Vol 35–Harnessing the Power of Precision Medicine For Optimal Wellbeing

Quick Look  👀

1 oz of water to garden your health

1 Budding Tweet

2 Weeds to avoid

2 Websites to cultivate your garden 

Random Musings

Reading Time: 4 minutes 30 seconds

This week’s newsletter is brought to you by precision medicine.

With a ridiculous amount of supplement companies popping out to every cranny. The future of supplements is customization and tailoring to each person.

That's why I started doing product reviews from a scientific lens, take a look at my most recent one—a 3D-printed multivitamin.

In this week’s issue, we’ll go over who should take multivitamins.

What precision medicine is.

Examples of companies leading the way.

Action to water your health

Precision medicine. Is a field of healthcare that focuses on tailoring medical treatments to the individual characteristics of each patient.

This can include using genetic, biomarker, phenotypic, or psychosocial information to create personalized treatment plans for patients.

Real-world examples of how precision medicine is using genetic and biomarker information to tailor treatment to the specific needs of each patient include:

• HER-2 status in breast cancer patients

• EGFR-mutation in Lung Cancer

• Treatment of Leukemia with CAR-T cell therapy

Precision Medicine & Multivitamins

One area where precision medicine is being applied is in the development of personalized multivitamins. These multivitamins are formulated based on an individual's genetic makeup, dietary habits, and other health-related information.

One example of how precision medicine is being used to develop personalized multivitamins is through the use of genetic testing.

Genetic testing. Can identify genetic variations that may affect how an individual metabolizes vitamins and minerals.

For example, some individuals may have a genetic variation that makes them less able to absorb vitamin B12 from food. A precision medicine-based multivitamin for these individuals would likely include a higher dose of vitamin B12 to compensate for this genetic variation.

Why can’t I just take any multivitamins?

A recent Harvard piece noted that “In 2022, Americans were projected to spend $35.6 billion on dietary supplements.”

Let’s put that into context:

• 35 billion dollars is equivalent to about 2% of the entire United States federal budget for 2021.

• 35 billion dollars is enough to fund the entire 2021 federal budget for the National Park Service, which manages and preserves national parks and monuments throughout the United States.

• 35 billion dollars is about 4.5 times the revenue generated by all 30 teams in Major League Baseball in 2019.

• 35 billion dollars is about the same amount of money that Amazon, one of the world's largest companies, made in profit in 2019.

I used to take multivitamins without question. But eventually, I started to ask myself, why am I taking them? how are they helping me?

So I stopped taking multivitamins. Instead, I went and got bloodwork, found to be deficient in vitamin D, and supplemented.

This is the concept behind precision medicine. Get the tests to identify deficiencies and supplement accordingly- as opposed to just popping a multivitamin with all the components.

Ok, but who benefits from multivitamins?

• Vegetarians and vegans (other selective diets), as may not get enough vitamin B12 and iron from their diet.

• Pregnant and breastfeeding women, as they need extra nutrients for the health of the fetus or infant.

• People with dietary restrictions or food allergies make it difficult to get enough nutrients from their diet.

• People over the age of 50, as may need higher doses of certain vitamins and minerals.

• People who have had gastrointestinal surgery, as may not be able to absorb enough nutrients from their food.

• People who are recovering from an illness or injury, as may have a higher need for certain nutrients.

• People who take certain medications that can interfere with the absorption of nutrients from the diet.

Example of a company Using Precision Medicine

InsideTracker. Uses an AI-driven platform to aggregate data from multiple sources such as:

• Blood and DNA tests

• Wearables

• Demographic information

And create specific action plans for users to improve their health and wellness. They have published research from their analysis of biomarkers [1]. They have a scientific advisory board with >200 years of experience.

The Chief Scientific Officer and other team members have real-world applicable experience for this company.

Action.

Anytime you take a supplement, multivitamin, or otherwise ask yourself, why? What benefit is it giving me? Make sure it’s possible to customize it for you.

Yes.

Each.

Individual ingredient.

If you take adaptogens and nootropics like me, know that the evidence is sparse but make sure you track if it works.

Budding Tweet

This is a great example. About 99.9% of the DNA sequence is the same between any two humans. This means that only about 0.1% of our DNA sequences are different.

These small differences are what make each person unique and account for variations in physical characteristics, susceptibility to certain diseases, and responses to certain medications.

This is where precision medicine takes part, it helps find this missing puzzle.

Weeds to avoid

1️⃣+2️⃣ Not being aware that UV lights used in nail salons for Shellac and other nail polishes can cause skin cancer.

You can read here where two healthy women with no history of skin cancer developed non-melanoma skin cancer on the back of their hands. [2].

More recent studies show “There is little to no carcinogenic risk inherent with UV gel manicures.” [3] but they also recommend applying broad-spectrum sunscreen prior to gel manicures.

So which is it? well, this is a controversial topic. With conflicting evidence. I would wear sunscreen before getting my nails done (or gloves? with the fingertips cut out) or not get them at all.

Websites to cultivate your garden

1. Aitools.fyi: Find awesome AI tools. So many good websites that I’m sure will help your workflow, no matter what you do.

Ellie: Regardless if you are for or against AI applications, they are exploding. This one is an AI email assistant! Replies to your emails, learning your style, and formatting.

Might be helpful to someone out there.

Random Musings

1. This NON-peer reviewed paper study found that children born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic.

   1. This paper by Nature further suggests that some studies have found that children born during the pandemic may have lower scores on tests of gross motor, fine motor, and communication skills compared to those born before the pandemic.

   2. These results are also based on a small number of studies and more research is needed.

2. I celebrated the lunar new year with friends & family. I learned that I was born in the year of the Dragon.

That’s all I got for this week.

If you live somewhere where you don’t get enough sun go buy an artificial light. But make sure you get about 5000 lux per day (2500 lux for two hours, or 10,000 lux for 30 minutes).

You're an awesome human

Martin, CEO of braincrumbss

Stuff I created, that you might find helpful.

1. I created a sleep 💤 course after 6+ months of reading books, research studies, blogs, and podcasts. I wrote a post that includes a sneak preview of the content too. In this course, I'll send you 1 effective way to get sleep better, longer, or faster a day for 14 days. Since you're reading this here is a discount code to get 25% off "prq6qbe"

2. This product is free. It is the most comprehensive tool for digital nomads who end up with diarrhea 💩. How to treat it, when to worry, and what to pack. Everything. I spend an embarrassing amount of time writing this. Yes, this was created from personal experience on an overseas trip 😮