As an Ob-Gyn physician and genomics specialist, I have spent the better part of 10 years translating research in the genomic and gene expression areas into clinically usable information for healthcare professionals. One of the biggest challenges we face when connecting research with patient care is the long delay in the translation process and dissemination of the information. It often takes 10 to 20 years for information (validated findings) that comes out of research to be applied in clinical practice. These delays result in many lost opportunities to provide better care for our patients. This is one of the reasons why I’m really passionate about accelerating this process and making it easier for clinicians and their patients to take advantage of cutting-edge information and new technologies.
Is it time for a RESET?
The New Year is full of promise for new starts.
This year is even more so, with all of the planets moving full steam ahead for all of the energetic support you need for your new plans.
And yet for so many of us these end up as sprints that aren’t sustainable, and in the end we burn out despite our best intentions.
Harsh boot-camp style approaches may get lots of attention, especially at this time of the year. But rarely do they create sustainable habits and results.
Often you end up no better or even worse off than before.
Approaching Change for Longevity
As you set your goals and intentions for 2024, perhaps it’s time for a different approach.
Whether you are looking to reset your health, your work, or your relationships one thing remains the same. They all require a way to rebalance from within.
And longevity of our efforts to reset and rebalance is best achieved through acts of self-love.
How Do You Nourish Your Inner Landscape?
Desert soil is often hard, compacted clay. Harsh, unforgiving, seemingly barren.
Imagine this landscape lives within you. The soil represents hardened habits, patterns or beliefs that keep you stuck.
The more you keep trying to force change using the same tools, the more the soil gets compacted. It seems there’s no way in to create something different.
But there is a new kind of life deep within waiting to grow. It just needs the right nourishment.
Fall in Love with Taking Care of YOU
Love is like water. It’s soft, fluid, and yet one of the most powerful forces on earth.
Imagine adding a little more water to the hard clay soil day after day. Soon it starts to soften and create space for more.
Now you can plant seeds and add nutrients to nourish the soil.
Before you know it, you now have a living plant blossoming in what used to be a harsh environment unable to sustain any life.
And it all started with water – with adding love to your soil a little bit at a time.
When your soil is full of love, it eases the strain and makes it much easier to fill your body, your mind, your life with things that nurture you.
Are You Ready for a Different Approach?
If you are looking to RESET your relationships, work, or life with aligned strategies that will last, your Human Design Blueprint is a great place to start.
RESET with Human Design
If you are ready for an in-depth program to RESET and REINVIGORATE your health from a genetic, cellular, and energetic level, the RESET for Balance & Longevity Program may be just what you are looking for.
This new six-month program is custom-designed for you, based on your own inner blueprints. You will learn what self-love looks like for you, have the tools and support for a RESET to restore balance, plus gain sustainable strategies for longevity of your vital energy and health.
The first step is to schedule your complimentary call.
Schedule Your Call
LINKING DENSE BREAST WITH BREAST CANCER
We have known for a very long time that there is an increased risk of breast cancer for women who have dense breasts. Until recently, the research has been lagging in terms of what’s the molecular mechanism, why do dense breasts present an increased risk of breast cancer? Without this knowledge, we can’t address the root causes, and are left with a lot of trial and error based on incomplete understanding.
It’s very encouraging to know that currently there are 124 clinical trials ongoing looking at dense breasts and the relationship with breast cancer, anywhere from improved diagnostics, to treatment, to prevention, and, what’s close to my heart, to understanding the molecular mechanisms – what’s happening at the cell level, at the genetic level that is causing different women to have an elevated risk of breast cancer.
One of the striking features that we’re learning about dense breasts and what is creating that density is the microenvironment, which means the environment in the supporting tissue surrounding the glands. This includes fibroblasts and collagen. It seems that rather than estrogen being the dominant factor, it is inflammation that is creating the increased density of breast tissue.
ESTROGEN VS INFLAMMATION
What’s fascinating to me is that even though we associate estrogen with the primary means by which women develop breast cancer, it may be a different process for breast cancers linked to breast density. Some of the research that has just come out in the last few years is showing us that rather than being hormonally driven, we think what’s happening is there is an increase in these inflammatory markers in the tissue that is denser, and this is what can also lead to cancer.
There is clearly a genetic, or hereditary component, because having dense breasts is noted to run in families. But while having dense breasts increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer by up to 4-6x, not all of these women actually get cancer. That means there are other factors that can potentially increase as well as reduce a woman’s risk. This is where genomic research has been a gamechanger in identifying these other factors including for women with inherited genetic mutations, such as BRCA.
We now know that there are multiple genes in multiple other pathways that can modify a woman’s risk of breast cancer even if she carries a BRCA mutation. [1]. Researchers have identified smaller changes in genes called SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) that have a much lower individual impact than genetic mutations, but together can be additive.[2] In fact, women with specific patterns of SNPs had their risk of breast cancer significantly reduced. This can help explain why not all women with BRCA mutations get cancer, and provides insight into potential protective biological mechanisms.
This is a really powerful paradigm shift, because now it opens the door for truly individualizing each woman’s risk – and potentially being able to change it through diet, lifestyle, or other modalities.
We now are also learning that gene SNPs can also play a role in a woman’s risk for dense breasts and breast cancer. While there’s much research that needs to be done, from my experience, there’s a lot we can do already to potentially intervene and help women with dense breasts. As we wait for more definitive research, we can learn from the nutritional genomics and functional medicine realms.
We have long known that pro-inflammatory conditions are underlying drivers for so many of the chronic diseases we see today, from cancer to heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, depression and more. The flip side of inflammation is oxidative stress. They go hand in hand. Some of the genes that drive these processes are now also being linked to dense breasts and potentially the increased breast cancer risk that women with dense breasts have.
My question is, why can’t we use some of these dietary lifestyle and nutritional supplement interventions that we already know decrease many of these pro-inflammatory pathways? Why can’t we start using those in clinical practice as we wait for research and clinical trials to better refine our knowledge? The fact is, we can! But it takes education, awareness and advocacy to implement these strategies more widely and make a difference now.
Source: Cancer Resource Alliance
Reference:
1) link to polygenic model – breast cancer, Lynch syndrome etc https://healthresourcedigest.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-future-in-personalized-medicine.html
2) Link to genetics/genomics https://modernhealing1.blogspot.com/2020/11/what-is-lynch-syndrome.html
Santa Fe, New Mexico
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