LESLIE ON THE MOVE – DECEMBER

Always at the cutting edge of natural medicine, naturopath and homeopath Bob Jacobs has entered into a new phase of in depth testing based on an analysis of the genetic make-up of his patients. For twelve years, Bob has spearheaded the Society for Complementary Medicine – a registered charity founded in 1989, the founding patron of which was Lord Yehudi Menuhin. At 3 Spanish Place, London W1, Bob calls on almost thirty years of expertise in natural medicine, both in the United States and the UK, to help his patients restore immune system functioning, balance hormones, enhance brain chemistry and reach ultra-high levels of health and well being, using a variety of techniques and therapies. Bob is now working with Genovations – a personalised health care approach which harnesses the knowledge that has come out of the Human Genome Project and its having decoded nearly 40,000 genes.

Genes are our body’s blueprint for life building. They exist in the nucleus of every one of the hundred trillion cells in your body. In all, the human body contains about 30,000 to 40,000 genes, which stretch along the double stranded segments of our DNA. DNA itself is made up of a sequence of four chemicals called nucleotides. The way in which these four chemicals are arranged determines your genetic code. Each human being is unique. With the exception of identical twins, no two individuals are born with the exact same arrangement of genes. In fact, it is through differences in the order of these four chemicals that the genetic diversity within human beings is created.

Many people have the idea that our genes determine our state of health. This is not the case. The specific genes that we have inherited form our parents only indicate susceptibilities and resistances to specific illnesses or degeneration. In effect, our genes define our "risks" of certain kinds of degeneration and disease. Whether or not these risks become facts and negative events happen to us, depends far less on our genetic inheritance than how we live out lives. It is not the genes themselves that give rise to disease and degeneration, it is the way they are expressed. What this means is that there are many possible versions of you tucked within your genes and chromosomes. Which version becomes expressed - which potentials become facts – depends almost entirely on the way you live. Nonetheless, this knowledge can be enormously helpful in preventing illness, as well as raising your health potential to the very highest level.

What Bob Jacobs is now doing is working with what are known as predictive genomic diagnostics profiles. These are methods of testing where cells collected either from a mouth rinse procedure or from a patients blood, enable technicians to measure selected segments of the genetic code, which differ from one person to another. These are called single nucleotide polymorphisms or SNPs for short. SNPs are variations in the genetic code that take place at specific places in specific individuals. It is our SNPs that make us different, genetically, from one another. Many of the SNPs predispose us to diseases or influence our responses to food and drugs.

What the genomic profiles which Jacobs is now using are able to do is to measure the SNPs specifically related to four main areas of health. One, how the immune system functions, two, how efficiently the body detoxifies itself, three, how the cardiovascular system functions, four, the health of the bones and skeleton. Once the genomic profile is done on a patient, this enables Jacobs to design an even more comprehensive and personally customised prevention and treatment plan to optimise health better than ever. The new testing procedures show Jacobs just which metabolic pathways in the body work with ease, and which need specific support in order for the expression of a patients genes to be of the best possible nature. They indicate variations in the bio-chemical pathways, such as the methylation pathway for detoxification that depends upon folic acid and B12.

He then suggests changes or alterations in diets and/or specific supplements that support weaknesses in the genetic inheritance and ensure the expression of ones genetic inheritance is of the very highest order – a strong body, a clear mind, and a high resistance to degeneration and ageing.

The genomic profiles which are processed by the Great Smokey’s Laboratory in the United States are some of the most advanced techniques available anywhere for the natural treatment of illness and the enhancement of health. They are an excellent example of the way science is being harnessed to serve nature and to improve human health. I am not by nature someone who is fascinated by medical tests. However, in the case of the genomic profiles I think there is much to be gained from these new investigative technologies. After all, the more that science can tell us about how to support the needs of our body and mind in the best possible way, the more we are able to live our potential for radiant health, balance, creativity, and joy.

For further information contact Bob Jacobs, Society for Complementary Medicine, 3 Spanish Place, London W1M 5AN, Telephone 0207 487 4334 Fax 0207 487 4515.

Leslie