8 Predictive Health Tests - Vitamin D, Hemoglobin A1 C, and DNA Fragmentation Test 8-OHdG

Here is a curious fact.  The number of viruses we come in contact with is the same in the summer as it is in the winter.  The reason we get sick more often in the winter is the stress brought on by the cold weather, and the drop in immune system function with vitamin D levels changing from less and less sun.

Vitamin D also plays a role in mood disorders.  If you notice yourself not as cheery from a lack of sun light, it most likely is your vitamin D levels dropping.  There are great anti cancer benefits to vitamin D.  Vitamin D receptors are in breast tissue, the lower colon, and the prostate.  Vitamin D is actually a nerve stimulating hormone.  Vitamin D allows cells to signal each other that they are attached.  If vitamin D is low cells think they are alone and begin hyper-proliferation.

All of us can remove the vast majority of fear of getting cancer in these areas with an adequate vitamin D level.  The goal is keep your vitamin D level between 50 and 80.  It is important to know your winter levels and your summer level to adjust your dose properly.

 Eighteen percent of the general population is unable to absorb vitamin D in pill form.  There appears to be a gut defect or it is a malabsorption state.  Boston Medical College did the research and they contracted with Perque to make the vitamin D that can be readily absorbed.

 Hemoglobin A 1 C.  This is the overall blood sugar levels for the past thirty days in your red blood cells.  This test has proven itself to be highly accurate in predicting poor sugar utilization.   High blood sugar is very damaging to organs as they do not have enough sugar in them to function, they simply starve.  And high blood sugar eventually degrades in the blood stream and the oxidized sugars damage the artery lining.

Elevations in Hemoglobin A 1 C are going to be from stressed adrenals and weight gain.  The bigger our waist line the more trouble we are going to get into with insulin resistance.  Chemicals and plastics that enter our body can disrupt normal cellular metabolism and lead to weight gain.  Plastics are estrogen mimickers and lend to weight deposition, soft plastic water bottles as an example.  Methyl parabem in lotions is an estrogen mimicker as well.  The biggest food trouble maker is corn syrup.  High fructose corn syrup has a faster uptake than other sugars.  The sugars in corn syrup are not bound and do not require a second step to be absorbed.  Essentially normal sugars are digested slower and the body has a chance to receive signaling to stop eating / drinking, where corn syrups bring their sugars into the cell very rapidly and over consumption takes place.

You can experiment with this.  Drink a corn syrup soda and see how much you can drink before you feel full.  Then get a 100% cane sugar soda.  The cane sugar soda will fill you up very quickly and  you simply cannot drink anymore.  You will be surprised how much corn syrup soda you can drink.

The goal here is to have your Hemoglobin A 1 C around 5.5.   This means your body is functioning properly and the blood sugar levels are at an optimum level in the blood stream and the cells are absorbing sugars as they should.

The big question that I always have in the back of my mind is when is good enough, good enough.  You and I have an interest in being healthy and that means a long productive life.  This next test will get us there on our own two feet, maybe even a bicycle.

 DNA Fragmentation Test 8 – OHdG.  This test lets you know if everything you are doing is working. None of us want an age related illness, or if we have one we would like to keep it from advancing.  And what about genetic predisposition?   Bad genes only manifest themselves when the host is weak.  If you keep your health at an optimum, the “bad” genes are simply not turned on.  This test will tell you that you are safe and you really are protecting yourself from a wide range of age associated conditions.

 The ideal range with the test is around 5.  If you stay on top of this test and the others mentioned in the last three weekends you can keep yourself safe and healthy.

 I wan these conversations to be on a happy note not a negative.  We are looking for balance in our lives to make it fun and easy to be and stay healthy.

St. Joe Michigan is right up Red Arrow Hwy from New Buffalo and a great Sunday getaway.  They have a great downtown, and plenty of fun and healthy places to eat.  I am sharing to motivate that we can do this and have fun in the process.

 Thanks for reading.  Brian McGuckin, D.C., DABCI