You decided it is time to go on a diet. But which one will work for you?
Ever wonder why someone can have bad eating habits and not gain extra pounds while others starve themselves and struggle to lose weight?
Like many medical conditions, excess weight is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. While you can't control your genetic predispositions towards gaining weight, knowing about your genes can help you make educated decisions about how to approach dieting.
Some of the gene variations produce a change in the amount of fat absorbed from a meal or change carbohydrate metabolism.
Each individual is unique, and our test can determine the diet choices that will fit your individual requirements and produce the best results for you.

Metabolism 101
This information we provide will explain how your body breaks down food on cellular level and what your unique metabolic features are.

Digestion overview
Digestion is a form of catabolism and it is means of chemically and mechanically breaking down foods into smaller molecules that can be absorbed into bloodstream. The whole process starts in your mouth with mechanical breakdown of food by chewing. The chemical or enzymatic breakdown of each food group then continues in your digestive tract.
The enzymatic break down of the carbohydrates begins in the mouth. Saliva contains enzyme called amylase that begins breaking down starch. In the stomach carbohydrate metabolism slows due to the acidic environment. In the small intestine a different type of amylase secreted by the pancreas continues the enzymatic break down until the carbohydrates are broken down all the way to glucose. Glucose is then absorbed into the bloodstream and is stored in the liver.
Protein molecules are more complex and their enzymatic break down begins in the acidic environment of the stomach. The process continues in small intestine until proteins are broken down to amino acids and absorbed into bloodstream. Excess protein can be converted into glucose for energy or into fatty acids and stored as fat.
Dietary fat molecules contain the biggest amount of energy and are the most difficult to break down. Fat breakdown takes place in the small intestine under action of enzyme lipase. Lipase breaks down dietary fats into fatty acids and glycerol, which are further absorbed into bloodstream.

Enzymes and Digestion (video)

Enzymes
From the overview of the digestion process we know that food is mostly broken down by chemical process assisted by enzymes. Enzymes are a special kind of proteins that perform many catalytic reactions in the body. Enzymes, like any other proteins, are made in the cells by process called translation. During translation, instructions in the form of a messenger RNA molecule are processed by a ribosome into the chain of amino acids that make up a protein. As a result, changes to DNA molecules will result in changes to the protein structure, function, or activity level.

DNA
DNA is a long chain molecule inside our cells that contains the genetic information that is the basis of all known life. DNA is often compared to a set of instructions or a blueprint. Not only does it carry the information needed to make an organism but also all the information needed for it to change, live from day to day and reproduce. These instructions are written in nucleotides; adenine, cytosine, guanine, thymine (or A, C, G, T). Each nucleotide is part of a matching pair along the double-helix-shaped chain of DNA. DNA affects the body by controlling what proteins are made. The DNA acts as a recipe book for proteins; each recipe or gene corresponding to a particular protein. Genes are the functional units of DNA. In the DNA molecule the nucleotides are divided into groups of 3 called codons. Each codon corresponds to an amino acid. These groups of codons are split into genes and each functioning gene has a start codon indicating the beginning point for protein synthesis and a stop codon to terminate the process. When needed, genes are copied into a messenger RNA (mRNA) molecule during a process called transcription. mRNA molecules then carry the genetic information out of the cell and are used to make proteins in a process called translation.

Transcription and Translation (video)

Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP)
Everyone has sections of DNA that are unique to that particular individual. One kind of such genetic variation is called single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) located at a very specific location. These variations in individual's genetic material may be beneficial in some circumstances, and problematic in others. Some SNPs have been very strongly associated with food metabolism. The SNPs that we test for produce a change in the amino acid structure of the protein and change the activity of the protein.