3. Genetics: The genes you inherited.

Consuming and absorbing the RDA or DV of a nutrient are not the same thing. From the western medical perspective, if you eat a balanced diet containing 100% of the RDA for all nutrients, you will be healthy. However, because each of us possess different genes, we vary considerably in our ability to absorb nutrients from the food we eat, and if nutrients are not absorbed into the bloodstream, they cannot be used by our cells!

Even once absorbed into the blood, however, the nutrients then must be assimilated, that is transported across the cell membrane, before they can be utilized within the cell to play their respective roles. Both absorption and assimilation of nutrients, however, is highly dependent upon having effective receptor and transporter molecules.

Thus, a major factor, often over-looked, is the genes you inherit from your parents and ancestors. For proper levels of nutrients to be absorbed, transporter and receptors molecules must be able to efficiently take up these nutrients into the blood from the gut and from the blood into cells. These receptor and transporter molecules are produced from the biochemical blueprint contained in your genes.

Genes are the particular sequence of DNA base pairs that encode for the exact sequence of amino acids to make a specific protein. For the great majority of proteins there is not just one gene, but due to mutations, many different genes each with a slightly different amino acid sequence. Thus, different genes make slightly different versions of the same enzyme, transporter or receptor molecule.

Genes that make the same protein, but differ in the exact sequence of amino acids are called Alleles. There are probably 5 to 10 and up to 40 different Alleles coding for each protein in the human body, and each Allele produces a slightly different version of this protein. Because the sequence of amino acids determines the shape of a protein, each Allele produces a slightly different shaped version of the protein, and the shape determines its function.

For many structural proteins these different shapes may have a negligible effect on their function. But for transporter, receptor and enzyme molecules - shape is all important, as it controls the effectiveness of the 'active site' that interacts with other molecules. This determines how effectively the molecule can do its job.

You can think of an 'active site' like the lock into which the key must fit for the lock to open - for the key to do its function. So if we have a'receptor site keyhole', like a receptor molecule on the cell membrane, that is coded for by a faulty Allele, it just does not 'fit' the molecular key, say a hormone, the function of that hormone is disrupted, the 'fit' is less functional - ever struggled with a key that sticks in the lock?
Likewise, if the molecular key, a precursor molecule such as an enzyme or fatty acid, does not fit the keyhole of the 'active site' on an enzyme very well, it cannot easily take part in enzymatic reactions. Thus even in the presence of lots of precursor molecules, the 'active site' on the enzyme coded for by a faulty Allele may slow down the whole reaction, and less neurotransmitter will be produced.

This reduction in neurtransmitter production may well result in a loss of Brain Integration when stressed. You simply run out of enough neurotransmitter to maintain function when high levels of neurotransmitter are needed.

So while the altered shapes of some Alleles may have no effect or only a minor effect on their activity, only minor changes in shape near the 'active site' may have profound affect on receptor, transporter or enzyme efficiency and function.

For example, the Allele 1 for a Zinc Transporter may be very efficient and 'grab' 8 out of 10 zinc atoms and bring them into the blood or cell, Allele 2 for the same Zinc Transporter may be very ineffcient and only 'grab' 1 out of 10 zinc atoms. Clearly, if you inherited Allele 2, you will have a diffcult time absorbing or assimilating enough zinc atoms out of even a zinc rich diet to prevent at least marginally deficiency of zinc. Choosing to eat highly processed foods low in zinc can only exacerbate your zinc deficiency.

Differences in efficiency of various receptor, transporter and enzyme molecules due to inheriting different Alleles is one the common mechanisms underlying marginal nutritional deficiencies for many people. Depending upon 'How?' ineffective the Allele you inherited is, you may have only minor deficiencies that may be treated by merely increasing zinc rich foods in your diet, or you may have major deficiencies that can only be corrected by supplementation.

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