Rethinking Health Predictive Biomarkers - Dr. Russell Jaffe (April 2016)

The m2pk stool test is interesting and may be able to detect intestinal diseases in healthy people. It has 95% specificity for colorectal cancer. This could be a very useful test.

Gut health has a major impact on the brain and on overall health. We must avoid consuming foods or substances which can kill the healthy bacteria in our guts or there can be problems.

Dr. Tel-Oren is correct on the risks of b-12 and other deficiencies in vegetarians but I see no evidence supporting the idea of cholesterol deficiency. This perhaps might apply to a person who has a damaged liver who also goes vegetarian but if the liver functions as it should then the body will have enough cholesterol that it will not need additional cholesterol supplemented from the diet.

The omega ratios seem to be important. Omega 3 vs omega 6 where most Americans appear to get too much Omega 6. This is a good biomarker test that most people probably never get.

hsCRP is a good biomarker test which I received myself and got a fairly low number of 0.3. This test is an important marker for indicating the level of inflammation.

hsHgb A1c is a test I've not heard of but I do know the A1c test will allow a person to know if they are trending toward diabetic or at least give an indicator of whether or not their blood sugars are high for the past few months. High blood sugar levels accelerate aging.

1st AM urine PH is also a test I never heard of but interesting. It tracks the acidosis risk of the cells.

Other biomarkers were included which I never heard of before, or routine check of vitamin D for instance, but in general these tests are uncommon and I would not know where to go to receive these tests or how much it costs.

Predictive biomarkers appear to be useful and since a lot of measuring the current state of our health is risk based since we have no way to know with certainty the status of the healthy person, we can benefit from these biomarker tests which can provide peace of mind to people who want more information on their current health and possibly even a prediction ability for what diseases will hit them as they age.

I have used Banaba before but this particular substance gave me serious side effects so I had to discontinue.

Chromium is one of my favorite supplements as it does seem to have a positive effect but the dose should be the lowest effective dose in my own experience. Higher is not necessarily better and it's also associated with acute kidney failure as high doses. I never used Chromium Citrate in specific but have used other forms.

Have used Bitter Melon which does have good effects but long term studies need to be conducted on safety.