family, having beautiful big family dinners much better for our epigenetics than eating alone. So I think the culture actually comes into the epigenetics of those things that are. You know, when you eat together in joy, with your family, you're switching on the best genes. When you're lonely and isolated, like in COVID, you're switching on genes that can really affect things, things like mental health, your body and your health. So it's interesting, it's like it's always thinking about that genetic epigenetic relationship and I do think culture is a very strong epigenetic conversation it's, it's hopefully usually a positive thing, you know, and I right, right, if it's not hate, I've got a big table, call me.
Speaker 1:We have family dinners all the time, okay, so, yeah, hey, everyone. This is for absolutely everyone. It does not apply to any certain culture, gender, race. This is for everyone, and I love when there is something that is so useful that is for everyone. But you know, what I also love is when I get to see a 3x4 test result and a total toxin test, because we run a lot of those, and when I get to see them together and compare them, it's always spot on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the 3x4 test always explains why that particular toxin is a problem, because if I see a toxin test alone, I can develop a targeted detox protocol and we get great results. However, we can go from great to even greater, because when I have that genetic information, I can actually help address why the body is holding on to said toxin in the first place, and then you can do a lot more with a lot less. You know, like your point, how much of this can we, or how little this can we do for the greatest gain and greatest good? But I have to also wonder, though what are the long-term impacts of our toxic exposures on our genetics? Because we continue to live in a life that is bombarded with toxins in every single area of life. What is your take on that Like? How do you think our toxins in our environment are impacting our genes? Oh my gosh where to start.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, toxins are such a big problem and, um, they're not going away, right. So you're 100% right what you said. You know. Genes give us the why. So why, you know? We always go back to that age-old story of someone you know who smoked cigarettes until they were 110 and died from old age you know, that's a detox conversation, you know. So, the way we metabolize toxins will determine how damaging they are to our body.
Speaker 1:That's methylation, right Like which genes are being.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's methylation, it's detox, it's inflammation, it's oxidative stress. So someone who manages to get to 110 smoking has an incredible detox system. It means that any smoke particle that's coming into their body is being grabbed immediately and got out of the body super quickly. Some people are really good at it. Some of us are not so good at it.
Speaker 1:I'm one of those.
Speaker 2:That when a toxin comes into my body, I am not so effective at clearing it. So I need to do two things. I need to do a genetic test so I understand where in my detox profile am I having those blocks where I'm not effectively clearing toxins. The second thing is I need to make diet and lifestyle decisions that are going to switch on my detox genes to help me clear toxins. And, of course, the third thing is I need to reduce the amount of toxins in my life and and you need to get that combination. So detox is so huge because the world is getting, you know, worse um microplastics and, and you know I'm sure you also teach us, elena that toxins aren't only about what is in our environment, but also what our body produces. Absolutely, our body produces our gut, our body produces toxins and, of course, our environment produces toxins.
Speaker 2:And stress and trauma and all these things. So we really need to have a big picture idea about it. Where are they coming from inside our body and outside? How are we metabolizing the toxins? Genetics gives us insight. And then, what is the toxins in our environment? Whether it's mold or whether it's pesticides, or whether it's anything that we're living in in our house, the products we're using? How do we reduce that? And so I do think that the reason we're seeing more cancers and not less is because our toxin load is just going up all the time, and it's especially hard in the USA. I haven't lived in China or Russia, but I've lived in quite a few countries, and I think the USA for me, especially the food system and the food products you can buy from the supermarket, it's really hard.
Speaker 1:Call it a first world problem, because here we have all these conveniences, but it's to our demise. And it doesn't have to be that way, because I always like to look at where's the hope here. And that is what I have found with the 3x4 genetic test. And that is what I have found with the 3x4 genetic test. It does give you hope to understand. Hey, I can't remove all these things, but I can help repair and support this pathway so my body can be resilient.
Speaker 2:You know we Right Right One of your greatest weapons to target toxins. So it's totally doable and I think again coming back to my knowledge is power. If we know how we metabolize toxins, if we know where the toxins are coming from our environment and we know how we can make choices to improve the way we remove toxins from our body, we now can do something about it and that's our power.
Speaker 1:I love it. We often have clients with chronic autoimmune issues and sometimes well oftentimes undiagnosed conditions. That's why they're here. They're plagued with fatigue and weight gain and other symptoms. How could 3x4 influence their healing program? I mean, I have my answer, but I want to hear your answer.
Speaker 2:You know, I've yet to see a condition that 3x4 didn't add value to, and autoimmune is one of them. I mean, autoimmune, again, is just growing Rampant, rampant Hashimoto's, thyroid, just insane Rheumatoid arthritis. And so, again, you know, why is one individual so much more susceptible to developing antibodies? You know, thyroid Hashimoto's, and another. And genetics is a lot about resilience. Why are some of us more resilient against the toxins and the stresses of our life and others not? And so, again, you know, 3x4 doesn't give you one answer about. You got a thyroid issue because of x, right, it's not one thing, not one thing, right. But when we look at those pathways, inflammation, detox, methylation, oxidative glucose, insulin, it could be a hormone, it could be histamine it gives us.
Speaker 2:Every person who arrives at autoimmune arrives on a different journey. Every person who arrives at diabetes arrives at a different journey. Same with migraines. You know, migraines, again, so rampant. No person gets a migraine for the same reason or with the same triggers. And so 3X4 has been amazing with migraine work, trying to say, well, actually, this it's histamine. Histamine, right, right, broken down, it's gonna, you're gonna, have the most terrible headaches and heights. So, and guess what? We can make some amazing changes in your diet that can help us with histamine and the migraines resolve. So there isn't a condition where genetics has not been shown to be helpful. Yeah, they all have rare medical conditions. I should say, as a caveat, some rare medical conditions that are and again the word rare that are caused by genes, that there is very little we can do with diet and lifestyle, but but there's aren't the genes that we test for and that's not the genes we're talking about that's not the purpose, right, the purpose of the 3x4 is here's the problem and here's the solution you aren't just giving.
Speaker 2:That is the problem 99% of conditions, so the 1% that are caused by genes that that are so rare that the diet and lifestyle is really not something you generally see in practice. Right and and that is, and that's why I don't work in that space, because I want to work in the place where every gene we look at we can do something, and I love that because I tell people that this test is not going to give you all of your genes.
Speaker 1:You don't need that for this. There's genetic tests out there with all your gene codes that even the top geneticists in the world don't know what to do with, but this one is only going to test the genes we can actually do something with, and that is powerful, so powerful kind of like.
Speaker 2:you know, go ahead I was gonna say you don't need me on this podcast no, no, it's valuable to have you know.
Speaker 1:have you getting it straight from the horse's mouth, so to speak? But you know, I've had so much fun seeing genetic pathways that have to do with weight management, fitness and recovery, because I can't tell you how many people I see, specifically women, who have been trained to do the exact opposite of what their bodies need. And I know for me, when I started following my recommendations for fitness and recovery, my weight fluctuations and burnout went away, and for me that meant I actually had to do a lot less than what I had been doing, and that's counterintuitive. But it's amazing to know wow, I've been doing too much for all these years and it's finally catching up with me. So it's just incredible what can happen when you follow what your genetics need. Yeah, but do you have a favorite pathway? I mean, I was the same.
Speaker 2:I used to just do endurance training all the time, like the more running, the more cycling, the more triathlon I could possibly do. I thought I was serving myself in the best way, both from weight but also from health. Well, it couldn't be further from the truth. And I battled with my weight my whole life. I also was exhausted and you know, and what I realized was and this is actually, I think, a greater awakening we've had when I look at my genetic profile, I need more recovery than most people. I cannot train five, six days a week. I need recovery. Recovery for me is really important. I cannot train five, six days a week. I need recovery. Recovery for me is really important.
Speaker 2:And what I realized is that, you know, now we're starting to understand the value of weight training. And when I look at my genetic profile, I'm saying, oh my gosh, it was there all the time and I needed to be doing weight training and with some cardiovascular, some cardiovascular but not crazy person cardiovascular which was pretty much my life, you know, I thought I was doing an awesome job but actually I really wasn't serving my body. And it's incredible how, when you can find that potential that lives within and get that ideal and understand again your weight journey. You know every person's weight journey is different.
Speaker 1:Every person.
Speaker 2:There is no formula and there is no one diet. So, whether it's keto or paleo or carnivore or low carb or high carb, if you're reading an article and telling you this is the best diet for everyone, it's the same as what I said before it's a red flag. It's just not true.
Speaker 1:Yep, yep, and you know, know we talk about weight a little bit and weight isn't everything, but that's just something that you see on the outside. So I know a lot of people. That is a big thing for them. But I love what you said too earlier about you know, with weight it's not always weight, it's how are you detoxing? So that's where it. There's so much that plays into it.
Speaker 1:And I will say that once again, using this 3x4 genetic test, it's completely transformed the way I practice as a holistic health professional, because once you have someone's specific, never changing blueprint, it helps me, as the practitioner, hone in on their protocol.
Speaker 1:Because I tell my clients hey, if you aren't having success and you aren't doing better, it's as frustrating for me as it is for you, because I don't want you to keep spending your time, money and energy without the results you're looking for. And you know, once again, not always wait, that'll happen if it's, you know, if everything else is in line. But when we can target the whys of your health problems, then you understand that the what's aren't as important. You have to know the why. I love it. Yeah, so you know we've gone through the big points of it, but is there anything that you think of that our listeners should know in regards to the 3x4?, like anything I hadn't asked you or we haven't talked about, I mean, I think we've covered a huge amount and I would just say that there's no reason to think that you're not the right person for genetic tests.
Speaker 2:It is. It is something that every single person should know about themselves, and it is a great gift to know who you are, have insight into you and stop beating yourself up for how you think you should be and what should work for you because you saw it on Oprah or because you read it on in a magazine and saw it on Instagram. You know, know who you are, and that's just an amazing, amazing journey.
Speaker 2:And then one more thing find a clinician like Elena, who knows what they're doing with this genetic test and understands it and can really help you work towards your health goals.
Speaker 1:Yep, Because hey, also, it's so fun. People, I'm telling you it's so fun, but I've loved this conversation, Dr Jaffe, this is just so much fun and you know you've shared some time with us. How can people follow you and keep track of the work you're doing, Because I'm sure there's so much more to learn? Do you have a social media presence?
Speaker 2:I do. I mean, I have a CL Jaffe, I'm mostly Instagram Okay, and obviously 3x4 has its own Instagram. They're even better at it than I am and 3x4 has a Facebook page and I do have Twitter. I never do it, so I think that's probably the best bet and we always having conversations there and I do a lot of videos and questions. I get asked about genetics and then I do like a little one minute video. So if you, if you follow me there, you'll always get my videos on new things that are happening.
Speaker 1:I love it. Well, this seems like the perfect place to wrap up. We hope you have found this information valuable and we'd love to hear from you If you watch the episode on YouTube. Please like and subscribe to our channel, and also check us out on Rumble Facebook and Instagram. If you would like more information about the 3x4 genetic testing or how to take better care of your health, visit k6wellnesscom to schedule an appointment and, until next time, take care of your health, because your health is worth fighting for it is. Thank you, thank you.