Introduction
As people’s income level continues to rise, the upgrading of consumption structure continues to accelerate, and people’s demand for quality of life is increasing, medical checkups have become an indispensable part of many people’s daily life. Physical examination as a kind of medical behavior to assess the health status of an individual through medical examination can help us find health problems in time and prevent the occurrence of diseases.
Routine medical checkups include routine blood tests, urine tests, electrocardiograms, ultrasounds, and so on. However, not all medical checkups need to be performed frequently. There are some medical checkups that need to be done only once in a lifetime to provide us with long-term guidance, such as genetic testing.
Genetic Testing
Genetic testing is a technique for identifying genetic traits and disease risks by analyzing an individual’s DNA. It not only helps us understand our genetic background, but also predicts the probability of certain diseases. The results of genetic testing can provide a scientific basis for personal health management and guide us to take more targeted preventive measures.
Compared with traditional physical examination programs, genetic testing can actively predict the occurrence of diseases, which has far-reaching significance:
✔ Predictive medicine: genetic testing is able to accurately predict the risk of disease during periods of health and subhealth;
✔ Disease prevention: disease = internal + external causes. The understanding of internal causes through genetic testing can effectively avoid the influence of external causes, which can reduce the risk of disease;
✔ Health risk management: through genetic testing, to understand the individual’s disease susceptibility genes in a certain area, so as to carry out comprehensive life adjustments or interventions to reduce the risk of disease, delay the onset of disease, and do a good job of health management;
✔ personalized medical services: due to individual genetic differences, the sensitivity of drugs is different, through genetic testing, individualized treatment plans can be developed, more scientific guidance for patients to use the type and dose of drugs, to avoid harm to the human body.
ALDH2 gene and alcohol metabolism
Alcohol is first metabolized to acetaldehyde after entering the body, and then converted to acetic acid by acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, which further produces carbon dioxide and water. Among them, the enzyme acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is the most critical and determines the rate of alcohol metabolism.
In the human body, acetaldehyde dehydrogenase is encoded by the ALDH2 gene, and the mutation of this gene reduces the activity of acetaldehyde dehydrogenase, and the metabolism of alcohol in the body is blocked, and a large amount of acetaldehyde is retained in the body, which will cause great harm to the body.People with mutations in the ALDH2 gene have poorer metabolism of alcohol, and are prone to blush when drinking, and the risk of diseases such as alcoholic intoxication and alcoholic liver disease under conditions of long-term drinking is higher than that of the normal population. People with ALDH2 gene mutation have poorer alcohol metabolism and higher risk of developing alcohol poisoning, alcoholic liver disease and other diseases under long-term drinking conditions than normal people.
ApoE gene and Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with insidious onset. It is characterized by memory impairment, aphasia, dysarthria, dyscognition, visuospatial impairment, executive dysfunction, and personality and behavioral changes, and the cause of the disease remains unknown.The onset of Alzheimer’s disease occurs before the age of 65 years is called early-onset dementia, and the onset of dementia occurs after the age of 65 years is called Alzheimer’s disease.
Polymorphisms in the ApoE gene affect the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in different individuals, and people with ApoE E4 have a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, and the age of onset of the disease is advanced by nearly 20 years. Genetic testing for ApoE can predict the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in a timely manner. Early intervention can be carried out for high-risk groups.
MTHFR gene and folate metabolism
The MTHFR gene encodes methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, which is a very important enzyme in human folate metabolism, and plays an important role in the physiological and biochemical reactions of folate and its metabolic intermediates in the body.
The main causes of hyperhomocysteinemia in patients with H-type hypertension include gene mutations in related enzymes, of which the MTHFR gene is one of the more studied genes.The MTHFR gene test is clinically important in guiding the administration of folic acid in patients with H-type hypertension, as well as in risk stratification for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.
Low levels of folic acid in the body caused by mutations in the MTHFR gene is one of the most important causes of infertility. Scientific research has proved that a lack of folic acid in the male body can lead to lower sperm quality and an abnormal number of chromosomes carried by sperm in semen. Through the MTHFR gene test, the utilization level of folic acid in different individuals can be detected at an early stage, so as to screen out the high-risk groups that are prone to folic acid deficiency, and realize personalized folic acid supplementation and eugenics.
Conclusion
In addition to the routine medical checkups, some key genetic testing programs also have important guiding significance for our health. Through genetic testing, we can not only have a deeper understanding of our genetic background, but also provide more accurate and timely guidance for health management. Genetic testing medical checkup program, which can be done only once in a lifetime, can escort our health.