The DNA Talks Digest - October 2025 Issue by The DNA Company - US

EXPLORING HEALTH, WELLNESS, AND GENOMICS WITH EXPERT INSIGHTS

DNA TALKS DIGEST

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: DR. JENN SIMMONS ON BREAST CANCER, HEALING, AND HOPE

Dr.

EXERCISE HAS A DIRECT ROLE IN FIGHTING BREAST CANCER

Bestselling Author, International Speaker, and Founder of Real Health MD and PerfeQTion Imaging

SHESUMMIT, OCTOBER 2025 BEYOND THE MAMMOGRAM

THE ALARMING RISE OF BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN UNDER 40

Dr.

BEYOND BRCA+

Dr. Krista Kostroman

Dr. Boyce Berkel

Dr. Lara Varden

Tracey Steady Hardcastle

Jenn Simmons

Felicia Bruno

Thought Leaders Driving the Conversation Message from CEO

Breast Cancer, Genetic Testing, and Redeﬁning Your Health

Dr. Lara Varden Talks with Dr. Jenn Simmons

The Alarming Rise of Breast Cancer in Women under 40

Breast Cancer in Men: A Functional Genomics Perspective

Beyond BRCA: Taking Control of Your Cancer Risk

Estrogen Biotransformation SNPs and Breast Cancer Risk

Antiperspirants, Breast Cancer, and the Role of Silver Oxide in Deodorants

Nerds’ Nook: Life after Five

The Emotional Impact of Breast Cancer

My Quantum Journey to Healing: Embracing Positivity and Taking Charge

Release into Safety and Love: Sensual Recovery after Breast Cancer

Exercise Has a Direct Role in Fighting Breast Cancer

Navigating Midlife Health Challenges: Changing Bad Food Habits for Healthier Ones

Seeing Breast Health Through the Eyes: How Iridology Can Help Detect Early Signs of Breast Issues

Integrative Cancer Care: Hope, Evidence, and Healing

Monetizing Precision Medicine without Increasing Overhead

The Silent Stressors: Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Gum Disease in Midlife

Sleep,

THOUGHT LEADERS DRIVING THE CONVERSATION

DR. KRISTA KOSTROMAN, ND, BCS, CFGP

Chief Science Officer The DNA Company

ALISON HENRY

Chief Operating Ofﬁcer The DNA University

Certified Functional Genomics

CEO, The DNA Company & Founder of DNA University

DR. BOYCE BERKEL, MD Chief Medical Officer The DNA Company

Dean of Students The DNA University

Certified Functional Genomics Practitioner

LYNN ANGEL, CFGP

TRACY WOOD, CPC, ELI-MP, HHA, CFGP

DR. LARA VARDEN, PhD, BCHHP, LEHP, CFGP, CFNC

JUSTIN HARRIS, CFGP

Practitioner

DR. GUERRY GRUNE, PhD, PA

FELICIA BRUNO Founder & Owner, 3rd Rock Essentials Director for Genomic Fitness The DNA Company

Each contributor brings their unique expertise, from cutting-edge research to practical applications in genomics, offering readers valuable insights into the future of healthcare. Together, this diverse roster of experts provides actionable knowledge to help individuals optimize their health.

DR. TRACEY STEADY HARDCASTLE, DACM, MSTOM, CFGP Clinical Director, The DNA Company

JESSICA HALPERN, DIPHIR, CCI, INHC, API MyEyeRead.com

KEN SWARTZ, MS Founder and Chief Science Officer of C60 Purple Power

DR. BETTY MURRAY,PHD, MS, CN, IFMC

SUE NORDEMO, RN, CI, ASW Monarch Health Coaching and Hypnosis

DR. MANDEEP JOHAL, DMD Functional Dentist Founder of H.E.A.L.

S Bestselling Author, International peaker, and Founder of Real Health MD and PerfeQTion Imaging CEO & Founder of Living Well Dallas Functional Medicine Center

SUSAN BRATTON CEO and Co-Founder, Better Lover; The20, LLC; and Personal Life Media, Inc.

DR. JENN SIMMONS, MD

Dear Readers,

Welcome to this special Breast Cancer Awareness Month edition of The DNA Digest. Whether you are joining us for the ﬁrst time or have been following along for years, we are honored to have you in our community. At The DNA Company, we are more than a research and wellness organization—we are a family united by the mission to unlock the power of functional genomics and the interpretation of your speciﬁc blueprint. We have been pivotal over the last decade in transforming the way people approach health and longevity.

This month, as we focus on breast cancer awareness, our goal is to bring you science-backed insights, real stories, and practical tools that empower you to take proactive steps for yourself and those you love. Affordable access and ubiquitous access to early detection can be the key difference between life and death. Awareness is the ﬁrst step—but action, affordability, education, and community are what create lasting change and can deliver hope to many.

I am also thrilled to share that on October 25, 2025, we will be hosting the Fourth SheSummit, a signature event from The DNA Company. This gathering brings together thought leaders, innovators, and advocates in women’s health, fertility, and sex, all grounded in functional genomics and vetted science. It is more than a summit—it is a movement, and we can’t wait for you to be part of it.

Please click here to register https://dnacomedia.com/reg2025/

Also, in the Fourth Quarter Edition, you will ﬁnd our consumer holiday gift guide arriving just in time for the holiday season. It is ﬁlled with health-forward, wellness-driven recommendations and discounts for our community, designed to inspire meaningful giving and self-care as the year winds down.

Finally, I invite you to join in the conversation. Please share your letters, questions, and ideas with us at ceo@thednacompany.com. Whether it is suggestions for future articles, product reviews, or topics you are curious about, your voice helps shape this digest.

A heartfelt thank you goes to our phenomenal contributors!!! These brilliant authors are truly the key opinion leaders in functional genomics and biohacking—whose expertise and passion make these pages possible. Their dedication ensures we continue to bring you not only cutting-edge knowledge but also wisdom you can use in daily life.

Thank you for being here, for learning with us, and for being part of The DNA Company community. Together, we are building a future of proactive, personalized health.

With gratitude and optimism,

Tracy Wood, CPC, Eli-MP, HHA, CFGP CEO & Founder

The DNA Talks Digest

“Where Functional Genomics Meets Feminine Power”

BREAST CANCER, GENETIC TESTING, AND REDEFINING YOUR HEALTH:

Dr. Lara Varden Talks with Dr. Jenn Simmons

In a time of remarkable change for women’s health, conversations about prevention, genetics, and personalized care are reshaping how we think about well-being. Today, we are honored to bring together two trailblazers in this space: Dr. Lara Varden of The DNA Company and Women’s Health Guru, Dr. Jenn Simmons. In this live discussion, “Breast Cancer, Genetic Testing, and Redeﬁning Your Health,” they will explore how breakthroughs in genetic insights are empowering women to take control of their health journeys. From the urgent need for affordable, accessible, and ubiquitous testing to the promise of early detection and prevention, this conversation shines a light on what’s possible when innovation meets advocacy in women’s health.

The following are live excerpts from the interview on our podcast with Dr. Jenn Simmons

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Hello, and welcome to DNA Digest Live Interview. It is my pleasure today to welcome, Dr. Jenn Simmons. Jenn, you are a trailblazer in the world of breast cancer. After years as a top breast cancer surgeon, it was your own experience as a patient that led you to redeﬁne how we diagnose, treat, and screen for breast cancer.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Well, thank you. That's very kind. And I'm delighted to be here.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

So, now you are an integrative oncologist and functional medicine physician through your clinical medical practice, Real Health MD. Jenn, you really are on a mission to help women reclaim their health and vitality after breast cancer beyond just survival.

You are the bestselling author of “The Smart Woman's Guide to Breast Cancer,” host of the podcast “Keeping Abreast with Dr. Jenn,” and an international keynote speaker. And you are reinventing how we screen for breast cancer at Perfection Imaging.

I'll tell you, so many people know you and have heard of you. But for those who may not know your story, I would love to have you share with us what was the pivotal moment, the experience that drew you into this world, into this medical innovation, into doing what you're doing?

JENN SIMMONS, MD

I come by the world of breast cancer very organically. I didn't ﬁnd breast cancer. Breast cancer found me. I come from a breast cancer family. Literally, I come from a very big family, and every woman in my family got breast cancer with the exception of my mother who had colon cancer.

Growing up, I had a ﬁrst cousin. Her name was Linda Creed. She was a singer-songwriter in the 1970s and 1980s. She wrote all the music for The Spinners and The Stylistics. I'm dating myself right now. She wrote 54 hits in all, and her most famous song was The Greatest Love of All.

Take a moment. Holy moly, right? My cousin was literally a rock star. I'm not using that ﬁguratively. I'm talking about my cousin was literally a rock star. Okay? And so, she wrote The Greatest Love of All in 1977 as the title track to the movie The Greatest starring Muhammad Ali.

It really received its acclaim in March of 1986 when Whitney Houston would release that song to the world. And at that time, it would spend 14 weeks at the top of the charts. Only my cousin Linda would never know. Because Linda died of metastatic breast cancer one month after Whitney released that song. I was 16 years old, and my hero had died.

And her life and ultimately her death gave birth to my life's purpose. I did the only thing I knew how to do because I never wanted another woman, another family, another community to have to suffer the way that mine suffered.

I became a doctor, the first doctor in my family. I became a surgeon. I became the first fellowship-trained breast surgeon in Philadelphia. I became the first oncoplastic surgeon in Pennsylvania. I did that really well and for a really long time. And I did that for long enough for my aunt to be diagnosed. I did that long enough for my mother to be diagnosed.

With all the writing on the wall, I was at what was arguably the top of my career as I'm running the surgical department and I'm running the cancer program for my hospital and I'm a wife and a mother and an athlete and a philanthropist and an author and I have all these balls in the air and I think I'm an expert juggler.

And I go from arguably being one of the most high-performing people that you've ever met to I can't walk across the room because I don't have the breath in my body.

What happens when your prize horse is injured, right? I have this intense three-day workup. And at the end of the three days, I ﬁnd myself sitting in the ofﬁce of my friend and colleague and physician, and he tells me that I need surgery, chemo, radiation, and things that I said all day, every day without hesitation or reservation. But I can assure you when those words are coming at you, they have different meanings.

I absolutely can be transported back to that room in an instant. I remember exactly what it felt like in that time and space. The only thing that I could hear, because I was like in Charlie Brown's classroom, right? I just felt like I was having this crazy out-of-body experience. And I couldn't silence this voice that said, “There's something more, go ﬁnd it.”

Now, I am a conventionally trained physician, right? I went to one of the best medical schools in the country. I'm an MD. I went through a surgical residency. I didn't know that there was anything else. I had no idea what this was, call it God, call it universe, call it voice. I don't know what to call it, right?

I had no idea where this messaging was downloading from, but all I could hear was, “There's something more, go ﬁnd it.” And so, I went on a journey.

This journey was not to help my breast cancer patients, right? This journey was about me and ﬁguring out how I was going to live because I had two young boys, and they weren't ready to grow up without a mother.

And so, I go on this journey. God is good! I am a deeply religious woman. I ﬁnd myself sitting in a room where this tall, lanky guy walks on stage, big toothy grin, and he introduces himself as a functional medicine physician.

Now, at this point, I'm sick, yes, but I'm still my cynical snooty booty self and have no idea what I'm doing here. All I could think of was like, “I've been a doctor for 20 years. There's no such thing as a functional medicine physician. What is this quack talking about?”

Then I remember that I'm sick and I'm there for a reason. So, I check my ego at the door, and I tune in. And thank God I did. Because over the next two hours, I was to understand exactly why I got sick, exactly why I was in that room on that day in that seat. I was there so that I could listen to this man explain to me how I was not only going to heal myself but telescope the rest of my career and how I was going to save millions of lives.

I learned on that day that I was meant for so much more than that one-on-one in the operating room space. The main thing that I learned on that day is that in conventional medicine, we're completely focused on the wrong thing.

All of our focus, especially in the world of cancer, is on the tumor. But the tumor is not the problem. The tumor is the symptom of the problem. Unless you start to understand the problem, unless you back up 20 steps and ﬁgure out why the tumor is there, what we're meant to learn, what the message here is, and how to course correct, then you're not helping anyone anyway.

I realized that as a surgeon, I wasn't helping to heal anyone. Maybe I was delaying the progression of the disease, but I wasn't doing anything to stop that disease from coming back or worse yet, to stop the next manifestation of the inﬂammation, of the systemic disturbance that led to the disease.

That day was pivotal for me because I saw the whole medical universe through a completely different perspective and learned that, you know, we don't have a healthcare system. We have a sick care system.

I got into medicine for the same reason that everyone else gets into medicine—because they really want to help people. They really want to cure people. Only that's not what I was doing. I learned on that day that I could. I learned on that day the potential that I had to not only heal myself, but the potential that I had to heal millions and millions of women.

I'm an early adopter. I get really excited about things, and I'm a quick start. On that day, I enrolled in the Institute for Functional Medicine. I spent the next three years immersed in the study of functional medicine and on a healing journey for myself since when you study things, you tend to try everything out on yourself. I don't recommend that. I got a lot worse before I got better, dangerously, dangerously worse before I got better. I actually have a story about The DNA Company because that was one of the things that I did when I got sick. That's one of the things that helped to turn me around for the better and for health.

The DNA Company, I actually partially credit them with saving my life. It took me three years, but I came out on the other side, and it was a bell that I couldn't un-ring. I couldn't go back to just being a surgeon because it wasn't enough, and it wasn't what people need, and it wasn't the right thing to do. So that's my story, and I'm sticking with it.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

I believe that people give too much of their agency away. Each of us, we need to start paying attention to what our body is saying to us, what it is asking of us.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

You're absolutely right.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

I want to dive into how you found The DNA Company and how you used our DNA testing—our DNA 360 test—to help you. I would love to hear that.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

It's in the 1970s and it's Dean Ornish, right? So, my grandmother, when I was 11 years old, hands me the article by Dean Ornish, which was revolutionary at that time, that plant-based diets could cure cardiovascular disease. My grandmother said to me, “It's too late for me, but it's not too late for you.”

I stopped eating meat that day. I didn't eat it again for decades. I am at my core plant-based. That's what I want to eat. That's what my body desires. But I was also ignorant in so many ways. I didn't know that if you're not eating animals, you need to supplement.

I knew nothing about nutrition. I had no idea that you had to supplement. And I became more and more orthorexic after I got my diagnosis, because I thought that maybe I had let myself slip and I was letting some animal products into my life and maybe that's why I got sick. I became super-duper orthorexic in terms of my veganism. And I got way, way sicker. Then I'm in Sachin Patel's mastermind. Do you know Sachin?

LARA VARDEN, PhD

I do.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah, He's amazing. So, I'm in his mastermind and Kashif Khan comes on and presents this test, the DNA 360, and they offer it to the whole community.

I'm like, sure, why not? I'll take another test. Sounds great. I take the test and Kashif goes over the results with me.

Now, this was a long time ago. I think the test has come a long way since then. But I learned a lot about myself from that test. I learned about the fact that, ﬁrst of all, I cannot be a vegan even if I were to supplement with B12 since that's one of the major things that's missing when you're on a vegan diet.

Even if I were to supplement with B12, it is not good enough because I'm also not a beta carotene converter. I can eat all the orange stuff that I want. I'm not talking about Skittles, obviously. I'm talking about the fruits and vegetables that are rich in that orange color because they contain lots of beta carotene. I could eat that until the cows come home, but I can't convert it to the active form of vitamin A so I'm going to suffer lots of problems as a result of being vitamin A deﬁcient. Like my immune system doesn't work because you need vitamin A for your immune system.

So where do cancers come from? Cancers come from a failure of your immune system. I also, as it turns out, have terrible vitamin D genes. I'm not a good converter, I'm not a good transporter, and I do not have good receptors.

I'm walking around with a vitamin D level in the teens. In the teens, right? I'm being a good little girl. I'm putting on my sunblock because what do they teach you in medical school and in dermatology rounds? They teach you that you should never be outside without your sunblock and you don't want wrinkles and you don't want this and you don't want that. So, I'm covered in sunblock and I am vitamin A and so vitamin D deﬁcient that I actually give myself cancer.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Yeah, and the endocrine disruptors that are in the sunblock.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

I learned a lot about my detoxiﬁcation genes—that they are terrible. I yelled at my mother because it's obviously her fault.

I learned what my body needed. I learned how to nurture my nature. I didn't learn my lessons fast enough, and I continued to challenge my body in areas where I shouldn't have challenged my body.

When I did the DNA 360, there it is in black and white. You need more rest. You need more recovery. Your body can't deal with these high intensity workouts. You need slow and low.

For me, it was life changing. And it really wasn't until I did that test that I truly started to heal because I didn't know how to take care of myself before then.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Education and making people aware of information about their body, how it works, and laying out the blueprint of their DNA, I think is absolutely foundational.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

I mean, I think they {The DNA 360 Test} make us into anatomical experts, right? But we don't understand any of the physiology. When you then learn about functional medicine, you're like, “Oh this is why we learned all of that back in med school. Because we have to know how the body functions to be able to help it function optimally.”

We have to know where it's breaking down in order to have optimal performance and optimal health. So much of our system is based on mediocrity, right?

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Right, I don't want to be “normal” or a statistic. I don't want to be like 95% of people. Not interested. I want to be that top 5%. I want to be that top 1%. I want to be the standard that everyone wants to live up to. That's where I want to be.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

It’s being optimal, how do you deﬁne optimal breast health, optimal women's health?

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah. So, that's a great question. But the bottom line is that breast health is health. The same things that are going to give you healthy breasts are also going to ensure that you have a healthy brain, a healthy heart and healthy bones, healthy joints, healthy skin, healthy lungs, a healthy gut, a healthy vagina, healthy bladder, healthy mood, and healthy hormones, right? Breast health is health. The same way that fertility is health.

I think about what we've done in that arena. I mostly think about that because I'm like 10 years beyond infertility, right? Like what happens with women is they start off with cycle irregularities and get put on birth control pills. Then they get to the point where they want to have babies, so they come off the birth control pills. Then they get treated for infertili-ty which is like forcing a pregnancy on them, but fertility is health so if you're not getting pregnant there's a reason why we shouldn't be forcing fertility, but we never deal with that reason. Then 10 years later, they're in my ofﬁce because they have breast cancer, right? We should be thinking about breast health is health back when they're babies and come all the way forward because we need to stop siloing that.

Everything is health. We have to think about everything. We have to think about the system as a whole. You can't have healthy immunity without having a healthy gut, right? You can't have a healthy heart but not have a healthy gut. You don't have one thing that's healthy and the rest of the things that aren't. If something's off, the entire system is off.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

All the parts and pieces are connected.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yes. They're all connected. You think about a little screw as part of a machine and say, okay, so what if that little screw falls out? Well, if the little screw falls out, the whole machine falls apart, right?

Everything is important, and we need to start treating it that way.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

What is it like to be a patient in your clinic?

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah. I think for someone who is coming in from the conventional medical world, this is probably the ﬁrst time where you've been listened to, where there aren't time limits, where you're not being rushed out. Where you're being asked things that probably you've never been asked before.

I'm asking people, how was your mother's pregnancy with you? Were there any issues? You know, the patient’s like, “I'm 61 years old. Why are you asking me that?” Because I legitimately want to know. I want to know what your health was like when you were born. I want to know what your health was like when you were a child. I want to know what your health was like when you were a teenager. Because all those things led up to today. What am I dealing with? What do I need to uncover?

To be a patient with me is really—it's vulnerable and it's uncovering all of these things because we have to get toxins out. Sometimes the toxins are obvious, and sometimes they are not so obvious. Sometimes the toxins are things that are quite invisible most of the time. The difﬁcult relationship, the divorce that needs to happen, the job that's horrible and killing you. Or, you're living in a house that has mold. You're living somewhere that's unsafe. I don't know. Whatever it is, our goal is to uncover it.

It's a far more in-depth, vulnerable experience than you've ever had before. But at the same time, it's tremendously meaningful when you're listened to, when you're heard, when your voice matters, when your vote counts, when you're in the driver's seat of your health.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

That is so beautiful. That's so important that they have and are supported with that wind under their wings and letting them know you're on the right track, keep going, you can do this.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

So important. That positive reinforcement.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Another question I had is, what is one unconventional idea or intervention that you believe in, even if it's not widely accepted yet? Maybe even within the functional medicine world.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Well, I'm turning breast imaging on its head. And you know this is a major shift because right now for the last 50 years, our entire breast cancer screening program has relied on mammograms.

And as a conventional medical doctor, I ordered mammograms for everyone, liberally, without thinking about it, without pausing, without hesitation, right?

They told us mammograms were safe, and I believed them. They told us mammograms saved lives, and I believed them. They told us that mammograms saved breasts because if you ﬁnd something earlier, people get less treatment, and I believed them. As it turns out, none of that is true.

My colleagues on the functional medicine side, especially the people that are doing hormone replacement, know the dangers of mammograms. They intuitively know that mammograms don't save lives, and mammograms actually increase the risk of breast cancer. But the truth is that they also won't write for hormones for people without having a mammogram ﬁrst, clearing the breast because they don't know what else to do, right? So, they're caught between a rock and a hard place, and I am forever changing that.

I'm not saying no one's ever going to get another mammogram again. I'm not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. I get it. Right? And I'm using it when I need to use it. If I need to speak in the terms that the conventional medical world is speaking and I have someone with a breast cancer, that's the only way that they're going to see them. Okay, so they go get a mammogram. But I am not exposing healthy tissue to radiation. I'm just not doing it.

We don't even have to do it anymore because there are safe and totally effective ways to screen for breast cancer. The way that I screen is I have everyone do a self-breast examination because no one is ever going to know you better than you know yourself. Everyone thinks their breasts are lumpy and it's okay. You just need to own your lumps. Then I have everyone get the DNA Breast 360 test. So, the DNA Breast 360 test is a test that actually looks for two inﬂammatory proteins, the S100A8 and S100A9 proteins. And as it turns out, when you have high levels of these proteins, these are precursor proteins to breast cancer, and they are abundant in your tears.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

It's tears, yes, .

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah. Let's just talk about the tears test, the DNA Breast 360 Test. Okay? So, with this test, I honestly believe that this is going to replace screening mammograms because we can tell from this test who does and who does not need to be imaged.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Correct.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

If you have a clinically signiﬁcant result on this test, if you have enough of those proteins to trigger a positive result on this test, we know that you either have breast cancer, or you have the inﬂammatory precursors to breast cancer.

Everyone who has a clinically signiﬁcant result, I then do imaging on. But the imaging that I do, I do quantitative transmission (QT), and I've opened up these imaging centers and I plan to open up 50 so that everyone in this country who wants access to this test gets access to this test. But this is 100% safe, effective, radiation-free, painless. It's actually a lovely experience where we use sound waves transmitted through a warm water bath.

A woman lies down and her breasts get submerged in warm water. And she feels nothing. She hears nothing. In a 20-minute meditative-like experience, she has a full imaging of her breast where we are creating a 3D reconstruction of her breast with more sensitivity and more speciﬁcity than anything else.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Beautiful. I am so glad you are making the charge to do that, and you've got so many people behind it.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah, I'm excited to use your test.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

I'll tell you, it is fantastic. There are so many young women now that breast cancer is now an issue, but they do not fall within the typical age conﬁnes of being looked at.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah, you just do [the Breast DNA360] at home. These kinds of tests are going to change a lot of the age conﬁnes as well.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

And its so accessible! In just a few minutes, you know, just having that little strip in between the eyelid and just sending that in to have that precursor test. Again, it doesn't state that you have breast cancer or not, but it's a great thing to look at.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah. We need to be careful when we talk about it, right? Because it's not really a screening test for breast cancer. It's a screening test for the inﬂammatory precursors of breast cancer. And many women who have a clinically signiﬁcant or a positive result on that test will not have breast cancer. But you know what you do have? You have opportunity.

Because the truth is that we can use this test to prevent a breast cancer diagnosis. If you know that you're at risk, and if you know you have the opportunity to mitigate that risk, listen, some people will choose not to. I think most in this day and age will choose to do the work to ensure their health going forward.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

It's the perfect opportunity to start laying the foundations of cleaning up the terrain, of getting their DNA done so they don't have to stumble around trying to ﬁgure it out.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Agreed. But you know, if you ﬁnd out that you have terrible detoxiﬁcation genes, you might want to prioritize getting an infrared sauna, right?

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Oh, definitely. Or air filters or a water filter.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Yeah, of course, all of that. You just know that this is something that will guarantee your health going forward. Because the truth is that we think that being healthy is expensive. But really, being sick is expensive.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

I have heard “That a healthy man, a healthy person has a million goals, has a million dreams. A sick one has one.”

JENN SIMMONS, MD

So true.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Let me ask you, what is your long-term vision for the future of biohacking of functional medicine?

JENN SIMMONS, MD

I know that I'm going to prevent millions of breast cancer diagnoses because when we look at the numbers, so if you look at 2024 and we had 300,000 women in this country diagnosed with breast cancer. If we overdiagnosed 20% to 30% of them, we're talking about 60,000 to 90,000 women every year over diagnosed. I'm getting rid of those, right?

We're not going to cause breast cancer anymore with mammograms, and we're not going to overdiagnose people. I already know in 10 years, I'm going to nearly save a million women, right? That feels pretty good, right?

On the ﬂip side of it, though, we have what I call the forgotten woman because we have 4 million women currently living in the United States with a breast cancer diagnosis, either current or past. And what happens with all these women who are treated for breast cancer is they're treated with surgery and chemo and radiation and anti-hormonal and they're all rendered menopausal. If they're not already menopausal, they're all rendered menopausal and they're told that they should be grateful to be alive.

They are grateful. But it is very hard to feel grateful when you can't think. You can't remember your words. You're depressed. You're anxious. You're afraid. Everything in your body hurts. You have no energy. Your mood sucks. You've gained weight. Your breasts are deformed or absent. You have palpitations. You have no stamina, frequent urinary tract infections, yeast infections. Your gut is not working. You feel gassy and bloated. Your clothes don't ﬁt. You have no libido. Sex is unwanted and painful. Your relationship is suffering or absent.

It is very hard to feel grateful when all of this is going on and yet, this is how we leave most women after breast cancer, and we tell them that they should be grateful to be alive.

We just abandon them, and we tell them that there's no hope for hormonal health for them. And they're not getting nutritional support. They're not getting the kind of support that we talk to everyone else about because everyone is afraid of them because they've had breast cancer. And the thing that they're most afraid of is giving these women hormones. Yet, they no longer carry a breast cancer diagnosis. And if they're like the women that are working with me, they've made sweeping monumental changes in the way that they live their life; in the things that they eat; in the way that they sleep; in the way that they move; in the things that they use in, on, and around themselves; and in their detoxiﬁcation practices.

They've made sweeping changes, so they've learned how their hormones work, how their hormones detoxify. They've learned how to optimize all of that. Why can't they have hormones? Because I say they can. And so, I am changing that.

I am changing the last 20 years where we have been told a story about estrogen that simply is not true. Estrogen does not cause breast cancer. And in fact, estrogen is the hormone of life. It's when the estrogen goes away that we actually start to deteriorate. That is the beginning of our deterioration is when the estrogen goes away.

Breast cancer is far more a disease of estrogen deﬁciency than it is a disease of estrogen excess. It is not a disease of estrogen excess, so I am changing the screening conversation. I am for sure changing the hormone conversation. And I'm making sure that women with a history of breast cancer have access to health. And that often means hormone replacement. That is going to be my legacy.

I won't be known as the best mother and I won't be known as the best wife, but I will be for sure known as the woman who changed the conversation around breast cancer, around how we diagnose it, around how we treat it, around how we prevent it, and around how we screen for it.

LARA VARDEN, PhD

Wow. Mic drop. I love that. Dr. Simmons! Thank you.

JENN SIMMONS, MD

Well, thank you for having me.

As breast cancer rates continue to impact countless women and families, the call for proactive, personalized, and accessible solutions has never been greater. Dr. Varden and Dr. Simmons not only share their expertise but also inspire a reimagining of what true health empowerment looks like—where prevention is prioritized, testing is within everyone’s reach, and women have the tools they need to make conﬁdent choices about their futures.

BREAST BREASTHEALTH HEALTH

"Women deser ve better than fear-based screening and outdated treatment. It’s time to rewrite the stor y of breast cancer—and it begins with understanding your own body like never before. No one is ever going to know you better than you know yourself."

Dr. Jenn Simmons

As a former breast cancer surgeon, my own experience as a patient allowed me to see the limits of conventional care Today, through Real Health MD, PerfeQTion Imaging, my podcast Keeping Abreast with Dr Jenn, my book The Smart Woman’s Guide to Breast Cancer, and my program The Breast Health Blueprint, I’m leading a new movement one that empowers women to take control of their breast health.

The DNA Company’s DNA 360 Functional Genomics test helps me personalize each woman’s prevention and recovery plan allowing me to show them how to nur ture their nature .

I am here to help women shift from fear to freedom and forever change how we approach breast cancer

Bestselling Author, International Speaker, and Founder of Real Health MD and PerfeQTion Imaging

DR. JENN SIMMONS

THE ALARMING RISE OF BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN UNDER 40

By Dr. Tracey Steady Hardcastle, DACM, MSTOM, CFGP | The DNA Company

I had heard that breast cancer rates were rising among women under 40, but I was still shocked when I received a call from my 31-year-old sister-in-law that she had been diagnosed. Back in March of 2024, my nephew was only 8 months old, and Amber had seemed like her usual healthy and vivacious self.

All of us chalked any fatigue she was feeling to being the mother of an infant. While Amber is thankfully considered cured, not all young women are fortunate enough to receive an early diagnosis and treatment.

According to a 2024 study, younger women diagnosed with breast cancer tend to present with later-stage disease, which is generally more aggressive and harder to treat, leading to a 40% higher mortality risk than those diagnosed over age 40.

Breast cancer is now the leading cause of cancer death in women aged 20-49, with an expected 13,180 cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in the United States last year.

Many of these women are diagnosed at a later stage because there are no guidelines around screening for women under 40, so unless the woman ﬁnds it herself or it is discovered during imaging for another condition, the cancer frequently spreads to nearby lymph nodes or tissues before being diagnosed. Additionally, the types of breast cancer diagnosed in younger women can be some of the more aggressive types, including triple-negative breast cancer.

There are fewer treatment options for this type of cancer, and its aggressive nature makes early detection vital. Younger women may also respond to treatment differently, sometimes responding better to chemotherapy than their older counterparts, while other times struggling to stay on certain long-term medications, possibly due to side effects.

One of the things my family wondered about was whether Amber was pregnant with my nephew when she ﬁrst developed cancer. Breast cancer occurs 1 in 3,000 pregnancies and is the largest cause of cancer-related death among pregnant and breastfeeding women. According to the Young Survival Coalition, 30% or more cases of breast cancer are diagnosed within the ﬁrst few years after giving birth. It can be more challenging to diagnose during pregnancy and while breastfeeding because of how the breast tissue changes. Pregnancy does not cause breast cancer, but pregnancy shares some risk factors common to breast cancer.

Dense breast tissue is more common in younger women irrespective of pregnancy, which can make imaging less accurate. Estrogen receptor positive breast cancer appears to be one of the types prevalent in younger women with the diagnosis. Issues with estrogen metabolism due to environmental or genetic factors can increase a person’s risk of developing certain types of breast cancer.

This is where knowing one’s genes can be helpful for prevention of both disease and recurrence. While the DNA360 Functional Genomic Test is not a diagnostic test, it does provide actionable information for optimizing estrogen metabolism.

There are several complications speciﬁc to young women diagnosed with breast cancer. Women this age often must face an immediate decision about whether they wish to undergo fertility treatments to preserve their ability to have children in the future. In interviews I conducted for our upcoming documentary on younger women with breast cancer, some of the women expected to have years to decide whether children were in their future, not days.

There were often questions about whether pregnancy in the future was safe, even in situations where fertility treatments were not necessary. Others rose to the challenge of raising small children while undergoing treatment.

Two of the top concerns were:

1) being present with their children while feeling ill, and

2) being unable to explain to very young children why their mother could not hold them or provide care in the usual way.

Young breast cancer survivors have a higher prevalence and severity of issues such as anxiety and depression for as long as eight years post-diagnosis. They may also experience more intense concerns about body image, including post-surgery scarring, hair loss, going through menopause much earlier than friends their age, and weight changes.

They also report struggles with sexual intimacy, issues with communication, and ﬁnancial issues related to cancer treatment. While there is never a good time to receive a cancer diagnosis, younger women statistically have a harder time paying for treatment and essentials because it is happening at a crucial time in their career and ﬁnancial development.

Many report having to use their savings or go into debt during treatment.

Regional and racial differences exist in the prevalence of breast cancer in younger women. The highest rise in rates is in the western U.S., with high incidence in northeast states. Rates in non-Hispanic white women are rising statistically in all U.S. regions, and Black women have the highest regional incidence rates, as well as higher incidence of poorly differentiated tumors and poorer treatment outcomes.

The DNA Company focuses on those things that are actionable and empowering to patients and the greater community. The Breast360 is an affordable, non-invasive tear test that detects proteins indicating the type of inﬂammation seen in breast cancer. The young survivors I spoke with emphasized how crucial early detection was for their outcomes. The Breast360 test makes regular, early screening possible for younger women and for those without access to imaging.

A positive result on the Breast360 can be used to advocate for further testing, and a negative result can bring peace of mind. The DNA360 test empowers people with knowledge of their genetics, making lifestyle changes possible even before a problem arises.

Be on the lookout next year for the documentary about breast cancer in younger women. You will want to hear the stories of these brave young women, as well as commentary from various experts in the ﬁeld.

References

Xu S, Murtagh S, Han Y, Wan F, Toriola AT. Breast Cancer Incidence Among US Women Aged 20 to 49 Years by Race, Stage, and Hormone Receptor Status. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(1):e2353331. Published 2024 Jan 2. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.53331. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2814306

Brown J. 5 Facts about Breast Cancer in Younger Women. Breast Cancer Research Foundation. https//www.bcrf.org/about-breast-cancer/breastcancer-young-women/ American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2024-2025. Atlanta; American Cancer Society, 2024. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/breast-cancer-facts-and-ﬁgures/2024/breas t-cancer-facts-and-ﬁgures-2024.pdf

Verdial FC, Mamtani A, Pawloski KR, et al. The Effect of Age on Outcomes After Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer. Ann Surg Oncol. 2022;29(6):3810-3819. doi:10.1245/s10434-022-11367-w. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35246810/

Wassermann J, Gelber SI, Rosenberg SM, et al. Nonadherent behaviors among young women on adjuvant endocrine therapy for breast cancer. Cancer. 2019;125(18):3266-3274. doi:10.1002/cncr.32192. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31120571/

Peña-Enríquez R, Bermejo B, Pollán M, et al. Molecular characterization of pregnancy-associated breast cancer and insights on timing from GEICAM-EMBARCAM study. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2025;11(1):12. Published 2025 Feb 8. doi:10.1038/s41523-025-00718-x. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41523-025-00718-x Young Survival Coalition. Breast Cancer Statistics in Young Adults. https://youngsurvival.org/breast-cancer-statistics Strait JE. Breast cancer rates increasing among younger women. Wash U Medicine. 01/26/2024. https://medicine.washu.edu/news/breast-cancer-ratesincreasing-among-younger-women/

Luo B, Yan D, Yan H, Yuan J. Cytochrome P450: Implications for human breast cancer. Oncol Lett. 2021;22(1):548. doi:10.3892/ol.2021.12809.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/ PMC8170261/

Fardell JE, Irwin CM, Vardy JL, Bell ML. Anxiety, depression, and concentration in cancer survivors: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey results. Support Care Cancer. 2023;31(5):272. Published 2023 Apr 15. doi:10.1007/s00520-023-07710-w. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10105664/ Getie A, Ayalneh M, Bimerew M. Global prevalence and determinant factors of pain, depression, and anxiety among cancer patients: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. BMC Psychiatry. 2025;25(1):156. Published 2025 Feb 19. doi:10.1186/s12888-025-06599-5.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11841195/ American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Young people with cancer are at high risk of ﬁnancial hardship. 10/30/2024. https://www.cancer.org/cancer/latest-news/youngpeople-with-cancer-are-at-high-risk-of-ﬁnancial-hardship.html Kehm RD, Daaboul JM, Tehranifar P, Terry MB. Geographic differences in early-onset breast cancer incidence trends in the USA, 2001-2020, is it time for a geographic risk score?. Cancer Causes Control. 2025;36(7):707-717.

doi:10.1007/s10552-025-01968-7.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10552-025-01968-7 Giaquinto AN, Sung H, Newman LA, et al. Breast cancer statistics 2024. CA Cancer J Clin. 2024;74(6):477-495. doi:10.3322/caac.21863. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39352042/

BREAST CANCER IN MEN: A FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS PERSPECTIVE

By Justin Harris, CFGP and Primal Health Coach | The DNA Company

When people hear the words breast cancer, they almost always think of women. But men have breast tissue too, and while rare, men can and do get breast cancer. As someone who works in functional genomics, I see male breast cancer as a powerful example of how our genes, our environment, and our lifestyle weave together to shape disease.

Most male breast cancers are fuelled by estrogen dominance, in combination with other toxicity and inﬂammatory factors, yet the data are thin because men are usually left out of major studies involving breast cancer. Without enough male-speciﬁc information, doctors are forced to treat men as though they were women, even though the biology is far from identical.

The Gene Story, A Few Key Players

When it comes to genomics, there are many pathways to consider in the cancer conversation, from genes that guide vitamin D production and distribution, to detoxification genes, to methylation genes, and many more. It is important to understand that the enzyme pathways in your body play a significant role in how your body deals with inflammation and toxic insults, some that enter the body from the environment, and some that the body itself creates! Another important pathway that I would like to touch on are sex hormones. Genes play a big role in how these are created, and it is a highly individualized process. Here are a few key players of relevance:

CYP17A1: This gene controls how our bodies make androgens that eventually can be turned into estrogens. Variants here can tilt the balance between protective and harmful hormone levels.

CYP19A1 (aromatase): This gene makes the enzyme that converts testosterone into estrogen. In men, too much aromatase can create an estrogen dominant environment potentially encouraging tumor growth.

CYP3A4: This gene makes an enzyme that can steer the estrogen ship toward 16a-OH, which is an inﬂammatory metabolite.

CYP1A1: The enzyme made by this gene can steer the estrogen ship toward 2-OH, which is a more protective metabolite. Depending on a man’s genotype, he may make less of this and more of the toxic or inﬂammatory metabolites.

CYP1B1: This gene makes an enzyme that converts estrogen into yet another toxic metabolite, 4-OH.

These genes can also inﬂuence the body’s response to environmental toxins and even medications! Together, therefore, they highlight the delicate dance between our hormone biology, our environment, and our response to medicine.

The Hidden Role of the Environment

Genes alone don’t tell the whole story. The environment we live in can act like an extra hand on the steering wheel. For example, a group of chemicals called xenoestrogens (foreign estrogens) can mimic natural estrogen in the body.

References

Pyo Y, Kwon KH. Estrogen receptors, hormonal imbalance, gynecomastia, hyperestrogenemia, and male breast cancer: a literature review. Journal of Men's Health. 2024;20(9):1-9. https://www.jomh.org/articles/10.22514/jomh.2024.143

Everyday products such as deodorants, lotions, and shampoos may contain parabens, phthalates, or triclosan, which can disrupt hormones.

Microplastics, now found in water, food, and even human blood, often carry additives like bisphenol A (BPA) that act like estrogen.

Pollution and smoke can trigger CYP1A1, leading to estrogen byproducts that are more damaging to DNA. •

For men who already have genetic vulnerabilities in their CYP genes, these exposures can magnify risk. It’s not just about what’s in your DNA, it’s about how your DNA reacts to the world around you.

Why Awareness Matters

Another challenge is social. Many men don’t think they can get breast cancer, so they may ignore early warning signs like a lump under the nipple. This often means the cancer is more advanced by the time it’s found. Raising awareness is critical, both so men recognize symptoms earlier and so research can give male breast cancer the attention it deserves.

The Road Ahead

Functional genomics, studying not just mutations but also gene expression, regulation, and response to the environment, offers a path forward. With better data, we could design male-speciﬁc tests and therapies. That might include targeting aromatase more aggressively in men, adjusting drug doses based on CYP family activity, or even tailoring prevention strategies around reducing xenoestrogen exposure.

Final Thoughts

Breast cancer in men is rare, but it teaches us something universal: disease is never just about one gene or one exposure. It’s about the interplay between biology and environment. Looking at genes like those mentioned above, alongside modern challenges like microplastics and toxic chemicals, gives us a clearer picture and points toward smarter, more personalized care.

Justenhoven C, Hamann U, Schubert F, et al. Breast cancer: a candidate gene approach across the estrogen metabolic pathway. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2008;108(1):137-149.

doi:10.1007/s10549-007-9586-8.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10549-007-9586-8

Blackburn HL, Ellsworth DL, Shriver CD, Ellsworth RE. Role of cytochrome P450 genes in breast cancer etiology and treatment: effects on estrogen biosynthesis, metabolism, and response to endocrine therapy. Cancer Causes Control. 2015;26(3):319-332. doi:10.1007/s10552-014-0519-7.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10552-014-0519-7

Rizzolo P, Silvestri V, Valentini V, et al. Evaluation of CYP17A1 and CYP1B1 polymorphisms in male breast cancer risk. Endocr Connect. 2019;8(8):1224-1229. doi:10.1530/EC-19-0225. https://ec.bioscientiﬁca.com/view/journals/ec/8/8/EC-19-0225.xml

Wang B, Cao Z, Li Y, Zou H. Association between CYP17A1 rs743572 polymorphism and cancer risk: A meta-analysis. PLoS One. 2025;20(6):e0326843. Published 2025 Jun 25. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0326843 https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2 Fjournal.pone.0326843

Xenoestrogen. Wikipedia. July 29, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoestrogen

Endocrine disruptor. Wikipedia. Sept. 1, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_disruptor

Juliano C, Magrini GA. Cosmetic Ingredients as Emerging Pollutants of Environmental and Health Concern. A Mini-Review. Cosmetics. 2017; 4(2):11. https://doi.org/10.3390/cosmetics4020011. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9284/4/2/11

Biocare. Xenoestrogens and environmental toxins – The hidden hormone disruptors in our daily life. 01/13/2025. https://www.biocare.co.uk/news/xenoestrogens-andenvironmental.html

Plastic pollution. Wikipedia. 08/25/2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastic_pollution

Health effects of Bisphenol A. Wikipedia. 07/17/2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_effects_of_Bisphenol_A

Collaborative for Health and Environment (CHE). Webinar Summary: Reducing breast cancer risk by reducing chemical exposures. 07/22/2023.

https://www.healthandenvironment.org/latestresearch/blog/reducing-breast-cancer-risk-by-reducingchemical-exposures

BEYOND BRCA: TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR CANCER RISK

How functional genomics, lifestyle, and mindset are reshaping women’s health and redefining prevention. Dr. Krista Kostroman, Dr. Boyce Berkel, and Dr. Lara Varden

For decades, conversations about breast cancer risk have centered on BRCA gene mutations. While these genes do play a role, three leading voices from The DNA Company — Dr. Boyce Berkel, Dr. Krista Kostroman, and Dr. Lara Varden — are reframing the story. Their message is clear: cancer is not just about genetics, but about the interplay of genes, lifestyle, environment, and metabolism.

The Limits of BRCA

The BRCA gene has been both feared and misunderstood. “Everyone has BRCA,” explained Dr. Berkel, “but only defects in the gene compromise its protective role.” In fact, only about 5–10% of cancers are linked to BRCA mutations. Many individuals with these defects never develop cancer, while others without them still face the disease. The takeaway? Focusing solely on BRCA paints an incomplete picture.

The Mitochondrial Connection

The experts emphasized that cancer is as much a metabolic disorder as it is a genetic one. When mitochondria — the energy engines of our cells — malfunction due to stress, toxins, or poor diet, healthy cells can deteriorate into cancerous ones. Inﬂammation is another silent driver, quietly damaging cells long before symptoms appear. “Think of it as turbulence beneath the surface,” Dr. Berkel explained. “It’s often unseen until it’s too late.”

Lifestyle as Prevention

Encouragingly, lifestyle choices play a powerful role in reducing risk. Diet, stress management, toxin exposure, and hormone balance all affect whether genetic vulnerabilities become active. Dr. Varden noted that fewer than 8% of cancers are tied to known genetic variants, which “puts an incredible amount of power back in our hands.” Choosing whole foods, lowering stress, nurturing relationships, and avoiding environmental toxins can all help keep the body’s “terrain” resilient.

Screening and Awareness

Early detection remains a game-changer. With screening, breast cancer survival rates can exceed 99%. Beyond standard tools like mammograms and MRIs, new innovations such as the Breast360 test — which detects breast-specific inflammation through tear fluid — offer noninvasive ways to monitor risk. Regular lab tests, including vitamin D and inflammation markers, also help spot trouble early.

A Shift in Mindset

Perhaps most empowering is the mindset shift these doctors encourage. Instead of fear, patients are urged to embrace hope and strategy. Small, sustainable changes — like adjusting diet, swapping toxic products, or setting aside “wellness time” — create a pathway to prevention. As Dr. Berkel put it, “Genes may load the gun, but lifestyle pulls the trigger.”

The Future of Women’s Health

This conversation marks a turning point in how we view breast cancer and women’s health. By expanding the lens beyond BRCA, we see that prevention is not just possible — it’s within reach. Functional genomics is guiding us into a new era where knowledge fuels empowerment, and every woman can take active steps to protect her health.

ESTROGEN BIOTRANSFORMATION SNPS AND BREAST CANCER RISK

Understanding how our genes influence estrogen metabolism and what it means for breast cancer prevention

By Dr. Betty Murray, PhD, MS, IFMCP | Living Well Dallas, Menrva

We all know that moment when we're watching a classic 80s movie and suddenly realize we understand the plot so much better than we did as kids. That's exactly what's happening in women's health research right now – we're ﬁnally getting the full picture of how our genes inﬂuence our hormone story, and it's both fascinating and empowering.

As someone who's spent decades researching women's hormones and has personally navigated my own hormonal journey, I want to share what we now know about estrogen biotransformation single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and breast cancer risk. Think of SNPs as tiny spelling variations in our genetic code – like the difference between "house" and "mouse." Small changes, potentially big implications.

The

Estrogen Highway: Understanding Our Metabolic Pathways

Let me paint you a picture using one of my favorite analogies. If our body is like a bustling city, then estrogen is like traffic flowing through it. Just as we have different highways, exits, and traffic patterns that determine where cars end up, we have different metabolic pathways that determine where our estrogen goes and what happens to it.

Our estrogen doesn't just disappear after doing its job – it has to be wrapped up, packaged, and eliminated from our body through a complex series of chemical reactions in the liver. This process, called biotransformation, involves multiple phases and enzymes working together like a well-orchestrated highway system.

Phase I: The Main Highway

The ﬁrst phase involves cytochrome P450 enzymes, particularly CYP1A1, CYP1B1, and CYP1A2. These enzymes are like the main highway interchanges, converting our primary estrogens (estradiol and estrone) into various metabolites. Here's where it gets interesting – and where our genetics come into play.

These enzymes can send estrogen down three main routes:

The 2-hydroxylation pathway (the "safer" neighborhood)

The 4-hydroxylation pathway (the "riskier" district)

The 16α-hydroxylation pathway (another concerning area)

Phase II: The Clean-Up Crew

Phase II is where the real detox magic happens. This is where enzymes like catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), GSMT, UGT, and SULT1A1 come in to further process these metabolites, making them water-soluble so they can be eliminated from our body. Think of this as the city's sanitation department – absolutely critical for keeping things clean and safe.

The Star Players: Key SNPs That Matter

Now, let's talk about the genetic variations that can inﬂuence how efﬁciently this system works. Remember, we all have the same basic blueprint, but we each have our own unique variations – like having different models of the same car.

COMT Val158Met: The Master Methylator

The COMT gene produces an enzyme that's responsible for methylating (essentially neutralizing) catechol estrogens. The Val158Met polymorphism (rs4680) is like having either a sports car engine or a more economical one in your metabolic highway system.

Here's what the research tells us:

The COMT enzyme comes in three versions:

Val/Val (GG): The high-activity version – think of it as the sports car of estrogen metabolism

Met/Met (AA): The low-activity version – more like a fuel-efﬁcient compact car

Val/Met (GA): The middle ground – your reliable sedan

Multiple large-scale meta-analyses have examined this relationship, and the results are nuanced. A comprehensive 2012 analysis of 56 studies including over 34,000 breast cancer cases and 45,000 controls found no overall signiﬁcant association between COMT Val158Met and breast cancer risk (Qui et al., 2018). However, when researchers looked more closely at speciﬁc populations, some interesting patterns emerged.

In European populations, women with the Met/Met genotype (the slower metabolizers) showed a borderline signiﬁcant decreased risk of breast cancer. This was surprising to many researchers who initially hypothesized the opposite.

But here's where it gets really interesting – and why we need to look at populations separately. In Asian populations, particularly Chinese women, the story is different. A 2017 meta-analysis of 26 studies in Asian populations found that the Met/Met genotype was associated with increased breast cancer risk (Rai et al., 2017).

For premenopausal Chinese women, the risk increase was particularly notable.

CYP1B1: The 4-Hydroxylation Specialist

CYP1B1 is like the highway that leads to the "dangerous neighborhood" of estrogen metabolism. This enzyme primarily creates 4-hydroxyestradiol, which can form DNA-damaging compounds called quinones.

The most studied polymorphism is Leu432Val (rs1056836). Research shows:

This SNP may alter enzyme activity, but the effects are subtle

Most studies haven't found strong associations with breast cancer risk on its own

The real action might happen when this SNP combines with others

A fascinating 2013 study showed that CYP1B1 is highly expressed in breast cancer tissue and appears to promote cancer cell growth and survival (Kwon et al., 2013).

This suggests that while individual SNPs might not dramatically increase risk, the overall activity of this enzyme system is important for breast health.

CYP1A1: The Safer Route Navigator

CYP1A1 primarily directs estrogen toward the 2-hydroxylation pathway, creating metabolites that are generally considered less harmful. Think of this as the enzyme that prefers to route trafﬁc through the safer neighborhoods.

The *2A polymorphism affects enzyme activity, and interestingly, some studies suggest that certain variants might actually be protective against breast cancer.

The Plot Thickens: Why Population Differences Matter

Here's where our understanding gets really sophisticated. Just like how different cities might need different trafﬁc management strategies, different populations seem to respond differently to these genetic variants.

Several factors might explain these population differences:

Background genetic architecture: Other genes that interact with these pathways

Environmental exposures: Diet, lifestyle, and toxin exposure patterns

Hormonal patterns: Different baseline hormone levels and cycling patterns

Body composition: Differences in fat distribution and metabolism

This is why personalized medicine isn't just a buzzword – it's essential for understanding individual risk.

The Molecular Story: How SNPs Change the Game

Let's dive deeper into the molecular mechanisms, because understanding the "why" helps us make better decisions about the "what to do."

The COMT Conundrum: Why Slower Isn't Always Worse

The COMT enzyme doesn't just methylate estrogen metabolites – it's responsible for clearing dopamine, norepinephrine, and other neurotransmitters too. This explains why COMT variants affect not just cancer risk, but also mood, cognitive function, and stress response.

Women with the Met/Met variant (slow COMT) often have:

Higher baseline dopamine levels (which can mean better focus under low-stress conditions)

Greater sensitivity to stress (because they can't clear stress hormones as quickly)

Different pain processing patterns

Varied responses to certain medications

This is why the breast cancer risk picture is so complex. In some populations, the slower clearance might increase exposure to potentially harmful metabolites. But in others, the slower clearance might actually provide some protective beneﬁts through different pathways we're still discovering.

The CYP1B1 Pathway: Understanding the "Dangerous Route"

CYP1B1 preferentially metabolizes estradiol to 4-hydroxyestradiol, which can then be oxidized to estradiol-3,4-quinone. This quinone can damage our DNA in ways that potentially lead to cancer-initiating mutations.

But here's what's fascinating: recent research shows that CYP1B1 expression is actually increased in breast cancer tissue, and it appears to promote cancer cell proliferation and survival once cancer has developed. This suggests that this enzyme might play a dual role – potentially contributing to cancer initiation and then helping established cancers grow.

This is exactly the kind of nuanced understanding that informs how we approach hormone therapy. We're not just thinking about preventing cancer initiation – we're thinking about the entire lifecycle of hormonal health.

The Protective Power of CYP1A1

CYP1A1 primarily drives the 2-hydroxylation pathway, creating 2-hydroxyestradiol and 2-hydroxyestrone. These metabolites have much weaker estrogenic activity and are generally considered protective. Some studies even suggest they might have anti-estrogenic effects.

Interestingly, certain lifestyle factors can upregulate CYP1A1 expression:

•

Cruciferous vegetables (thanks to compounds like indole-3-carbinol and sulforaphane)

Green tea (through epigallocatechin-3-gallate [EGCG] and other polyphenols)

Regular exercise

Adequate sleep

This is where genetics meets lifestyle in beautiful harmony – we can actually inﬂuence which pathways dominate in our estrogen metabolism.

The Clinical Reality: Why SNPs Matter for Hormone Replacement

Here's something that gets me really excited as both a researcher and clinician – we're ﬁnally at the point where we can use this genetic information to revolutionize how we approach hormone replacement therapy. At Menrva, this is exactly why we've structured our hormone replacement protocols differently than the traditional one-size-ﬁts-all approach.

Think about it: if we know that some women have genetic variants that make them slower to clear certain estrogen metabolites, shouldn't that inform how we dose and deliver their hormone therapy? If we understand that certain SNPs predispose women to accumulate potentially harmful metabolites, shouldn't we be more proactive about supporting their detoxiﬁcation pathways?

This is precisely what drives our precision personalized hormone approach. We're not just prescribing hormones and hoping for the best – we're building comprehensive resources for research and personalization to ensure that every woman receives truly individualized care.

Real-World Implications: What This Means for Us

So, what do we do with this information? As someone who's navigated perimenopause and helped thousands of women optimize their hormonal health, here's my practical take:

The Good News

These genetic variations don't determine destiny – they inﬂuence probability

We have signiﬁcant control through lifestyle and environmental factors

Understanding our genetic tendencies can guide personalized prevention strategies

The Actionable Steps

For All Women:

Support Phase II detoxification: Focus on nutrients that support methylation and conjugation (B vitamins, folate, magnesium, and sulfur-containing compounds)

Minimize exposure to estrogen disruptors: Reduce exposure to plastics, pesticides, and other hormone-disrupting chemicals

Optimize liver function: This is where most estrogen detoxiﬁcation happens

Maintain healthy body composition: Excess adipose tissue produces estrogen and inﬂammatory compounds

For Women with Higher-Risk Genetic Profiles:

Consider more aggressive monitoring: Work with a knowledgeable practitioner for personalized screening schedules

Focus on anti-inflammatory nutrition: Include cruciferous vegetables, green tea, and other compounds that support healthy estrogen metabolism

Optimize sleep and stress management: Both signiﬁcantly impact hormone metabolism

Consider targeted supplementation: Diindolylmethane (DIM), indole-3-carbinol (I3C), calcium-D-glucarate, and other nutraceuticals that support healthy estrogen metabolism

The Bigger Picture: Gene-Environment Interactions

Here's what I find most empowering about this research – our genes load the gun, but our environment pulls the trigger. Even if we carry genetic variants that predispose us to less efficient estrogen metabolism, we have tremendous power to influence the outcome.

Studies consistently show that lifestyle factors can override genetic predispositions. For example:

Physical activity enhances all phases of detoxiﬁcation

Specific nutrients can upregulate beneﬁcial enzymes

Stress management prevents the overproduction of cortisol, which competes for the same detoxiﬁcation pathways

Sleep optimization allows for proper DNA repair and cellular cleanup

The Research Revolution: Building Better Data for Better Care

What excites me most about where we're heading is that we're not just applying existing research – we're actively building the evidence base for truly personalized hormone therapy.

The traditional approach to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) was developed based on population averages, but we know that genetic variation means there is no "average" woman.

The Missing Link in Current Research

Most hormone replacement studies have treated all women as if they have identical metabolic machinery. It's like conducting a study on car performance but ignoring whether you're testing a Prius or a Ferrari – of course you're going to get confusing results!

This is why I do what I do and why I built Menrva, we're committed to building comprehensive databases that link genetic proﬁles with clinical outcomes.

Looking Forward: The Future of Personalized Hormonal Health

We're entering an exciting era where genetic testing for these SNPs is becoming more accessible and affordable. However, I want to emphasize that genetic information is just one piece of the puzzle. As someone who's seen this ﬁeld evolve dramatically over the past two decades, I'm most excited about integrated approaches that consider:

Genetic predispositions (the SNPs we've discussed)

Phenotypic markers (actual urine hormone metabolite ratios)

Environmental exposures

Lifestyle factors

Individual health history

Real-world clinical response patterns

The Next Frontier: Epigenetics and Beyond

While we're focused on SNPs today, the future is even more exciting. We're beginning to understand how our environment can actually influence which genes get turned on or off – a field called epigenetics. This means that even if you have genetic variants that predispose you to less efficient estrogen metabolism, lifestyle interventions might literally change how those genes express themselves.

The Bottom Line: Your Genes, Your Choice, Your Power

Understanding estrogen biotransformation SNPs gives us valuable insights into breast cancer risk, but more importantly, it gives us roadmaps for optimization. This isn't about genetic determinism – it's about genetic empowerment.

Just like knowing your neighborhood helps you navigate more safely, knowing your genetic tendencies helps you make more informed choices about your health. But unlike your neighborhood, you have tremendous power to inﬂuence how your genetic "neighborhood" functions through lifestyle, environment, and targeted interventions.

Looking Ahead: The Future Is Female and Personalized

As we continue to unravel the intricate relationships between our genes, our hormones, and our health, one thing becomes crystal clear: the future of women's health is not just personalized – it's precision-engineered for each unique woman.

We're not passive victims of our genetics. We are active architects of our health destiny, equipped with more knowledge, more tools, and more possibilities than any generation of women before us.

The future of women's health is personalized, predictive, preventive, and profoundly empowering. And we're not just writing that story –we're living it, one woman at a time.

Dr. Betty Murray is a thought-leader, hormone health researcher, nutritionist, and 20-year clinician dedicated to helping women navigate menopause with conﬁdence and clarity. For weekly insights and expert guidance on your hormonal journey, tune in to her Menopause Mastery Podcast, available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Amazon Music. To explore innovative, science-backed strategies for optimizing your health during menopause, visit her comprehensive telemedicine company called Menrva, delivering personalized bioidentical hormones at gethormonesnow.com.

References

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Cheng TC, Chen ST, Huang CS, et al. Breast cancer risk associated with genotype polymorphism of the catechol estrogen-metabolizing genes: a multigenic study on cancer susceptibility. Int J Cancer. 2005;113(3):345-353. doi:10.1002/ijc.20630. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.20630

Ding H, Fu Y, Chen W, Wang Z. COMT Val158Met polymorphism and breast cancer risk: evidence from 26 case-control studies. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010;123(1):265-270. doi:10.1007/s10549-010-0759-5. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-010-0759-5

He XF, Wei W, Li SX, et al. Association between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 30,199 cases and 38,922 controls. Mol Biol Rep. 2012;39(6):6811-6823. doi:10.1007/s11033-012-1506-2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-012-1506-2

Huang CS, Chern HD, Chang KJ, Cheng CW, Hsu SM, Shen CY. Breast cancer risk associated with genotype polymorphism of the estrogen-metabolizing genes CYP17, CYP1A1, and COMT: a multigenic study on cancer susceptibility. Cancer Res. 1999;59(19):4870-4875.

Low YL, Li Y, Humphreys K, et al. Multi-variant pathway association analysis reveals the importance of genetic determinants of estrogen metabolism in breast and endometrial cancer susceptibility. PLoS Genet. 2010;6(7):e1001012. Published 2010 Jul 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1001012. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1001012

Mao C, Wang XW, Qiu LX, Liao RY, Ding H, Chen Q. Lack of association between catechol-O-methyltransferase Val108/158Met polymorphism and breast cancer risk: a meta-analysis of 25,627 cases and 34,222 controls. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2010;121(3):719-725. doi:10.1007/s10549-009-0650-4. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-009-0650-4

Qiu J, Du Z, Liu J, Zhou Y, Liang F, Lü Q. Association between polymorphisms in estrogen metabolism genes and breast cancer development in Chinese women: A prospective case-control study. Medicine (Baltimore). 2018;97(47):e13337. doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000013337. https://doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000013337

Rai V, Yadav U, Kumar P. Impact of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Val 158Met (rs4680) Polymorphism on Breast Cancer Susceptibility in Asian Population. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2017;18(5):1243-1250. Published 2017 May 1. doi:10.22034/APJCP.2017.18.5.1243 https://doi.org/10.22034/APJCP.2017.18.5.1243

Rebbeck TR, Troxel AB, Walker AH, et al. Pairwise combinations of estrogen metabolism genotypes in postmenopausal breast cancer etiology. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007;16(3):444-450. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-06-0800. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-06-0800

Reding KW, Weiss NS, Chen C, et al. Genetic polymorphisms in the catechol estrogen metabolism pathway and breast cancer risk. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2009;18(5):1461-1467. doi:10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0917. https://doi.org/10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-08-0917

Sangrajrang S, Sato Y, Sakamoto H, et al. Genetic polymorphisms of estrogen metabolizing enzyme and breast cancer risk in Thai women. Int J Cancer. 2009;125(4):837-843. doi:10.1002/ijc.24434. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijc.24434

Shatalova EG, Walther SE, Favorova OO, Rebbeck TR, Blanchard RL. Genetic polymorphisms in human SULT1A1 and UGT1A1 genes associate with breast tumor characteristics: a case-series study. Breast Cancer Res. 2005;7(6):R909-R921. doi:10.1186/bcr1318. https://doi.org/10.1186/bcr1318

Tian C, Liu L, Yang X, Wu H, Ouyang Q. The Val158Met polymorphism in the COMT gene is associated with increased cancer risks in Chinese population. Tumour Biol. 2014;35(4):3003-3008. doi:10.1007/s13277-013-1387-6. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13277-013-1387-6

Van Emburgh BO, Hu JJ, Levine EA, et al. Polymorphisms in CYP1B1, GSTM1, GSTT1 and GSTP1, and susceptibility to breast cancer. Oncol Rep. 2008;19(5):1311-1321.

Zhou Q, Wang Y, Chen A, et al. Association between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and risk of cancer: evidence from 99 case-control studies. Onco Targets Ther. 2015;8:2791-2803. Published 2015 Oct 5. doi:10.2147/OTT.S90883. https://doi.org/10.2147/OTT.S90883

ANTIPERSPIRANTS, BREAST CANCER, AND THE ROLE OF SILVER OXIDE IN DEODORANTS

By Dr. Guerry Grune, PhD, PA | ePatent Manager, 3rd Rock Essentials

The use of antiperspirants has become a daily hygiene practice for millions of people worldwide. Since 1945, the use of these products has increased dramatically, with estimates suggesting a rise of over 14,000%. This surge in usage coincides with a notable increase in breast cancer incidence, particularly among women, but also increasingly among men.

According to the American Cancer Society, approximately one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. Moreover, recent studies have shown that male breast cancer, although rare, is on the rise globally, with incidence rates increasing steadily over the past three decades.

Antiperspirants function by blocking sweat glands, thereby reducing perspiration. However, this blockage may lead to the accumulation of toxins in the body, particularly in areas near the breast tissue. Some researchers have hypothesized that this buildup could impair the immune system and potentially contribute to the development of breast cancer.

While deﬁnitive causal links remain under investigation, the correlation between increased antiperspirant use and rising breast cancer rates warrants further scrutiny

Studies regarding the link between breast cancers and toxic personal care products (including cosmetics) and antiperspirants are limited [1-16]. The National Cancer Institute states,

“A U.S. woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer increased steadily and dramatically from the 1930s, when the first reliable cancer incidence data was established, through the end of the twentieth century but that between 1973 and 1998, breast cancer incidence rates in the United States increased by more than 40%.”

The major focus of most studies on antiperspirants and breast cancer has largely targeted the toxicity of aluminum and aluminum hydroxide that are contained in many antiperspirants, which inhibits perspiration.

Research has noted that aluminum can accumulate in breast tissue and fluids from some cysts, raising questions about a potential role in breast cancer development. At present, however, these findings remain correlational, and a direct causal link to antiperspirant use has not been confirmed.

In contrast to antiperspirants, deodorants aim to eliminate odor without necessarily blocking perspiration. One promising ingredient in modern deodorants is chelated silver oxide. Chelated silver oxide is a compound formed by chemically bonding elemental silver to organic molecules, enhancing its stability and effectiveness.

It is non-toxic and exhibits potent antibacterial properties, capable of killing 99.999986% (greater than 5log) [18] of microorganisms within 60 seconds of application.

This high efﬁcacy is attributed to its ability to disrupt microbial respiration and DNA replication, making it unlikely for bacteria to develop resistance.

The mechanism of action of silver oxide involves the controlled release of silver ions upon contact with moisture. These ions interact with microbial cells, disrupting their metabolic processes and leading to their elimination.

This antimicrobial action is particularly beneﬁcial in deodorants, as it targets the bacteria responsible for body odor. By preventing bacterial growth and eliminating dead bacteria, silver oxide-based deodorants effectively reduce or eliminate underarm odor, especially in areas close to breast tissue.

Furthermore, silver oxide is considered safe for topical use, with minimal risk of skin irritation or allergic reactions. It is non-comedogenic, meaning it does not clog pores, and is suitable for all skin types, including sensitive and acne-prone skin. Its inclusion in deodorant formulations offers a safer alternative to traditional antiperspirants, potentially mitigating the risks associated with toxin buildup and immune system impairment.

In conclusion, while the debate over the safety of antiperspirants continues, the rise in breast cancer incidence and the increasing use of these products since 1945 highlight the need for safer alternatives. Chelated silver oxide presents a compelling solution, offering effective odor control through its antibacterial properties without interfering with the body’s natural perspiration process.

As research progresses, incorporating such ingredients into personal care products may play a crucial role in promoting public health and reducing cancer risks.

References

Gikas PD, Mansﬁeld L, Mokbel K. Do underarm cosmetics cause breast cancer?. Int J Fertil Womens Med. 2004;49(5):212-214.

Rageth CJ. One step forward in proving, that underarm cosmetics do not cause breast cancer. Breast. 2005;14(2):85-86. doi:10.1016/j.breast.2004.08.010.

Namer M, Luporsi E, Gligorov J, Lokiec F, Spielmann M. L'utilisation de déodorants/antitranspirants ne constitue pas un risque de cancer du sein [The use of deodorants/antiperspirants does not constitute a risk factor for breast cancer]. Bull Cancer. 2008;95(9):871-880. doi:10.1684/bdc.2008.0679.

Lee AH. Why is carcinoma of the breast more frequent in the upper outer quadrant? A case series based on needle core biopsy diagnoses. Breast. 2005;14(2):151-152. doi:10.1016/j.breast.2004.07.002.

Darbre PD. Underarm cosmetics are a cause of breast cancer. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2001;10(5):389-393. doi:10.1097/00008469-200110000-00002.

Mirick DK, Davis S, Thomas DB. Antiperspirant use and the risk of breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2002;94(20):1578-1580. doi:10.1093/jnci/94.20.1578.

Knapp RG, Clinton M. Risk and causality. In: Knapp RG, Miller MC. Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics. Williams & Wilkins ; Harwal Pub. Co.; 1992:109-130.

Pöhls UG, Renner SP, Fasching PA, et al. Awareness of breast cancer incidence and risk factors among healthy women. Eur J Cancer Prev. 2004;13(4):249-256. doi:10.1097/01.cej.0000136718.03089.a5.

Coleman EA, O'Sullivan P. Racial differences in breast cancer screening among women from 65 to 74 years of age: trends from 1987-1993 and barriers to screening. J Women Aging. 2001;13(3):23-39. doi:10.1300/J074v13n03_03.

Allam MF. Breast Cancer and Deodorants/Antiperspirants: a Systematic Review. Cent Eur J Public Health. 2016;24(3):245-247. doi:10.21101/cejph.a4475.

Darbre PD. Aluminium, antiperspirants and breast cancer. J Inorg Biochem. 2005;99(9):1912-1919. doi:10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2005.06.001.

Trinh TTK, Myung SK, Tran TH, Choi KS. Use of Antiperspirant Products and Risk of Breast Cancer: A Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies. Cancer Invest. 2024;42(9):782-792. doi:10.1080/07357907.2024.2405864.

Hangan T, Bjorklund G, Chirila S. Exploring the Potential Link between Aluminum-Containing Deodorants/Antiperspirants and Breast Cancer: A Comprehensive Review. Curr Med Chem. 2025;32(3):417-433. doi:10.2174/0109298673269343231025070053.

Sanajou S, Şahin G, Baydar T. Aluminium in cosmetics and personal care products. J Appl Toxicol. 2021;41(11):1704-1718. doi:10.1002/jat.4228.

Moussaron A, Alexandre J, Chenard MP, Mathelin C, Reix N. Correlation between daily life aluminium exposure and breast cancer risk: A systematic review. J Trace Elem Med Biol. 2023;79:127247. doi:10.1016/j.jtemb.2023.127247.

Mousavi M, Vaghar MI. The relationship between use of aluminum-containing anti-perspirant and hair color with breast cancer. J Family Med Prim Care. 2021;10(1):182-186. doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1219_19.

National Cancer Institute (NCI). Cancer Stat Facts: Female Breast Cancer. Available online: https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html.

Jung WK, Koo HC, Kim KW, Shin S, Kim SH, Park YH. Antibacterial activity and mechanism of action of the silver ion in Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008;74(7):2171-2178. doi:10.1128/AEM.02001-07.

NERDS’ NOOK: LIFE AFTER FIVE

By Dr. Krista Kostroman, ND, CSO, BCS, FGP | The DNA Company

Most people today survive breast cancer. In the United States, there are more than 4.3 million breast cancer survivors, and five-year survival is about 92% overall and over 99% when cancer is found early. But the five-year mark is not the finish line. The treatments that helped you beat cancer can leave lasting effects that shape health and longevity. The goal now is smart aftercare—guided by evidence and, where useful, by your genes.

Heart Health after Treatment (and after Estrogen Loss)

Heart disease becomes a major long-term risk for many survivors—sometimes rivaling the risk from cancer itself, especially in older adults who had early-stage disease. In a very large U.S. cohort, non-cancer causes (often cardiovascular) dominated deaths among older stage-I breast cancer survivors over the next decade. That pattern reﬂects two major drivers: treatment exposures and loss of estrogen with menopause or endocrine therapy.

Treatment exposures matter. Radiation to the chest can increase the chance of major coronary events. For every 1 gray (absorbed unit of radiation) of average heart dose, the rate of heart attack, coronary death, or revascularization rises by about 7.4%; risk begins within ﬁve years of treatment and persists for 20+ years. Modern protocols are reducing heart exposure, but left-sided radiation still calls for care. Anthracycline chemotherapy and trastuzumab also raise long-term risks of cardiomyopathy/heart failure and ischemic heart disease compared with no chemotherapy. In one contemporary analysis, women younger than 65 who received these drugs had up to 16% cumulative cardiovascular disease by 10 years, driven mainly by heart failure and cardiomyopathy.

Loss of estrogen also shifts risk. Chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure and aromatase inhibitors (AI) lower estrogen, often worsening cholesterol and vascular risk. Premature menopause (before 45) is linked to higher rates of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in large-pooled cohorts. Endocrine therapy choices matter, too: tamoxifen tends to improve lipids but increases clotting risk, while AIs avoid clots yet have shown a higher rate of ischemic events than tamoxifen in meta-analyses. These trade-offs should be individualized with your care team. JAMA Networkbmj.com

Genes That Can Inform a Heart-Focused Plan (most evidence on genes comes from general populations): 9p21 inﬂuences arterial wall biology and is a major common risk locus for coronary disease.

If your proﬁle is higher risk here, combine that knowledge with treatment history to set stricter low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and blood-pressure goals and schedule cardio-oncology follow-up.

APOE shapes cholesterol transport; the ε4 type is associated with higher LDL and atherosclerosis risk, which becomes more important after estrogen loss. NOS3 helps blood vessels relax; less favorable variants are linked with stiffer arteries and higher blood pressure, so aerobic activity, blood-pressure control, and smoking avoidance are especially important.

What to do now. If you had anthracyclines, trastuzumab, chest radiation, early menopause, or multiple heart risks, ask for a cardio-oncology plan: periodic checks of blood pressure, lipids, A1c, and echocardiography when indicated; tight control of LDL and blood pressure; and daily movement, sleep, weight, and smoking support. These steps lower risk beyond usual care.

Support Recovery by Supporting Mitochondria and Detox

Cancer treatments create oxidative stress—reactive molecules that injure mitochondria and load your detox pathways. Anthracyclines like doxorubicin can weaken heart antioxidant systems such as superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX), which helps explain why heart injury can appear years later.

Regular physical activity, good sleep, and a plant-forward diet help restore protective balance. Supplements should be individualized with a clinician.

SOD2 helps neutralize mitochondrial reactive oxygen. Less favorable variants may mean lower antioxidant defense, more fatigue, and slower tissue recovery; your clinician may discuss mitochondrial-support strategies alongside exercise. GPX1 clears peroxides using glutathione; suboptimal patterns can leave more residual oxidative stress and slower healing, so ensuring adequate selenium through diet or supplements may be appropriate.

GST family (GSTM1, GSTT1, GSTP1) conjugates toxins—including some chemo byproducts—for excretion. If GSTM1 or GSTT1 is deleted, detox capacity drops, so exposure reduction (no smoking, fewer solvents, and fumes) and liver-supportive nutrition matter even more; less active GSTP1 can be linked in cancer therapy to greater nerve irritation, so early referral for nerve-safe rehab is helpful.

What to do now. Fatigue, neuropathy, and brain fog can linger for years. Multiple randomized trials and consensus guidelines show that gradual aerobic and resistance training supports mitochondrial health and reduces cancer-related fatigue, while also improving function and mood.

Stress, Anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress

Emotional health is part of survivorship health. A meta-analysis and large reviews show that a small but important minority of survivors meet criteria for cancer-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and fear of recurrence remains common for years. Depression and anxiety are also more frequent than in peers without cancer.

Genes that may shape stress care (mostly studied outside oncology):

5-HTTLPR (SLC6A4) short-allele carriers can show stronger mood reactions under stress; knowing this can prompt earlier coping strategies and, when needed, medication. BDNF relates to brain plasticity; suboptimal presentations may slow cognitive and mood recovery, so graded exercise, cognitive rehab, and sleep care deserve extra emphasis. ADRA2B deletions are linked to stronger emotional memory, which may make reminders of cancer feel more intense; trauma-informed therapy such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) can help.

Putting It Together: A Gene-Informed Aftercare Plan

First, map your treatment exposures—anthracycline dose, trastuzumab use, the side and dose of radiation, and the type and duration of endocrine therapy. These factors shape risk more than any single gene and can help you and your clinician decide what to screen and how often.

Second, layer in genetics thoughtfully. Use polygenic context (for example, 9p21, APOE, NOS3, and family history) to set targets for LDL, blood pressure, and activity. Treat detox and oxidative-stress markers (SOD2, GPX1, GSTs) as signals to double down on lifestyle and monitoring rather than as diagnoses. Evidence that is speciﬁc to survivors is still developing, so genes should personalize standard care, not replace it.

Third, act on the modiﬁable risks you can change today. Aim for regular exercise, do not smoke, manage LDL and blood pressure, prioritize sleep, and maintain a plant-forward diet. These steps lower cardiovascular risk and improve energy and mood for survivors compared with usual care.

You did the hard thing—now do the smart things. Treat your heart as carefully as you treated your cancer, and give your mitochondria, hormones, and nervous system room to heal. Use your genes to focus your effort, not to limit your hope. Stay active, eat plants, sleep well, manage stress, and keep regular check-ins with your care team. This is how you turn survival into long-term health and a life that keeps getting stronger.

References

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Vo JB, Ramin C, Veiga LHS, et al. Long-term cardiovascular disease risk after anthracycline and trastuzumab treatments in US breast cancer survivors. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2024;116(8):1384-1394. doi:10.1093/jnci/djae107

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THE EMOTIONAL IMPACT OF BREAST CANCER

By Dr. Tracey Steady Hardcastle, DACM, MSTOM, CFGP | The DNA Company

According to recent research, 33.16% of cancer survivors suffer from depression globally, with anxiety impacting 30.55%. The rates among breast cancer survivors, speciﬁcally, range from 6.6-35.4% depending upon their geographic region. A 2025 study showed 24.1% of breast cancer patients developed PTSD from the experience.

Those with limited social support, non-white women, and those recently undergoing treatment are more likely to develop PTSD. Issues with cognition, sexual dysfunction, ﬁnancial strain, younger age, advanced stage, lower education levels, pre-existing mental health conditions, poor relationship communication, and fear of recurrence are all major factors that contribute to the emotional stress of a breast cancer diagnosis.

In light of so many factors impacting mental health, seeking professional support during this difﬁcult and life-altering experience can be a crucial part of healing before, during, and after breast cancer treatment.

I was fortunate to be able to speak with Tina Kamercia, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in supporting people who have a cancer diagnosis. In addition to her professional training, Tina was a caregiver for her son during his cancer treatment as a young man. This adds a dimension to her understanding of the subject that few others possess.

I asked Tina if it was difﬁcult for her clients to process the experience emotionally while it was happening. She said that during treatment there are so many appointments and side effects that there isn’t time to emotionally process the trauma and interruption of regular life.

Fortunately, there is a lot of routine and a team of health care professionals who are supportive during treatment, from oncologists and surgeons to technicians and receptionists. She went on to say that oftentimes when treatment is over, there is a feeling of being adrift or abandoned because the medical team has moved on to saving the next person’s life.

Tina said that fear of recurrence is the most long-lasting effect she sees. She explained that for most people a headache is just a headache, but for a cancer survivor a headache or hernia pain can cause warning bells to go off, especially if the survivor wishes they had gotten their symptoms checked out sooner when it turned out to be cancer.

She said that 10 years out the fear of recurrence may appear to decrease because of the day-to-day things we all spend our time thinking about, but that underneath it may still be there.

Tina advises her clients not to use Google or any other search engine, especially for symptoms; to cut back on social media use if it is creating more anxiety; and to assess the helpfulness of support groups on an individual basis. While no one can truly understand what it feels like to go through treatment for cancer unless they have been through it themselves, every person’s experience is different. This was echoed in many of the interviews I did with young breast cancer survivors, who said that when someone with the same diagnosis was offered a different treatment it sowed seeds of doubt that were not helpful.

Tina went on to say that if someone else in a support group was struggling with symptoms, had a recurrence, or passed away, that it could be very hard on the rest of the people in the group. Sometimes people recovering from cancer treatment need support that is one-directional, where they don’t have to give support back. She said that the wonderful thing about going through the experience while having children, pets, or others to care for is that it’s more difﬁcult to get stuck in the fear and anxiety. On the other hand, it can be more difﬁcult to make time to process feelings around it, so that may need to be carved out intentionally.

Breast cancer is an individual journey, and how you respond to it emotionally depends on many things, including your genes. The DNA360 Mood and Behavior Report portion of the Functional Genomic Test includes information about how you handle stress; your likelihood of developing anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or depression; your response to pleasure and reward; how resilient your brain is; and how stress affects your sleep. Functional genomics helps guide your health care team, including therapists, toward the best treatments and lifestyle choices for you.

References

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https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11841195/

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https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-92137-y

Chou AF, Stewart SL, Wild RC, Bloom JR. Social support and survival in young women with breast carcinoma. Psychooncology. 2012;21(2):125-133. doi:10.1002/pon.1863.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3036767/

Wu X, Wang J, Coﬁe R, Kaminga AC, Liu A. Prevalence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder among Breast Cancer Patients: A Meta-analysis. Iran J Public Health. 2016;45(12):1533-1544. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5207094/

Albers EAC, Kieffer JM, Schagen SB. The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy according to the criteria of the National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA). J Cancer Surviv. Published online April 26, 2024. doi:10.1007/s11764-024-01608-0. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38664296/

Isanazar A, Akhlaghi Z, Nejatifar F, Mirfarhadi N. Sexual dysfunction in women with breast cancer: a forgotten aspect among survivors. BMC Womens Health. 2025;25(1):357. Published 2025 Jul 18. doi:10.1186/s12905-025-03901-1.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12273416/

Perry LM, Hoerger M, Seibert K, Gerhart JI, O'Mahony S, Duberstein PR. Financial Strain and Physical and Emotional Quality of Life in Breast Cancer. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2019;58(3):454-459. doi:10.1016/j.jpainsymman.2019.05.011. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6708751/

ecancer. Study explores how relationship with partner impacts breast cancer survivor’s emotional and physical well-being. 04/19/2024.

https://ecancer.org/en/news/24602-study-explores-howrelationship-with-partner-impacts-breast-cancer-survivorsemotional-and-physical-well-being

Tong L, Wang Y, Xu D, Wu Y, Chen L. Prevalence and Factors Contributing to Fear of Recurrence in Breast Cancer Patients and Their Partners: A Cross-Sectional Study. Int J Womens Health. 2024;16:229-236. Published 2024 Feb 5. doi:10.2147/IJWH.S443681.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10854235/

MY QUANTUM JOURNEY TO HEALING: EMBRACING POSITIVITY AND TAKING CHARGE

By Sue Nordemo, RN, CI, ASW | Monarch Health Coaching and Hypnosis

Well, hello there! Sue Nordemo here, and I’m so excited to ﬁnally share my story. I’ve been a nurse since way back in 1965, and even at 80 years young, I’ll always be a nurse – license and all!

Life took an unexpected turn in 2023 when I noticed a small spot on my right breast. It looked like a spider bite, itchy, round, and odd. A few scratches later, within days, a large tumor literally popped out.

Some might have panicked, but after decades in nursing, I knew what it likely was. Fear never entered my mind. I called St. Joseph’s, met an incredible surgeon and my only question was, “When do we get started?” I’ve always leaned on positivity, and truthfully, I’ve been drawn to holistic practices since the 60s, even before we had a name for them.

Starting Treatment

The biopsies were quick and painless, and chemo began almost immediately. I scheduled my Monday appointments for 9 am so a dear friend could drive me. People just appeared to help. It was remarkable.

From the start, my attitude was my anchor. My oncology doctor said she’d never seen a tumor shrink so quickly after only a week of chemo, and she credited my positive mindset. Humor, resilience, and spirituality became my compass. I always referred to it as “the cancer” with a small “c,” never “my cancer.” I wasn’t going to own it. I declared myself healed, not a survivor, and made sure my medical team knew the language I expected.

When the chemo nurse explained the list of side effects, I told her it was going in one ear and out the other. Instead, I encouraged her to end with a reminder about the patient’s role in healing and the importance of positivity. She loved the idea.

The Power of Humor and Gratitude

Humor was my medicine. I wore outrageous, beautiful sunglasses to each hospital visit, and people laughed the moment I walked in. In a room of worried faces, I felt I had done my job just by sparking smiles. My mother gave me that gift, she was always telling jokes.

My hair was gone within a week, but I wasn’t fazed. When the doctor asked how I could be so happy about it, I joked about saving $50 a month on haircuts and, best of all, no more facial hair! Instead of nausea, I actually lost weight, dropping from 185 to 140 pounds, which thrilled me.

I also created my own daily remedy: 32 ounces of cold water with powdered vitamin C and tart cherry juice. Any joint pain disappeared. Even when a nutritionist warned against vitamin C, I trusted my instincts, it worked for me.

Tools That Helped

Hypnosis played a key role. A friend created a script I listened to every Sunday night before chemo, with the line, “The cancer is waiting for your humor, it wants to hear a joke.” That made me laugh and heal at the same time.

I also used a sound-frequency device with programs for cancer, lymphedema, and potential side effects. I played them faithfully and truly believe they helped me avoid many problems.

Later, during chemo, my red blood cell count dropped dangerously low. After a session of quantum healing work, my labs came back completely normal. It was living proof to me of how energy, thought, and belief can shift the body.

Unexpected Challenges

Not everything was smooth. Just before Christmas, I fell in my bathroom and couldn’t get up due to an old injury. I lay on the ﬂoor for almost two days before friends realized something was wrong and came with a key. I had a urinary tract infection and dehydration. That could have been disastrous, but instead, it was a reminder of the power of community and grace.

After a hospital stay and a short rehab stint, I returned home. Neuropathy lingered in my hands and feet, but I learned tricks, like using dishwashing gloves for grip.

Surgery and Recovery

Next came the double mastectomy, I wanted both breasts gone. Waking up with drains wasn’t pleasant, but my neighbor came each night to help empty them since my ﬁngers struggled. Between the sound-frequency device, hypnosis, and Reiki sent by friends, my recovery was astonishing. The drains were out within a week and a half, faster than anyone expected.

Radiation and Beyond

After a month of rest, I started six weeks of daily radiation. Again, the sound-frequency device became my ally. I ended with only slight redness on the last day, bafﬂing the medical team.

Now I’m on Keytruda, an immune-boosting infusion every three weeks. Just a few sessions remain. I’ve been clear: no tamoxifen or long-term drugs for me. The little “c” is gone.

Spiritual Growth

Strangely enough, I now say cancer was the best thing that ever happened to me. It deepened my spirituality, forced me to review my life, and reminded me how powerful our choices are. I’ve always had faith, but now I feel a constant connection with God and Jesus. Reading the Prayer of Jabez opened me to blessings and synchronicities I never imagined.

My Quantum Healing

This healing journey was truly quantum, a combination of hypnosis, the sound-frequency device, Reiki, quantum healing sessions, humor, resilience, and God’s gifts of faith and spirituality. Together, they carried me through.

I am healed. Whole. And profoundly grateful.

RELEASE INTO SAFETY AND LOVE: SENSUAL RECOVERY AFTER BREAST CANCER

By Susan Bratton | CEO Personal Life Media, Inc. and The20, LLC

The journey through breast cancer is deeply personal, and the path to recovery often involves navigating complex emotions and physical changes. For many women, this includes a sense of disconnection from their bodies and feelings of grief or frustration about shifts in sensation and intimacy.

The truth is, your capacity for pleasure is still absolutely within you. Your body’s story is one of strength and resilience, and it’s here to tell you that you are whole. This article offers a message of profound hope, showing how loving touch can transform feelings of numbness, pain, or shame into a renewed sense of pleasure and connection.

Our breasts hold the power to give life, to arouse pleasure, and to fuel social change. However, how that power is experienced and expressed is deeply personal for every woman. The key is for a woman to deﬁne her own relationship with her breasts and to reclaim their power for herself.

The Transformative Power of Loving Touch

Your breasts are an exquisite part of your sexual pleasure and a key component of your body’s three-pillar arousal system, along with your mouth/lips and genitals. All of these areas contain erectile tissue, which, when stimulated, brings in blood ﬂow and sends pleasure signals to your brain—your biggest sex organ. For those who have undergone breast cancer treatment, bringing safe, gentle touch to this area can help activate and bring your breasts “online,” creating new neural pathways.

The key to this process is recognizing that breast pleasuring is a release into safety and love, which can—but doesn’t have to—lead toward sexuality.

This is achieved by understanding and applying the four kinds of touch:

By intentionally beginning with nurturing, healing, and sensual touch, you create a foundation of trust and safety with your body and your partner. This mindful approach can begin to unwind the shame and trauma that may be holding you back.

“A woman who knows that your intention is to give her pleasure and help her relax—that allowing you to touch her breasts is NOT a green light for more—is a woman who is going to let you pleasure her breasts a lot more often.” — Susan Bratton

Practical Paths to Pleasure and Healing

Pleasure is a learned skill that can be re-learned and enhanced at any age. It’s about slowing down and listening to your body’s wisdom. Here are three examples of how to begin your journey, whether you’re exploring solo or with a partner.

1. The Gentle Breast Foreplay Technique

This technique is designed to awaken your skin receptors and bring blood ﬂow to the breast tissue.

Set the Scene: Get comfortable in bed with pillows and massage oil. If you have a partner, have them sit with their back against the headboard while you nestle between their legs.

Start Slow: Resist the urge to go directly for the nipples. Begin by slowly applying warm massage oil to your arms, shoulders, and collarbone.

Activate the Tissue: Use your ﬁngertips to gently knead, roll, and tap the breast tissue. The goal is to make it feel spongy and bouncy. Explore the entire area, from the sides of your arms down to the “underboob” area, using soft tickles and light traces of your ﬁngernails.

Approach Nipples with Care: Lightly brush the back of your ﬁngers across your nipples. Notice your body’s response. This is a point of choice: you can continue with sensual, nurturing touch, or if you feel a desire for more, you can escalate to a lightly sexual approach. A common mistake is to rush directly to the nipples, but a more effective approach is to ﬁrst awaken the skin receptors with a broad range of touch.

2. The Gentle Breast Foreplay Technique

This master plan isn’t just for couples; it’s a powerful tool for self-discovery.

•

• Be Your Own Guide: You can practice all of the steps alone, exploring what feels good and what doesn’t without any pressure.

•

Relearn Your Body's Language: Spend time with your hands on your own body, using the same gentle and intentional touch. This is the path to feeling “in good hands” with yourself. When you’re self-healing, try some gentle squeezes of the tissue in addition to the more surface area types of strokes. Squeezes can feel delicious when self-administered.

• 3. Orgasmic Cross-Training and Vulva Massage

Cultivate a Connection: The act of self-pleasure is a declaration that your body is worthy of love and pleasure, exactly as it is. Learning to love and please your body on your own terms can increase sexual conﬁdence and lead to a more profound connection to yourself.

To support your body’s natural response, consider blood flow and libido gummies and capsules. Made with all-natural botanicals and mushroom extracts, these products are designed to get desire thrumming again, helping you feel more connected to your body and its capacity for pleasure.

A Call to Inspiration

This process can not only restore sensation but also open you to new and perhaps even more profound kinds of pleasure than you experienced before. Reconnect with your body in a loving way. Your breasts are beautiful, regardless of their shape or past experiences. Don’t worry and know that you deserve to feel pleasure and love your body as it is.

This is your opportunity to expand your erogenous zones and become a better lover for life.

“I believe that shame-free, frequent sexual pleasure is every man and woman’s birthright.” — Susan Bratton

Your journey toward incredible, lifelong pleasure is just beginning. Be gentle with yourself, celebrate every small step, and know that you deserve a life lled with pleasure and joy.

Think of this as working out different muscle groups to expand your pleasure potential.

•

Focus on the Clitoris: Your breasts and nipples can actually stimulate blood ﬂow to your clitoris, contributing to a pleasurable clitoral erection. You can enhance this by using pleasure tools like a vibrator to activate different parts of your vulva and bring essential blood ﬂow. Use the vibration on your chest, breasts, and nipples to further enliven the tissue.

•

Yoni Massage: This manual stimulation of the vulva and vagina helps you get out of your head and into your body. It’s a fantastic way to activate vulval tissue, increase blood ﬂow, and release stored trauma or shame, teaching you to feel into what you want and become comfortable asking for it. Combine it with breast pleasuring of any kind for further healing.

Tools for a Thrumming Desire

To support your body’s natural response to pleasure, consider using tools that enhance sensation and blood ow. The right products can make a signi cant di erence.

For an enhanced and truly sensual experience, I recommend the betterlover.com. The CBD Intimacy Oil with essential oils is a perfect companion for your breast massage. The endocannabinoid system is a pleasure healing pathway.

Using the phytocannabinoids in cannabidiol (CBD) aids in healing and pleasure. Its soothing properties can help reduce friction and increase sensation, making every touch more delightful.

EXERCISE HAS A DIRECT ROLE IN FIGHTING BREAST CANCER

By Felicia Bruno | The DNA Company

We as women take great pride in our lady parts/the girls, jugs, boobies, tatas, melons, bubbies (if you’re a Real Housewife from New Jersey), tits, coconuts, bouncers, milk monsters, and last but not least Tig ol’ Bitties. No matter the size, shape, fullness, or lack thereof, they are the makeup when you talk about a woman.

Unfortunately, cancer is not uncommon these days and we as women must stay in the know of how to prevent or help prevent this horrible thing happening to so many beautiful grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, and friends. The good news is that they’re finding that exercise plays a big role in fighting breast cancer, shows one study from Texas A&M. They say that an unspecified factor released during exercise suppresses signaling within breast cancer cells, which reduces tumor growth and can even kill the cancerous cells.

During a muscle contraction, the muscle is releasing some factors that kill, or at least decrease the growth of, neoplastic (abnormal, often cancerous) cells. They also found that the factors inherently reside in muscle and are released into the bloodstream no matter what a person’s usual activity level is or how developed their muscles are.

So, whether you consistently exercise or you just get up and walk, simple forms of muscle contraction, whether it be going on a walk or getting up to dance to your favorite song, may play a role in ﬁghting breast cancer.

The big message is to get up and move. I have said this more times than I can count. We were NOT made to be seated all day and stagnant. I have also said start small if you’re not in an exercise routine now. Be gracious to yourself and start with a 15-minute walk.

I want you to be mindful of how good you will feel when you accomplish an exercise goal. This also leads to endorphin release which will lead to you wanting more and doing more as you see changes in your mind, then body, then people noticing. It’s never too late. At any age and at any weight, strength level, and even mobility issues.

I once got an 83-year-old woman from a walker to walking on her own again with a very slow start on a treadmill to moving good over a 3-month period. The body is an amazing thing. We are even superhumans to take cancer, beat it, and return better.

Now on the flip side if you have breast cancer or are a breast cancer survivor, below is a list of the benefits of exercise for breast cancer. So, see our superhuman bodies still fight for us when we push ourselves to move, exercise, and realize life is a gift.

1. During Treatment (Chemo, Radiation, Hormonal Therapy)

Reduces fatigue – The #1 reported beneﬁt. Exercise can counter cancer-related tiredness.

Boosts immune function – Moderate movement helps your immune system stay stronger.

Preserves muscle mass – Prevents muscle wasting from inactivity or medications.

Supports mental health – Lowers anxiety, depression, and “chemo brain.”

Improves sleep – Many patients report better rest with regular movement.

2. After Treatment (Recovery & Survivorship)

Lowers recurrence risk – Some studies show up to a 30% reduction in recurrence with regular physical activity.

Manages weight – Excess weight can increase estrogen levels, •

I believe in you! My Mother, 83 had breast cancer at the age of 67. Inﬁltrating/invasive lobular cancer (ILC). She had a double mastectomy, then breast implants. With her movement in exercising, not sitting still, and faith and belief, she today is an incredible example of how resilient the body is.

Always here for you for any advice, workouts, pep talks.

felicia.bruno@thednacompany.com https://www.instagram.com/feliciafitsocial Office Hours: Tuesday -Thursday 9am-5pm CT

References

By Megan Myers, Texas A&M University College of Veterinary

https://vetmed.tamu.edu/news/press-releases/

NAVIGATING MIDLIFE HEALTH CHALLENGES: CHANGING BAD FOOD HABITS FOR HEALTHIER ONES

By Lynn Angel, CFGP, Specialized Kinesiologist, and Chef | The DNA Company

If you're in your late 40s or 50s and have recently received a diagnosis of diabetes type 2, metabolic disease, or obesity, coupled with the rollercoaster of menopause or andropause—think stubborn weight gain, hot ﬂashes, night sweats, sleep disruptions, and mood swings—you're not alone.

These symptoms can feel like an unwelcome storm, especially when they stem from decades of habits that haven't aligned with your body’s genetic blueprint. Lifestyle and diet choices—like processed foods, fast meals on the go, late-night snacking, alcohol, scrolling through social media or work emails until the wee hours, and dinners pushed into the evening—have likely contributed to where you are now.

But here's the empowering truth: your past doesn't deﬁne your future. With gentle, sustainable shifts, you can reclaim your vitality, boost your longevity, and feel more like yourself again. This isn't about overhauling your life overnight; it's about building a foundation of small, consistent changes that honor your body's signals and genomic makeup.

Let's explore how to make this journey inspiring and achievable.

First, understand that feeling overwhelmed is normal, but big, drastic changes often lead to burnout and relapse. Quitting cold turkey—whether it's ditching all snacks or banning alcohol entirely—might seem heroic, but it's rarely sustainable.

Your brain thrives on familiarity; sudden disruptions can trigger resistance, making you feel deprived and more likely to revert to old patterns.

Consistency is key: these micro-shifts compound, leading to improved blood sugar control, better hormone balance, and enhanced energy levels. Imagine waking up refreshed, with fewer night sweats and a calmer mind— that's the long-term reward waiting for you.

Your genomic proﬁle plays a subtle yet signiﬁcant role here. Not everyone processes food or responds to habits the same way due to genetic variations.

Take the MC4R gene, for example. A suboptimal version can disrupt signals in the brain's melanocortin pathway, leading to frequent snacking, weight gain, and glucose metabolism issues [2].

It's not always true hunger driving you; often, it's your tongue craving sensory satisfaction through textures and ﬂavors like crunchy, sweet, sour, chewy, bitter, and salty. If your meals lack this variety, your brain seeks it out in snacks, perpetuating the cycle.

The good news? You don't have to eliminate snacking overnight. By tweaking your meals to incorporate these six sensory aspects, you satisfy your tongue upfront, reducing the urge to graze later. Picture a balanced dinner: a crunchy salad of romaine lettuce and bitter greens like endive or arugula, some olives, roasted sunﬂower and pumpkin seeds, chewy legumes like cooked lentils, roasted almond slivers, a few slices of orange, and chopped parsley, dressed with a lemon juice and olive oil dressing. This not only aligns with your genetics but also stabilizes blood sugar, easing diabetes management and menopausal weight ﬂuctuations.

For sweet treats, apply the same principle—opt for options that hit multiple senses, like dark chocolate-dipped dry roasted nuts (crunchy, bitter-sweet, salty). This way, one mindful indulgence curbs all-day cravings, fostering a neural pathway toward moderation and nourishment.

Cravings, often misinterpreted as weaknesses, are actually your body's wise communication about deﬁciencies. That intense pull toward chocolate? It might signal a magnesium shortfall, common in midlife due to stress and poor diet, which worsens sleep issues and mood swings.

Rather than swearing off chocolate entirely (which could feel punishing and unsustainable), change something about the habit. Swap milk chocolate—laden with added sugars and milk solids, offering zero bioavailable magnesium—for 70% or higher cacao dark chocolate. This upgrade delivers rich, absorbable magnesium, along with other minerals and ﬂavonols that support heart health and insulin sensitivity. You're still enjoying the ritual, but now it's fueling your body instead of sabotaging it. Over time, this small pivot rewires your brain to associate chocolate with true satisfaction, not just a sugar rush, leading to fewer cravings and better overall health.

To make these changes practical, let's outline three to four strategies for transforming a "bad" habit without abrupt cessation. These focus on modifying the habit itself, allowing your brain to forge new, healthier neural pathways gradually.

For Late-Night Snacking: Instead of vowing no more snacks after dinner, alter the environment and timing. Start by prepping a small, sensory-rich evening wind-down bite earlier in the night—think a handful of mixed nuts (crunchy, salty) with unsweetened dried cranberries (sour, chewy) and a few dark chocolate pieces (bitter, sweet) [3]. Pair that with a non-caffeinated herbal tea.

This satisﬁes the MC4R-driven sensory quest without late calories disrupting sleep or blood sugar. Gradually shift this ritual 15 minutes earlier each week, training your brain to associate evenings with relaxation, not foraging. Result? Fewer night sweats, better rest, and stabilized weight.

For Alcohol Consumption: If evening drinks contribute to hot ﬂashes and poor sleep, don't go teetotal immediately. Change the context: dilute your wine with sparkling water for a lighter spritzer (adding a sour, bubbly element), or switch to a low-alcohol alternative like kombucha, which offers fermented beneﬁts for gut health (crucial for hormone balance in menopause). Limit to one glass, savored mindfully during dinner rather than solo. This maintains the social ritual while reducing intake, allowing your body to detox gently and your brain to link evenings with hydration over intoxication. Over months, you'll notice improved mood stability and energy.

For Late Meals and Work Emails: Eating dinner late often stems from prolonged screen time, spiking cortisol, and insulin resistance. Tweak by setting a digital sunset rule: respond to one last email, then switch to a blue light blocking mode or audiobook. Prep meals earlier with batch cooking—simple stir-fries incorporating all six sensory proﬁles to prevent post-dinner hunger.

This small boundary shift creates space for winding down, fostering better sleep and hormone regulation without feeling restricted.

For Processed Food Reliance: Convenience foods are habit-forming due to their hyper-palatable ﬂavors but quitting them cold turkey can lead to frustration. Modify by upgrading one meal weekly: replace fast-food burgers with a homemade version using grass-fed meat (chewy), whole-grain buns (crunchy), fermented pickles (sour, salty), and dark greens (bitter), plus a low glycemic fruit side like a pear or apple (sweet).

This satisﬁes cravings while introducing nutrients that combat deﬁciencies, rewiring your palate toward whole foods. Soon, your body will crave these nourishing options naturally.

These strategies aren't about perfection; they're about progress. As you implement them, track wins in a journal—note how fewer mood swings or better sleep enhance your daily life.

So, you’re not just managing symptoms; you're investing in a vibrant future with more energy for hobbies, family, and adventures.

In closing, midlife health challenges are a call to action, not a sentence. By honoring your body's genetic nuances and making thoughtful tweaks to habits, you'll build momentum toward lasting wellness.

Imagine thriving in your 50s and beyond—vital, balanced, and full of joy. You've got this; start small today, and watch the transformation unfold.

References

1. 2.

Greenstreet F, Vergara HM, Johansson Y, et al. Dopaminergic action prediction errors serve as a value-free teaching signal. Nature. 2025;643(8074):1333-1342. doi:10.1038/s41586-025-09008-9.

DNA 360 report insights.

SEEING BREAST HEALTH THROUGH THE EYES: HOW IRIDOLOGY CAN HELP DETECT EARLY SIGNS OF BREAST ISSUES

By Jessica Halpern, DipHIr, CCI, INHC, API, CFGP | MyEyeRead.com

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women worldwide. In the United States, about one in eight women will face a breast cancer diagnosis during their lifetime (1).

Medical screenings are critical for early detection, but many women are also seeking holistic approaches to better understand their body’s health. One of these approaches is Iridology, the study of the iris (the colored part of the eye), the sclera (the white of the eye), and the pupil. The eyes can reﬂect the body’s internal state and reveal areas of weakness before symptoms appear.

How Iridology Relates to Breast Health

Iridology works on the principle that the iris is connected to the entire body through the nervous system.

Patterns, colors, and structural markings in the eye may suggest areas of the body that are genetically strong and those that are deﬁcient. For breast health, we always look at the lung/breast reaction ﬁeld in the iris. Certain signs in this area may point to breast issues. These signs do not diagnose cancer, but they can serve as an early warning, encouraging clients to get medical evaluations.

Examples of iris features linked to breast concerns include:

Rarefaction, where iris ﬁbers look thinned out, suggesting weaker tissue.

Tophi are small white or cream-colored accumulations that look like cotton puffs in the iris.

Pigments, dark spots, or discolorations that show localized stress. Transversals, ﬁbers that have gone askew, indicate a tendency for inﬂammation.

Salmon ﬂash is a rare sign associated with a disposition to tumor development.

Encapsulation vessels (sclera sign) are partially or completely hooked vessels.

By combining these observations, I can recommend supportive lifestyle changes and guide clients toward appropriate medical follow-ups.

A 66-year-old female booked a virtual Iridology appointment in February 2024. She felt good but thought she could use more energy. During the iris analysis, several concerning signs were found. In her right eye, I noticed discolored tophi, as well as a substance defect sign in the breast/lung reflex area suggesting weakness in the area, and a dark brown “jewel” in the liver reflex area suggesting stress on liver function, which influences hormone balance.

In her left eye, I noticed rarefaction and perifocal signs, with a single standout brightened tophus (Brushfield spot). Also, thinned fibers (rarefaction) and irritation markings (perifocal signs) were seen, along with a brightened tophus, often linked to breast or lung congestion. There was also a black pigment in the uterus reflex area, and the sclera showed an engorged encapsulation vessel in the sclera directly adjacent to the breast/lung zone reaction field.

(Image A) Because of these combined signs, I advised immediate medical evaluation. Unfortunately, she delayed her appointment for almost six months.

By August 2024, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in her left breast. She later expressed gratitude, acknowledging that the Iridology session had been her ﬁrst warning signal.

Why These Signs Matter

Clinical observations suggest that over 80% of women with respiratory tophi experience breast tenderness on or just before menstruation and often have denser or ﬁbrocystic breast tissue. Tophi and other iris signs in any part of the respiratory zone could indicate breast issues since lung and breast tissues are closely related. While these conditions are usually benign, they require vigilance. The iris and sclera do not diagnose cancer. Instead, they highlight tendencies toward stress or imbalance, offering an early signal to act proactively.

Iridology, Genetics, and a Holistic View

Breast health is shaped by genetics, hormones, lifestyle, and environment. Iridology adds another layer of insight by showing inherited strengths and weaknesses. Combined with genetic testing, such as the DNA 360 test, women can gain a clearer roadmap for prevention. For example, genetic research shows that variations in the GSTP1 gene may increase susceptibility to respiratory stress and oxidative damage (2). If iridology also reveals signs of lung or breast tissue strain, these combined ﬁndings suggest extra care is warranted.

Case Study II: Client B

A 60-year-old female scheduled a consultation mainly out of curiosity, she wanted to see what her eyes could reveal about her health. She reported feeling extremely stressed and had persistent joint pain. In her left eye, the breast/lung reﬂex area showed rarefaction with a single brightened tophus.

(Image C-5) Two “lightning flash” streaks bordered this region, and a rare salmon flash appeared (Image C-4), a mark linked to a tendency for tumor development. A brown pigment was seen in the uterus reflex field (Image C-3). In her right eye, another salmon flash appeared directly over the uterus reflex area (Image B-2).

She remarked, “Wow, you can see that!” when I told her what the markings meant. She was surprised and revealed that years earlier she had undergone a hysterectomy for a large uterine ﬁbroid weighing four pounds. After surgery, she was placed on hormone replacement therapy and later developed breast cancer.

The eye signs mirrored her health history and underlined the connections between reproductive health, hormone regulation, and breast tissue vulnerability.

How Iridology Can Support Breast Health

Women using iridology as part of their wellness toolkit can beneﬁt in several ways:

•

Spotting early imbalances before symptoms arise.

•

Guiding timely screenings, such as mammograms or ultrasounds.

•

Supporting lifestyle changes in nutrition, stress management, and exercise.

•

Increasing self-awareness for more effective breast self-exams.

•

Complementing medical care, never replacing it.

Breast cancer is a major health challenge, but early awareness and prevention make a difference. Iridology provides a unique, non-invasive window into breast health, offering clues about where the body may be struggling.

Combined with genetics and standard medical care, it empowers women to be more proactive in protecting their well-being. Your eyes may hold the ﬁrst clues, pay attention to their story.

References

American Cancer Society. Breast Cancer Facts & Figures 2019-2020. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, Inc. 2019. Available from: https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/ cancer-facts-and-statistics/breast-cancer-facts-andﬁgures/breast-cancer-facts-and-ﬁgures-2019-2020.pdf

Cote ML, Chen W, Smith DW, et al. Meta- and pooled analysis of GSTP1 polymorphism and lung cancer: a HuGE-GSEC review. Am J Epidemiol. 2009;169(7):802-814. doi:10.1093/aje/kwn417. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/169/7/802/101395

INTEGRATIVE CANCER CARE: HOPE, EVIDENCE, AND HEALING

By Dr. Krista Kostroman, ND, CSO, BCS, FGP | The DNA Company

While still in school, I trained in adjunctive cancer care. During my clinical rotation, patient cases were assigned at random, and by chance, I encountered many palliative cases—rare in naturopathic medicine but common in the broader cancer care setting.

One case that left a lasting impression was that of a young mother. By the time I met her, her disease was terminal. Yet she had originally been diagnosed at an early, potentially curable stage of breast cancer. She had declined surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, believing that natural therapies alone would heal her.

In her ﬁnal months, she expressed deep regret. By then, her breast tumor had grown beyond her chest wall, invading the space where her lungs and ribs should have been, and had metastasized to her brain and lungs. She died reﬂecting on a choice made in hope, not in evidence.

It is easy to judge, but her decision must be understood in the context of cancer’s history. Conventional treatments were not guaranteed cures and often brought signiﬁcant pain and hardship.

At the same time, the longing to believe the body is strong enough on its own is profoundly human. Her faith in nature’s healing power was not wrong—but without evidence-based medicine, it was incomplete.

While I will never make decisions for my patients, I always ensure there is a clear and honest conversation about the reality of adjunctive care.

In non-terminal cases, naturopathic medicine plays its most essential

role as support—enhancing conventional treatment but not replacing it. Outcomes of Breast Cancer with Modern Medicine

Advances in screening, diagnosis, and treatment have transformed breast cancer outcomes in recent decades. Today, most breast cancers are detected early, before symptoms appear, thanks to digital mammography, breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), ultrasound, and genetic or genomic testing.

These tools allow doctors to ﬁnd cancers years before a lump can be felt.

In North America, 64% of breast cancers are found at the localized stage (stage I). At this point, treatment is highly effective, and the ﬁve-year survival rate is nearly 100%.

Even in stage II, survival exceeds 93%, and in stage III, it can still be above 72%, depending on spread and treatment response.

Overall, the ﬁve-year survival for all breast cancer patients in North America is around 91%. By contrast, stage IV (metastatic) breast cancer has a much lower ﬁve-year survival of 22%-32%. The difference is clear: early detection and timely treatment save lives.

Research also shows the risks of refusing treatment. Women with non-metastatic breast cancer who chose only alternative medicine had more than ﬁve times the risk of death compared to those who received conventional therapy.

How Integrative Care Improves Outcomes

Chemotherapy and radiation are powerful tools, but they also affect healthy tissues, causing fatigue, nausea, appetite loss, pain, and emotional distress. For some patients, these side effects become so overwhelming that abandoning treatment becomes a real risk. One study found that nearly one in 10 patients discontinued treatment due to side effects—placing their chance of cure or remission in jeopardy.

Integrative care helps patients better tolerate these therapies. Approaches such as mindfulness, acupuncture, nutrition counseling, and exercise have been shown to reduce nausea, vomiting, and fatigue—common barriers to treatment adherence. By improving strength, resilience, and nutritional status, integrative care supports compliance and helps patients complete their full treatment plan.

Surgery is another area where integrative care makes a meaningful difference. Preparing the body and mind before surgery, combined with targeted post-operative support—such as supplements, gentle movement, and optimal nutrition—reduces complications and speeds recovery. Emotional and spiritual therapies foster hope and resilience, keeping patients engaged throughout their cancer journey.

Some integrative modalities even show potential for enhancing treatment itself. Intravenous (IV) vitamin C, for example, has been studied for its ability to improve chemotherapy tolerance and reduce side effects. In Germany, IV vitamin C is already included in established oncology protocols, reﬂecting its growing acceptance worldwide.

The strength of integrative care is that it works with—not against—conventional medicine. Together, they can improve both survival outcomes and quality of life.

Control, Choice, and Informed Decision-Making

A cancer diagnosis unsettles every aspect of life. The instinct to regain control is natural, especially when facing difﬁcult treatment decisions. Integrative care honors that need, empowering patients with reliable, evidence-based information so they can make choices that support both immediate comfort and long-term health.

Patients deserve honesty. They need to understand what conventional treatment involves and how they can best support its success. Declining proven therapies such as surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation carries serious risks—advanced disease, recurrence, and shortened lifespan. At the same time, patients also deserve acknowledgment of the real beneﬁts integrative therapies provide: relief of symptoms, stress reduction, and improved emotional well-being.

The key lies in balance. Integrative care is most effective when paired with conventional treatment, not as a substitute. Patients who embrace both approaches often experience better tolerance of therapy, faster recovery, and a stronger sense of agency in their healing journey.

Open, honest communication between patient and provider is essential. A collaborative approach ensures that naturopathic therapies are safely woven into the medical plan.

This partnership maximizes beneﬁts, maintains safety, and allows patients to move through treatment with dignity, conﬁdence, and hope.

Integrating Hope, Evidence, and Healing

Integrative cancer care is not an either/or choice. The best outcomes come from combining the strengths of both conventional and naturopathic medicine. Evidence-based therapies ﬁght cancer directly, while integrative approaches support the body, mind, and spirit throughout the journey.

Patients who choose both often experience fewer side effects, stronger resilience, and a better quality of life—all while giving themselves the best chance for survival. The goal is not only cure, but also well-being.

The best choice is always an informed one—guided by evidence, compassion, and the recognition that healing involves both medicine and meaning.

References

American Cancer Society. (2025). Breast cancer facts and statistics 2025. https://www.cancer.org

Cleveland Clinic. (2024, Nov. 11). Integrative oncology improves outcomes and quality of life.

https://consultqd.clevelandclinic.org/integrative-oncologyimproves-outcomes-and-quality-of-life

Johnson A, Ahn E. City of Hope. (2021, April 12). Natural breast cancer treatment vs. conventional treatment: What patients need to know.

https://www.cancercenter.com/community/blog/2021/04/ natural-breast-cancer-treatment-vs-conventional-treatment

Briggs B. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. (2016, May 27). Alternative reality: Patients who spurn chemo for natural remedies. https://www.fredhutch.org/en/news/center-news/2016/05/ patients-spurn-chemo-natural-remedies.html

Latte-Naor S, Mao JJ. Putting Integrative Oncology Into Practice: Concepts and Approaches. J Oncol Pract. 2019;15(1):7-14. doi:10.1200/JOP.18.00554

Dobos GJ, Voiss P, Schwidde I, et al. Integrative oncology for breast cancer patients: introduction of an expert-based model. BMC Cancer. 2012;12:539. Published 2012 Nov 21. doi:10.1186/1471-2407-12-539

Fabi A, Rossi A, Mocini E, et al. An Integrated Care Approach to Improve Well-Being in Breast Cancer Patients. Curr Oncol Rep. 2024;26(4):346-358. doi:10.1007/s11912-024-01500-1

National Cancer Institute. Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (SEER). Cancer Stat Facts: Female Breast Cancer. https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/breast.html

Susan G. Komen. (2025, June 3). Understanding breast cancer survival rates.

https://www.komen.org/breast-cancer/ facts-statistics/breast-cancer-statistics/survival-rates/

May M, Patrick J, Pike M. Evaluation of treatment abandonment and delay with anticancer agents at an outpatient community hospital cancer center oral chemotherapy clinic: A retrospective cohort analysis. Journal of Hematology & Oncology Pharmacy. 2021;11(1):PM01.

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MONETIZING PRECISION MEDICINE WITHOUT INCREASING OVERHEAD

How Practitioners Trained by The DNAU Can Leverage Functional Testing through The DNA Company

By Tracy Wood, CEO, CPC, ELi-MP, HHA, CFGP, and Alison Henry, COO | The DNA Company

Healthcare is evolving rapidly, with patients seeking more personalized care and practitioners looking for innovative ways to expand their practices without adding ﬁnancial strain. One of the most effective avenues for doing so is incorporating functional genomics and DNA testing into existing care models. The DNA Company’s DNA 360 Functional Genomics Test offers practitioners a turnkey solution to introducing precision medicine without the need for costly infrastructure or added overhead.

Why Precision Medicine Is the Next Growth Opportunity

Traditional medicine often focuses on symptom management, but patients today want answers to why conditions develop in the ﬁrst place. Precision medicine provides those answers, tailoring care to the individual’s unique biology. With The DNA 360-based insights, practitioners can:

Personalize treatment plans for chronic conditions, mental health, fertility, and more.

Reduce trial-and-error prescribing by understanding genetic predispositions.

Increase patient trust and retention by offering cutting-edge science-backed solutions.

This not only enhances patient outcomes but also creates new revenue streams for practices that might otherwise struggle to grow without expanding staff, ofﬁce space, or expensive diagnostic tools.

So, how does it work? It’s simple: monetization without added overhead. The DNA 360 test allows practitioners to integrate precision medicine seamlessly into their practice. Here’s how:

Outsourced Testing Infrastructure - There’s no need to invest in lab equipment, new personnel, or specialized facilities. The DNA Company manages the testing process end-to-end, leaving practitioners free to focus on patient care.

Direct Revenue Model - Practitioners can offer DNA testing as a billable service, creating an additional income stream. Many practices fold the cost into wellness packages or preventative health programs, providing both affordability for patients and proﬁtability for the clinic.

Virtual Integration - With digital reporting and optional coaching support, practitioners can expand their services to telehealth or hybrid care models, capturing a wider patient base without physical expansion.

The Central Role of the DNA 360 Functional Genomics Test

The cornerstone of success is the DNA 360 Functional Genomics Test, which goes beyond basic ancestry or genetic risk panels. Unlike traditional tests that simply ﬂag genetic risks, DNA 360 provides actionable insights into how genes function in real life.

These results are not static reports - they are tools for change.

The test highlights:

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How patients metabolize food, hormones, and medications.

Cognitive and stress response tendencies.

Detoxiﬁcation pathways and inﬂammatory markers.

Cardiovascular and metabolic predispositions.

Practitioners can then create targeted protocols for nutrition, lifestyle, supplementation, and medical intervention. Patients see measurable results and are more likely to remain engaged in their care plans.

Supporting Change with Programs & Education - Enter DNA University (DNAU)

A fully accredited curriculum, DNAU provides a lifetime access to emerging scientiﬁc evidence that continues to shape the DNA 360. We are the ONLY education system and lab that will continue to propagate additional insights for years to come.

The DNA Company provides more than test results; it delivers a framework for long-term change and patient support. Practitioners gain access to:

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Educational resources to help interpret and communicate ﬁndings. Cognitive and stress response tendencies.

Ready-to-use programs for weight management, cognitive health, fertility, and more.

Patient-facing materials that simplify genomics into practical steps, increasing compliance and satisfaction.

By positioning themselves as leaders in functional genomics, practitioners build stronger reputations, attract new patients, and improve retention - all without raising operating costs.

A Win-Win for Patients and Practices

For patients, precision medicine represents empowerment and clarity. For practitioners, it represents sustainable growth and differentiation in an increasingly competitive healthcare landscape. By adopting the DNA 360 Functional Genomics Test, practices can expand services, improve outcomes, and monetize innovation—all while keeping overhead low.

The Key Takeaway for Practitioners: DNA testing is not just an add-on - it’s a new standard of care. With The DNA Company’s DNA 360 test, you can transform your practice into a precision medicine hub, offering life-changing insights without the burden of additional overhead.

PROVIDER PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM

In t h is p r og r am , we s ta r t w it h T h e D N A Uni v e r sit y ( D N A -U) Thi s f u lly acc r edited co ur se , ce n te r ed a r o un d the newly r ecog n ize d a r ea of f u nctio n al ge n o m ic s , h elps p r o v ider s u nco v e r the individual bluep r i n t of eac h t r eated patie n t

Upon s u cces s ful completio n of t h e co u r s e, y o u a r e a ss ig n ed t h e Ce r tiﬁed F u nctio n al Ge n omic s P r actitio n e r (CFGP) desig n atio n after y o ur name fo r p r ofe ss io n al u se . CFGP is t h e n e w a n d r ecog n i z ed s ta n da r d fo r f u nctional ge n o m ic s . T h i s s ought afte r de s ig n ation de m o n st r ates bot h p r estige a n d expe r ti s e in you r cli n ical a r ea of practice T h i s co m mitment to y o ur ow n contin u in g ed u catio n p r o u dl y displa ys dedicatio n to y o u r ﬁeld, a n d mo r e impo r ta n tl y, to yo u r clientele T h is ca n boo s t you r r ep u tatio n a n d expo s u r e to new clie n t s .

At The D N A Uni v er s it y, o u r fo un der s, CS O , and othe r i n du s tr y t h ought leade r s co v er the f u nctio n al i n te r p r etatio n of genetics a n d ge n o m ic s. We kn ow that ge n o m ic s and it s s t u dy i s t h e n e w f r o n tier and li k el y h o w all medici n e w ill be practiced o n e da y B ecau s e of t h at , and t h e con s ta n t need for s cie n ce to be u p to the m o m e n t accu r ate , we p r ovide a lifetime acces s to T h e DN A U n iver s it y, and to o ur p u blis h ed pape rs a n d mate r ial s Thi s give s y ou exclu s ive acces s to new t r aining m od u le s as t h e y become a v ailable

To h elp you s u ppo r t yo u r p r actice, a n d to as s i s t i n the expan s ion of you r r e v e nu e , we c r eate , de v elop , a n d u pdate the lib r arie s k eepi n g y ou at t h e bleedi n g edge of f un ctio n al ge n o m ic s. Ac h ievi n g ce r tification gi v e s y o u co n fide n ce that you r k no w ledge a n d abilitie s m eet r ecog n ized s ta n da r d s. W it h T h e DNA Compa ny as y o u r cho s e n part n e r, all D NA-U s tude n t s h a v e p r i v ate acce s s t o mo n t h ly webi n a rs , h osted b y o ur facult y. A dedicated s t u de n t inbox i s mo n ito r ed to en su r e an y que s tion s y ou h a v e t h r o u ghout t h e p r oce s s a r e a n s w e r ed by qualified m edical p r ofe s sio n al s a n d s cie n ti s ts In addition to t h e p h e n o m enal con n ecti v e tis su e to o u r com mu nity a n d fac u lt y, w e de s ig n and p r o v ide p r od u ct b r oc hu r es a n d i n fo r matio n deck s t h at a r e available i n the s tude n t r e s o u r ce s a r ea s o you ca n p r e s e n t p r ofe ss ional m aterials fo r patient s v i s iting y o ur clinic o r fo r u se o n s ocial m edia or in e m ai l ma r keti n g campaign s. Not o n l y does DNA-U s et y ou up fo r s ucces s, b u t it also p r o v ide s co n ti n ued acces s to g r o w y o ur bu s ine s s and b u ild

STEP

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T h r o u g h y o u r a c c o u n t , y o u w i l l o r d e r t e s t i n g a n d s u p p l e m e n t s a t w h o l e s a l e p r i c e s T h e a c c o u n t i s i n t e n d e d t o w o r k b e s t w h e n y o u c h a rg e y o u r p a t i e n t t h e r e t a i l p r i c e a n d t a k e p a y m e n t d i r e c t l y f r o m t h e m , e i t h e r t h r o u g h y o u r o n l i n e s t o r e o r i n p e r s o n O n c e y o u ’ v e c o l l e c t e d p a y m e n t , y o u c a n g e n e r a t e a n e w o r d e r Yo u c a n h a v e t h e o r d e r s h i p p e d t o y o u r c l i n i c o r d i r e c t l y t o y o u r p a t i e n t Yo u p a y T h e D N A C o m p a n y t h e w h o l e s a l e p r i c e , g i v i n g y o u a m a rg i n o n e a c h p r o d u c t a s p r o f i t M a n y p r o v i d e r s a l s o c h o o s e t o

s t o c k k i t s i f t h e y a r e r u n n i n g a b r i c k - a n d - m o r t a r c l i n i c o r i n c l u d i n g t e s t i n g i n t h e i r p a c k a g e s a n d p r o g r a m s

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WHOLESALE PROVIDER ACCOUNT:

WHOLESALE, SRP & SHIPPING INFORMATION

L i n k t o v i e w c u r r e n t t e s t s a n d p r i c i n g : D N A c o P r o d u c t s - C l i n i c i a n s - A u g u s t 2 0 2 4 p d f

L i n k t o v i e w c u r r e n t B l a c k L a b e l S u p p l e m e n t s a n d p r i c i n g : B l a c k L a b e l S u p p l e m e n t s

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F o r e x a m p l e :

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KIT REGISTRATION

E a c h t e s t w i l l i n c l u d e a c l e a r s e t o f i n s t r u c t i o n s s o t h e p a t i e n t c a n p e r f o r m t h e t e s t a t h o m e a n d r e g i s t e r t h e k i t I D t o c r e a t e a n a c c o u n t P l e a s e t e l l y o u r p a t i e n t t h a t t h e y m u s t r e g i s t e r t h e i r k i t b a r c o d e a n d c r e a t e a n a c c o u n t p r i o r t o r e t u r n i n g t h e i r s a m p l e t o t h e l a b A Q R c o d e i s l o c a t e d i n s i d e t h e k i t b o x a n d i n s t r u c t i o n c a r d ; i t c o n t a i n s i m p o r t a n t i n f o r m a t i o n o n t h e t e s t o r d e r e d I f y o u w o u l d l i k e a n e l e c t r o n i c v e r s i o n o f a n y o f t h e t e s t k i t i n s t r u c t i o n m a n u a l s , w e c a n p r o v i d e i t t o y o u

PAYMENTS

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LAB PROCESSING

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THE PREFERRED PROVIDER NETWORK INCLUDES:

1 F r e e f o r D N A - U g r a d u a t e s f o r 1 y e a r, $ 1 2 9 p e r y e a r a f t e r w a r d s

2 B l a c k L a b e l C u s t o m C o m p o u n d i n g A p p - e x c l u s i v e a c c e s s

3 F r e e P P P s u m m i t a c c e s s

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5 . 1 0 % o f f b u l k s u p p l e m e n t s ( 1 0 o r m o r e )

6 L i s t e d a s a p r e f e r r e d p r o v i d e r

7 Wo r k w i t h T h e D N A C o m p a n y C l i n i c - r e f e r & r e c e i v e p r o g r a m c l i e n t s

8 . F e a t u r e s o n T h e D N A Ta l k s P o d c a s t , D i g e s t & We b i n a r s

THE SILENT STRESSORS: SLEEP-DISORDERED BREATHING AND GUM DISEASE IN MIDLIFE

By Dr. Mandeep Johal, DMD, Functional Dentist | Family Dental Center, Tongue and Lip-Tie Centre

Midlife challenges like low energy, mood swings, and fading vitality hit both women and men, and oral health—through better airways for sleep and stronger gums—plays a vital role in a holistic solution. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) helps, but incorporating airway and oral health into a comprehensive treatment plan is essential for tackling these challenges. Airway health issues, like snoring or sleep apnea, disrupt sleep, while poor oral health, such as gum disease, fuels inﬂammation—both raise stress hormones like cortisol, worsening symptoms. Hormonal changes and oral health problems also affect brain function, adding to midlife challenges.

A team-based approach, blending airway-focused oral health care, functional medicine, and manual therapy, improves sleep, reduces stress, and boosts vitality for both genders. Sleep-disordered breathing symptoms often begin at birth, seen in infants with feeding issues or restless sleep, and hormonal shifts in midlife worsen these problems. While addressing these challenges takes effort, collaborative care delivers lasting wellness.

Sleep Changes in Midlife

Aging and hormonal shifts disrupt sleep, making it tough to fall asleep, stay asleep, or wake refreshed. Declining melatonin levels shrink deep sleep cycles. Hormonal changes, like reduced estrogen in women and testosterone in men, disrupt sleep function, leading to frequent awakenings. Women face unique hurdles: about 17% have sleep apnea, where the airway collapses during sleep, but many are misdiagnosed with upper airway resistance syndrome (UARS), a milder condition causing breathing effort and poor sleep.

Women snore less than men, leading to underdiagnosis, as subtler symptoms—fatigue, headaches, or mood swings—are often mistaken for menopause or stress, prompting suggestions for sedatives or lifestyle changes instead of sleep studies. Men, with a 31% sleep apnea prevalence, deal with snoring and disrupted sleep, raising cortisol levels that sap energy and mood. Poor sleep fuels a cycle that worsens health for both men and women.

The Role of Oral Health in Airway and Sleep

Oral health care, especially airway-focused dentistry, targets root causes of poor sleep, such as narrow airways, poor tongue posture, temporomandibular joint (TMJ) issues, and forward head posture. These drive snoring, mouth breathing, and teeth grinding, contributing to sleep apnea, which is common in midlife.

Every patient completes a sleep assessment questionnaire to pinpoint these issues. Unlike traditional dentistry, which may offer a nightguard for grinding, oral health care tackles underlying problems, as nightguards can sometimes worsen sleep-disordered breathing by altering jaw position or airway dynamics. Narrow airways restrict breathing, forcing the body to work harder at night, raising cortisol levels. TMJ disorder, often tied to poor posture or jaw misalignment, causes pain or discomfort that disrupts sleep quality.

Women are often underdiagnosed for sleep apnea and UARS, with symptoms mistaken for menopause or stress, partly due to less frequent snoring than men. Treatment options include airway orthodontics, which widens facial structures, or sleep appliances.

For example, a sleep appliance, like a mandibular advancement device, repositions the lower jaw forward during sleep, keeping airways open to reduce snoring and boost oxygen ﬂow for better rest. Myofunctional therapy, training the tongue and oral muscles for proper posture, improves airway function and enhances sleep quality. These approaches optimize airway health, reduce stress, and ease symptoms like fatigue and mood swings for both men and women.

Stress and Sleep: The Hidden Link

Poor sleep, snoring, and TMJ disorder increase physical tension, boosting cortisol levels. Elevated cortisol worsens fatigue, mood swings, and cognitive fog, disrupting the body’s repair processes. Breathing patterns directly affect cortisol: restricted airways or mouth breathing during sleep increase respiratory effort, triggering stress responses that spike cortisol. Mouth breathing, unlike nasal breathing, reduces oxygen intake, dries oral tissues, and fuels inflammation, further disrupting sleep and raising stress hormones. Nasal breathing supports optimal airflow, humidifies air, and reduces airway resistance, promoting calmer sleep. These differences are key, as mouth breathing intensifies stress, while nasal breathing supports better rest for both genders.

Brain Health, Gum Disease, and Hormonal Changes

Hormonal shifts in midlife, like declining estrogen in women and testosterone in men, disrupt sleep and affect brain and oral health. These hormones support cognitive function, and their decline can spark memory issues, brain fog, and higher risks of neurodegenerative conditions. Gum disease, common in midlife due to hormonal changes and poor oral hygiene, increases risks for both genders. Periodontal inflammation releases harmful markers that can cross the blood-brain barrier, impairing cognitive function and worsening sleep quality. Dry mouth, driven by hormonal changes, heightens risks of gum disease and cavities, further impacting oral and brain health. For women, menopause-related dry mouth amplifies these issues, while men face similar challenges from reduced salivary flow due to testosterone decline. Poor sleep, often linked to airway issues, intensifies gum disease inflammation, creating a cycle that harms brain health. Regular dental check-ups, professional cleanings, and good home oral hygiene, combined with airway-focused treatments, reduce inflammation, support cognitive health, and improve sleep for both men and women.

A Collaborative Approach to Midlife Wellness

Managing sleep, stress, brain function, and oral health in midlife requires a multidisciplinary team to address the complex roots of airway issues, gum disease, and hormonal imbalances. Infants with breathing or feeding difficulties may show early airway problems, which midlife hormonal shifts worsen, amplifying fatigue, cognitive decline, and stress. Comprehensive testing, like sleep studies, hormone panels, cortisol tests, or analyses of essential minerals, is crucial to identify sleep apnea, UARS, or nutrient deficiencies affecting health. A functional medicine doctor can order these tests, prescribe targeted supplements to address deficiencies in essential minerals, and tailor treatments to boost sleep, brain health, and stress resilience.

Manual therapists, such as osteopaths or chiropractors, correct posture and relieve TMJ disorder, improving airway function. Dentists specializing in airway health provide sleep-focused appliances or orthodontics, conduct regular check-ups and cleanings to manage gum disease and cavities, and promote effective oral hygiene practices.

Myofunctional therapists train patients in proper breathing and tongue techniques. While adjusting pillows or avoiding blue light after 7 PM can support sleep hygiene, these steps alone can’t ﬁx airway issues or gum disease.

A collaborative approach delivers holistic care, addressing airway, hormonal, oral, and structural health comprehensively. Women and men can seek help by:

•

Consulting a dentist for sleep assessments to detect airway issues and regular check-ups to address gum health.

References

Zisapel N. New perspectives on the role of melatonin in human sleep, circadian rhythms and their regulation. Br J Pharmacol. 2018;175(16):3190-3199. doi:10.1111/bph.14116

Woods NF, Mitchell ES. Sleep symptoms during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Sleep. 2010;33(4):539-549. doi:10.1093/sleep/33.4.539

Young T, Finn L, Austin D, Peterson A. Menopausal status and sleep-disordered breathing in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2003;167(9):1181-1185. doi:10.1164/rccm.200209-1055OC

Bixler EO, Vgontzas AN, Lin HM, et al. Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in women: effects of gender. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2001;163(3 Pt 1):608-613. doi:10.1164/ajrccm.163.3.9911064

Peppard PE, Young T, Barnet JH, Palta M, Hagen EW, Hla KM. Increased prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing in adults. Am J Epidemiol. 2013;177(9):1006-1014. doi:10.1093/aje/kws342

Sutherland K, Vanderveken OM, Tsuda H, et al. Oral appliance treatment for obstructive sleep apnea: an update. J Clin Sleep Med. 2014;10(2):215-227. Published 2014 Feb 15. doi:10.5664/jcsm.3460

McEwen BS. Sleep deprivation as a neurobiologic and physiologic stressor: Allostasis and allostatic load. Metabolism. 2006;55(10 Suppl 2):S20-S23. doi:10.1016/j.metabol.2006.07.008

•

Working with a functional medicine doctor for hormone, cortisol, and mineral/vitamin testing to guide treatments.

Engaging a manual therapist to correct posture or TMJ disorder.

Connecting with integrative providers through networks like H.E.A.L. Medical Directory. This collaborative model, though effort-intensive, prevents worsening symptoms and promotes lasting wellness by addressing airway, brain, and oral health for both genders.

Eke PI, Thornton-Evans GO, Wei L, Borgnakke WS, Dye BA, Genco RJ. Periodontitis in US Adults: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2009-2014. J Am Dent Assoc. 2018;149(7):576-588.e6. doi:10.1016/j.adaj.2018.04.023

Kamer AR, Dasanayake AP, Craig RG, Glodzik-Sobanska L, Bry M, de Leon MJ. Alzheimer's disease and peripheral infections: the possible contribution from periodontal infections, model and hypothesis. J Alzheimers Dis. 2008;13(4):437-449. doi:10.3233/jad-2008-13408

BETTER SLEEP, BETTER YOU: 10 NATURAL WAYS TO SUPPORT SLEEP AS YOU AGE

By Ken Swartz, MS | C60 Power

Between work, social demands, and everyday stress, getting a good night’s sleep can feel harder as the years go by. But sleep isn’t just about resting—it’s essential for how you think, feel, and function. If you’ve noticed changes in your sleep as you’ve gotten older, you’re not alone. Thankfully, small daily habits and science-supported tools can make a meaningful difference.

At C60 Power, we’re passionate about helping people age well and feel their best. That includes supporting restful sleep, energy, and mental clarity. While Carbon 60 (C60) is not a sleep aid, its powerful antioxidant properties can help your body feel more resilient and balanced during the day, setting the stage for a better night’s rest.*

Why Sleep Changes with Age

It’s common to wake up earlier, struggle to fall asleep, or feel less rested as you get older. About one-third of adults in the U.S. report not getting enough sleep. Age-related shifts in hormones, medications, and stress levels can all impact sleep quality. Loneliness, health issues, and changes in routine can also make it harder to wind down.

Quality sleep helps restore your mind and body. It supports immunity, emotional balance, memory, and even cardiovascular health. While some sleep challenges are medical in nature, many are rooted in daily patterns. That means you have more control than you might think.

This is where natural strategies—and smart daily supplements—can support your wellness goals. Antioxidants like those found in C60 Power may help your body manage everyday oxidative stress that contributes to poor sleep and aging.*

Set a calming routine. Start winding down at least an hour before bed. Turn off bright lights, put away screens, and do something quiet like reading, stretching, or taking a warm bath. A consistent routine signals your body that it’s time to rest.

Create a cozy sleep environment. Keep your bedroom cool, quiet, and dark. Temperatures between 60–67°F are best for sleep. Breathable sheets, blackout curtains, and a fan or white noise machine can make your space more restful.

Cut screen time before bed. Phones, tablets, and TVs emit blue light, which suppresses melatonin—the hormone that helps you fall asleep. Try to unplug from screens at least one to two hours before bedtime. Consider wearing blue light blocking glasses in the evening.

Eat to support sleep. Focus on whole foods and balance your plate. If you’re looking for a good place to start, then consider the Mediterranean diet, which is abundant in fruits, vegetables, and lean proteins sourced from dairy, ﬁsh, and poultry, along with healthy fats from olive oil, as well as the inclusion of nuts, grains, and seeds.

Be mindful of caffeine. Caffeine can stay in your system for hours. Try to limit coffee, soda, and energy drinks after midday. Swap them for herbal teas or water to avoid late-night restlessness.

Practice gentle relaxation. Simple breathing exercises, gentle yoga, or mindfulness meditation can calm your nervous system. Even ﬁve minutes of slow, deep breathing can help lower stress before bed.

10 Natural Ways to Sleep Better as You Age

1. 2.

Stay active during the day. Daily movement helps you fall asleep more easily and sleep more soundly. Walking, swimming, dancing, or even light stretching all count. Being active also helps reduce stress and lift your mood.

Stay socially connected. Regular connection with friends and loved ones reduces stress and supports emotional health. A simple phone call, group outing, or shared hobby can help you feel more supported and relaxed.

Manage stress thoughtfully. Everyone faces stress, but how you manage it makes a difference. Journaling, nature walks, or even watching a calming show can help you decompress. Many users of C60 Power say they feel more balanced and energized, which may support stress resilience.*

Keep up with health checkups. If you notice sudden changes in sleep or persistent tiredness, speak with your healthcare provider. Staying consistent with these appointments is key to managing your health well.

The Payoff: How Quality Sleep Upgrades Your Body

Getting 7+ hours of powerful sleep isn’t just about waking up refreshed—it’s about unlocking game-changing biological upgrades that sharpen your edge.

Build Muscle and Defy Aging. Deep sleep is when your body gets to work. It triggers cellular cleanup (autophagy) to clear out junk and goes into overdrive synthesizing protein to repair and build lean muscle. This is your body’s peak performance and recovery window. More quality sleep means faster results from the gym and a fresher, more revitalized appearance.

Stay Lean and Energized. Quality sleep is critical for mastering your metabolism. It dials in the hormones that control hunger, helping you crush cravings and make better food choices. It also keeps your body responsive to insulin, which is key for maintaining low body fat and ensuring stable, crash-free energy all day long.

Build an Ironclad Immune System. Think of sleep as your immune system’s power-up sequence. Skimp on it, and you’re left with chronic inﬂammation that drags you down. Optimize it, and you build a powerful defense system that keeps you healthy, consistent, and always ready for the next challenge—no more being sidelined by sickness.

Boost Stamina and Heart Health. Sleep is when your entire cardiovascular system gets a much-needed break, allowing your blood pressure to dip and your heart to recover. This nightly reset is non-negotiable for building endurance, maximizing your performance, and maintaining long-term vitality.

Sleep Well, Live Well

Better sleep doesn’t have to be complicated. Small changes in your daily routine, like limiting screen time, managing stress, and staying connected, can have a big impact. And with support from products like C60 Power, you may feel more balanced, energized, and ready for rest.* Aging well is about being intentional with your habits and giving your body the tools it needs to thrive. With the right routine and mindset, restful sleep can be a regular and restorative part of your life.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. C60 Power is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Individual results may vary. This content is for informational purposes only and not intended as medical advice.

References

Ken Swartz, MS is the co-founder, Chairman Emeritus, and former Chief Science Ofﬁcer at C60 Power, a health and wellness company committed to delivering the highest quality Carbon 60 products available. Ken earned a Master of Science degree from the University of Colorado at Denver and a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Arizona State University.'

Yang Q, Durmer JL, Wheaton AG, Jackson SL, Zhang Z. Sleep duration and excess heart age among US adults. Sleep Health. 2018;4(5):448-455. doi:10.1016/j.sleh.2018.07.001. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ article/abs/pii/S2352721818301086. Accessed 10 May 2025. National Institute on Aging (NIA). Sleep and Older Adults. National Institute on Aging, 6 Feb. 2025, www.nia.nih. gov/health/sleep/sleep-and-older-adults. Accessed 10 May 2025.

Suni E. How to Cool a Room during Summer. Sleep Foundation, 27 Oct. 2020, www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroomenvironment/how-to-cool-a-room-during-summer . Accessed 10 May 2025.

Staying Healthy. Blue Light Has a Dark Side. Harvard Health Publishing, Harvard Medical School, 24 July 2024, www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/blue-light-has-a-dark-side Accessed 10 May 2025.

Newsom R. How Blue Light Affects Sleep. Sleep Foundation, 12 Jan. 2024, www.sleepfoundation.org/bedroomenvironment/blue-light . Accessed 26 June 2025.

Silvani MI, Werder R, Perret C. The inﬂuence of blue light on sleep, performance and wellbeing in young adults: A systematic review. Front Physiol. 2022;13:943108. Published 2022 Aug 16. doi:10.3389/fphys.2022.943108. Accessed 26 June 2025.

Restivo J. Guide to the Mediterranean Diet. Harvard Health, 27 Oct. 2023, www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/guide-to-themediterranean-diet . Accessed 10 May 2025.

“A (Brief) Surprise in Study of Alcohol, Caffeine and Sleep - UW Medicine | Newsroom.” UW Medicine | Newsroom, 14 Nov. 2023, https://newsroom.uw.edu/news-releases/a-briefsurprise-in-study-of-alcohol-caffeine-and-sleep. Accessed 10 May 2025.

National Institute on Aging (NIH). Cognitive Health and Older Adults. National Institute on Aging, 2017. Updated 11 June 2024. www.nia.nih.gov/health/cognitive-health-and-older-adults#mind. Accessed 10 May 2025.

Suni E. How Much Sleep Do We Really Need? Sleep Foundation, 13 May 2024,www.sleepfoundation.org/how-sleep-works /how-much-sleep-do-we-really-need. Accessed 10 May 2025. Bowman A. Sleep and Longevity: How Quality Sleep Impacts Your Life Span. Mayo Clinic Press, 19 Jan. 2024, https://mcpress. mayoclinic.org/healthy-aging/how-quality-sleepimpacts-your-lifespan/. Accessed 10 May 2025.

Ullern H, Schnur P, Boccara CN, Knævelsrud H. Rest, Repair, Repeat: The Complex Relationship of Autophagy and Sleep. J Mol Biol. 2025;437(18):169227. doi:10.1016/j.jmb.2025.169227.

Rogers EM, Banks NF, Jenkins NDM. The effects of sleep disruption on metabolism, hunger, and satiety, and the inﬂuence of psychosocial stress and exercise: A narrative review. Diabetes Metab Res Rev. 2024;40(2):e3667. doi:10.1002/dmrr.3667. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37269143/.

Besedovsky L, Lange T, Born J. Sleep and immune function. Pﬂugers Arch. 2012;463(1):121-137. doi:10.1007/s00424-011-1044-0. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22071480/.

UNWRAPPING HOLIDAY HEALTH: THE GENOMICS OF SUGAR, STRESS, AND CELEBRATION

By Dr. Lara Varden, PhD, BCHHP, LEHP, CFGP, CFNC | The DNA Company

As the leaves fall and costumes creep out from closets, we tumble from Halloween all the way to Christmas, riding a sleigh (or broomstick?) powered by sugar, stress, and sparkling moments with loved ones. In my work as a functional genomics practitioner, holistic health explorer, and eternal seeker of chocolate alternatives, I’ve seen both the magic and mayhem this festive chute brings—the spike, slump, and swirl of body, brain, and spirit shaped not just by lifestyle, but by our very own DNA.

Trick or Treat: The Sugar Rollercoaster

Let’s be honest: Halloween kicks off a two-month sugar buffet. Did you know the average American child collects about 7,000 calories worth of candy on Halloween alone? That is nearly triple what most kids should eat in a day—and adults aren’t immune from the temptations stashed in the cupboard for “emergencies.”

But our love (and loathing) for sugar isn’t just a matter of willpower. Genes like FTO, TCF7L2, and SLC30A8 shape our cravings, how efﬁciently our bodies utilize glucose, and whether that extra slice of pie leaves us longing for more or sluggishly avoiding dessert. Some of us are wired to store sugar as fat more efﬁciently, while others burn through it like hot embers—thanks to genes like MC4R and UCP1 that regulate appetite and thermogenesis.

So, if you’re wondering why your cousin’s metabolism seems to handle the annual sugar avalanche while you’re halfway to a nap after two mini-Snickers, it’s partly in your genetic blueprint. And, yes, epigenetics can change the script a little, but the plot twist is real.

Stressed Spells and Mindful Magic

From haunted houses to holiday shopping, stress levels rise faster than The Nutcracker ticket prices. The body’s primary stress regulators—the COMT and MAO genes—act like trafﬁc cops for neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Some variants can mean you feel stress more intensely or for longer durations, while others help you bounce back between jingle bell trafﬁc jams.

For those “feelers” among us, high stress may trigger additional sugar cravings—your brain’s attempt to self-medicate with dopamine releases. Research shows that people with certain COMT variants metabolize catecholamines (stress hormones) more slowly, prolonging that anxious edge.

And don’t forget the BDNF gene, which helps our neurons respond to stress resilience. Lower BDNF activity is linked to increased risk for mood imbalances—cue extra sensitivity to Aunt Mildred’s unsolicited advice on gift wrapping.

Humor can buffer this—studies indicate that a hearty laugh reduces cortisol (the stress hormone) by up to 37%. Maybe that’s why the bad holiday sweater contest persists; our DNA loves a good giggle.

Gift-Wrapped Inflammation and Immune Wisdom

Hiding inside every gingerbread cookie and rum ball is a sprinkle of inflammation. For some, genes in the GSTs (GSTT1, GSTM1, GSTP1), SOD2, and GPX families handle oxidative stress and immune responses better than others. If those get overwhelmed, you might feel more rundown or find the holiday sniffles outstay their welcome.

Toss in social jet lag—thanks to clock-tipping genes like CLOCK and CRY1, which regulate circadian rhythms—and you could see sleep struggles and even blood sugar swings. In December, our internal clocks often fall out of sync with real time, leading to circadian misalignment, which can spike inﬂammation and zap your energy for sledding, caroling, or awkward work parties.

Celebrating Rooted in DNA

Let’s wrap this up—pun intended. Genetics isn’t destiny, but it’s a map for smarter navigation. Mindfully tweaking holiday habits—savoring sweets in moderation, seeking laughter as medicine, prioritizing restful sleep—can turn the celebration corridor from a stress marathon into a meaningful, genomic-friendly journey.

So, when the urge for “just one more cookie” hits, or party stress rises with every RSVP, remember: your DNA may be whispering (or shouting) instructions. Listen in, laugh out loud, and celebrate the beautiful quirks that make every season, and every genome, unique.

Fun Facts and Final Tips

Up to 62% of adults report higher stress levels between Halloween and Christmas—the COMT gene plays a key role in this rollercoaster.

It takes less than three seconds of genuine laughter to trigger a health-supportive hormonal response—no gene required, just a sense of humor.

Each extra hour of social jet lag raises the risk of obesity by about 20%—so get your sleep and dream of sugar plum fairies.

Here’s to navigating the holidays with genomic ﬂair—nutty, sweet, and resilient.

Pass the dark chocolate (with magnesium, for those COMT warriors out there), and may your celebrations be light, laughing, and DNA-informed.

References

Steinburg B. How Many Calories Is Halloween Candy, and How Long Does It Take to Burn It Off? NY Post. 10/30/2023. https://nypost.com/2023/10/30/health/how-long-does-it-take-to-burn-off-ha lloween-candy/.

Huang C, Chen W, Wang X. Studies on the fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and its impact on obesity-associated diseases. Genes Dis. 2022;10(6):2351-2365. Published 2022 May 6. doi:10.1016/j.gendis.2022.04.014 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S235230422200112X.

Oh KJ, Park J, Kim SS, Oh H, Choi CS, Koo SH. TCF7L2 modulates glucose homeostasis by regulating CREB- and FoxO1-dependent transcriptional pathway in the liver. PLoS Genet. 2012;8(9):e1002986. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1002986 https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1002986.

Kanoni S, Nettleton JA, Hivert MF, et al. Total zinc intake may modify the glucose-raising effect of a zinc transporter (SLC30A8) variant: a 14-cohort meta-analysis. Diabetes. 2011;60(9):2407-2416. doi:10.2337/db11-0176 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3161318/.

Álvarez-Martín C, Caballero FF, de la Iglesia R, Alonso-Aperte E. Association of MC4R rs17782313 Genotype With Energy Intake and Appetite: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Nutr Rev. 2025;83(3):e931-e946. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuae075 https://academic.oup.com/nutritionreviews/article/83/3/e931/7693929.

Chathoth S, Ismail MH, Vatte C, et al. Association of Uncoupling Protein 1 (UCP1) gene polymorphism with obesity: a case-control study. BMC Med Genet. 2018;19(1):203. Published 2018 Nov 20. doi:10.1186/s12881-018-0715-5 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6247512/.

Stein MB, Fallin MD, Schork NJ, Gelernter J. COMT polymorphisms and anxiety-related personality traits. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2005;30(11):2092-2102. doi:10.1038/sj.npp.1300787 https://www.nature.com/articles/1300787.

Faris A, Cheah PS, Ling KH. Single nucleotide polymorphism of BDNF Val66Met (rs6265) and its association to neuropsychiatric disorders. Neuroscience Research Notes. 2020;3(3):9-26. https://doi.org/10.31117/neuroscirn.v3i3.50 https://neuroscirn.org/ojs/index.php/nrnotes/article/view/50.

Kramer CK, Leitao CB. Laughter as medicine: A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventional studies evaluating the impact of spontaneous laughter on cortisol levels. PLoS One. 2023;18(5):e0286260. Published 2023 May 23. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0286260 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10204943/.

Vieira E, Mirizio GG, Barin GR, de Andrade RV, Nimer NFS, La Sala L. Clock Genes, Inﬂammation and the Immune System-Implications for Diabetes, Obesity and Neurodegenerative Diseases. Int J Mol Sci. 2020;21(24):9743. Published 2020 Dec 21. doi:10.3390/ijms21249743 https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7766955/.

Morris CJ, Purvis TE, Hu K, Scheer FA. Circadian misalignment increases cardiovascular disease risk factors in humans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016;113(10):E1402-E1411. doi:10.1073/pnas.1516953113 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1516953113.

Edwards S. Holiday Stress and the Brain. On the Brain. Winter 2016.https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publicationsarchive/brain/holiday-stress-brain.

Berk LS, Tan SA, Fry WF, et al. Neuroendocrine and stress hormone changes during mirthful laughter. Am J Med Sci. 1989;298(6):390-396. doi:10.1097/00000441-198912000-00006 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2556917/.

Arab A, Karimi E, Garaulet M, Scheer FAJL. Social jetlag and obesity: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Obes Rev. 2024;25(3):e13664. doi:10.1111/obr.13664 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38072635/.

DNA THE UNIVERSITY

E l i t e Tr a i n i n g i n G e n e t i c S c i e n c e & We l l n e s s

D N A - U o f f e r s c u t t i n g - e d g e c o u r s e s i n

g e n e t i c s , e p i g e n e t i c s , m e t a g e n e t i c s , a n d

f u n c t i o n a l m e d i c i n e , g i v i n g h e a l t h a n d w e l l n e s s

p r o f e s s i o n a l s t h e a d v a n c e d k n o w l e d g e n e e d e d

t o e x c e l i n P r e c i s i o n We l l n e s s .

E m p o w e r Yo u r P r a c t i c e & B u s i n e s s G r o w t h

L e a r n h o w t o i n t e g r a t e g e n e t i c i n s i g h t s i n t o

c l i n i c a l p r a c t i c e , o p t i m i z e p a t i e n t c a r e , a n d

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l e d c u r r i c u l u m a n d r e a l - w o r l d a p p l i c a t i o n s

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W i t h a c c e s s t o b l e e d i n g - e d g e r e s e a r c h , h a n d s -

o n l e a r n i n g , a n d a s t r o n g p r o f e s s i o n a l n e t w o r k ,

D N A - U e n s u r e s y o u r e m a i n a t t h e f o r e f r o n t o f

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HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

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3RD ROCK ESSENTIALS

3rd Rock Essentials is dedicated to proactive personal health care—inside and out. Their mission is to provide safe, toxin-free products that nurture and protect both your skin and your overall well-being, using only natural, food-grade edible ingredients with innovative, science-based formulations. At 3rd Rock Essentials, they’re committed to helping you live healthier every day, from the outside in and the inside out.

Common ingredients found in many personal products you use daily can be harmful. These include endocrine disruptors, parabens, and petroleum. 3rd Rock products completely avoid these toxins and use only natural, food-grade ingredients to provide the most effective results.

All 3rd Rock products are manufactured and packaged in the USA and are never tested on animals. They are Leaping Bunny Approved!

VIVA RAYS

VivaRays is dedicated to restoring balance to your life through the science of light exposure. In a world filled with unbalanced artificial lighting, VivaRays provides all-day circadian glasses designed to reset your body’s natural rhythms, harmonize hormone regulation, and support overall wellbeing. Guided by a deep respect for nature and backed by research, VivaRays empowers individuals to reconnect with the natural cycles that enhance health and vitality

Discount Code: DNACO2025

Discount Code: HAPPYHEALTH for 25% OFF until 12/31/2025 (includes single and 3-pack) Click Here Click Here

Stop guessing about your health. Decode your DNA, access expert content, and uncover what’s missing all in one app.

Discover the future of functional genomics with access to:

Personalized DNA Reports: Access your DNA Company reports or upload your 23andMe raw data and transform it into DNA 360-style reports to uncover actionable insights about your health and see what you’re missing.

Expert Webinars & Podcasts: Dive into exclusive content from leading experts, exploring topics like mental health, inflammation, fasting, and more.

Health Optimization Tools: See what’s missing in your DNA blueprint and get recommendations tailored to your unique genetic profile.

Disclaimer: The DNA Company does not provide medical advice or treatment. Reports are for informational purposes only and should not replace professional medical consultation.

Ready to take control of your health? Download now and get personalized insights today!

UPCOMING EVENTS

Stay Informed, Stay Inspired

Discover our lineup of upcoming online webinars designed to keep you updated, empowered, and connected. From expert-led discussions to interactive lear ning sessions, each event is an opportunity to gain insights and engage with our growing community.

Are you tired of outdated advice and one-size-ﬁts-all solutions when it comes to women’s health? DNA Talks SheSummits 2025 is here to change the game. This clinician-led education summit series is designed to tackle the real issues women face, from hormonal health to mental well-being, and empower you with evidence-based knowledge that truly makes a difference.

Oct 25 , 2025 11AM-4PM EDT

Beyond

the

Mammogram: Advances in Breast Cancer Screening and Care

LEARN MORE MISSED THE LIVE SESSIONS? PURCHASE THE REPLAY HERE!