Why do I need to have my DNA tested for medications?
First, let's talk about enzymes.
Enzymes (which are almost always a protein) speed up various chemical reactions to do thousands of different functions inside a cell.
Today, we will focus on how enzymes affect medications.
Enzymes can
Metabolize (break down) medications so that they can be eliminated from your body
Activate medications so that they can work and help you
(The same enzyme can perform both functions, depending on the medication)
The success of a medication to treat your condition/illness/symptoms depends on how well the enzyme functions.
Your DNA determines the speed at which enzymes will function in your body.
Once your DNA is tested (through a pharmacogenomic test), you will know how various enzymes function in your body.
The test results will show if your enzyme falls into one of the five following categories:
Poor metabolizer: has little to no enzyme activity
Intermediate metabolizer: has decreased enzyme activity
Normal metabolizer: has normal enzyme activity
Rapid metabolizer: has increased enzyme activity
Ultrarapid metabolizer: has higher-than-normal enzyme activity
From that information, your provider can make more informed decisions about which medications you should and should not take.
Your results may show that an alternative medication would be better for you.
Your results may show that you need a higher or lower dose of a medication, depending on the speed of the enzyme that is associated with it.
DNA testing can eliminate the trial-and-error approach so that you don't have to try a medication and hope that it works or hope that it won't cause adverse effects.
Sign up today to learn more about this service and how it can help save you time and money.
You can't change your DNA, but we can learn from it.
SOURCES
https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Enzyme
https://www.cell.com/trends/pharmacological-sciences/fulltext/S0165-6147(22)00207-3