The field of genomics is based on the increasing accessibility of information on our own genetic make up, which can now be accessed for under $1,000. Working with our genomics could now change lives. Dr Marios Michael’s UNDERSTANDING GENOMICS: How Nutrition, Supplements, and Lifestyle Can Help You Unlock Your Genetic Superpowers, is centered on how working with genomics–essentially, the border interaction of genes–has changed his life, and how a reader might apply it to their own. The core aim of the text is essentially what’s stated in its title: the simultaneously incredibly complex and incredibly wide reaching idea of improving our health through understanding our own make up, and applying that knowledge in practical ways. It is, the author confesses, something that can be so complex that it’s difficult for most people to engage with, but in his book he hopes to make it accessible. The explanations and the tips are clearly comprehensible and sometimes straightforward. A key one, for example, is to take a different form of vitamin B12 which is more readily absorbed by most people’s bodies, and so can quickly and easily offer no-stress health benefits. The field, overall, is described as “like opening Pandora’s Box”, a process of which we – the global we – are still in the midst.
While the amount of advice that can be given in a book like this is limited–readers need to know what applies to their own genes to at least some extent–UNDERSTANDING GENOMICS does give a great insight into how lifestyle, supplements and nutrition might help people avoid health risks as life progresses, and, as well as addressing specific risks, simply make them feel more healthy. The colorful text is designed for the average reader and more entertaining than one might expect from a fairly scientific book, but nonetheless can feel quite academic and occasionally requires repeat reading (this reviewer has a degree in Chemistry and had to read some parts twice). There is a lot of quite fairly intensive detail on DNA and how it is impacted on, both in ways we can, and cannot, control. It’s those areas that can be controlled that might trigger the most interest: the evidence is that controlling personal environment and consumption might help reduce the chance of getting cancer, amongst numerous other significant diseases, for example. A lot of the detail is in how genes express themselves–the idea of nurture being, often, as important or even more important than nature. For readers who have ever been tempted by genotyping and working with the results, UNDERSTANDING GENOMICS will give a realistic and extensive guide to what such a piece of self-examination might be able to achieve. Even without such work, a reader might pick up some useful guidance and lke our DNA, it’s well worth exploring.
Dr. Marios Michael’s UNDERSTANDING GENOMICS claims we’re on the brink of a reformation of medicine with the use of personalized, genetic based approaches to optimizing health and his text does a great job of explaining why. It’s startling, varied, and the knowledge might be enough to redirect many into treating their bodies right.
~James Hendicott for IndieReader