Rhonda Patrick: Glucose Monitoring and Deep Profiling for Personalized Medicine

Released Date:5/27/21

Podcast Duration:1:15:21

A summary by Brandon Johnson, DC

3 Key Takeaways

1. Use a smart watch to track personalized health data

2. The rate at which we age can be dramatically reduced with a low sugar diet and regular exercise

3. The use of Metformin has been shown to slow the metabolic aging process

Rhonda begins by introducing Dr. Michael Snyder, the director of the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine at Stanford and a pioneer of "deep profiling." In deep profiling, intelligent analysis of large data sets yield specialized clinical insight, ranging from consumer-grade wearables like Apple Watches to whole-body MRIs, continuous glucose monitoring, and metabolism.

Topics of Discussion

1. Snyder`s data suggests that 9 out of 10 people with pre-diabetes are unaware they have it

2. One person's blood glucose response to a specific type of food can drastically differ from another person's

3. Dr. Snyder's ongoing study uses wearable devices to help identify elevated heart rate as one of the first symptoms of many illnesses including COVID-19

4. Dr. Snyder uses data from multiple sources to determine how likely someone is to develop a specific disease

How is Data Collected?

1. Scientists collect a sequence of DNA and complete very deep molecular measurements on each individual

   1. Blood drawl

   2. Urine profile

   3. Fecal study (poop)

      1. Helps understand the gut microbiome

2. Requires patients to use wearables like smartwatches

3. Genome sequence can reveal metabolic disease

   1. Example:

      1. Diabetes and cardiac risk

Continuous glucose monitor use in people without diabetes

1. 9% of the US population is diabetic, but 33% are pre diabetic.

   1. Fasted glucose numbers should be between 90 and 120

2. Foods can spike glucose levels to a different degree in each individual

   1. Continuous glucose monitors are a great way to measure this

   2. Pre-diabetic and normal level people can experience spikes in blood sugar depending on what food is consumed

      1. These monitors can find out which foods are correlated to glucose spikes

3. There are several types of diabetes that are linked to more than 50 different commodities

Different Types Of Diabetes

1. Type I

   1. People that don’t make insulin naturally in their body

   2. Usually born with condition or develops at a young age

2. Type II

   1. People who experience insulin resistance

   2. Usually correlated with poor lifestyle

      1. Sedentary

      2. High carbohydrate(sugar) diet

What do Smart Watches and other Wearables Measure?

1. Heart rate

   1. How many times the heart beats per minute

2. Heart rate variability

   1. The time interval between heart beats

3. Respiration

   1. How many breaths are taken each minute

4. Blood oxygen

   1. How much oxygen is circulating in the blood stream at any given time

5. Blood pressure

   1. The amount of force applied on the arteries during and after heart contraction

Predicting Illnesses with Smartwatches

1. Smartwatches are really powerful devices for measuring when you get ill

   1. Two years of data showed that Dr. Synder was sick four times during this period

      1. The watch was able to predict sickness before symptoms were experienced

         1. With data algorithms they discovered a jump up in heart rate several days before sickness

   2. 81% of the time, we can see people's resting heart rate jump up with COVID

Detecting Airborne Pollutants in the Exosome (a small sac-like structure in the cell that contains DNA, Protein and RNA)

1. Use a device which retrieves 1/5 of a person breath

   1. It captures all the particulates like pollen, bacteria, fungi and chemicals

2. This data helps to make informed medical decisions

Genetics and Metabolism can tell us our Ageotypes (the rate at which we age)

1. Data shows people age differently

   1. There are different types of aging which include kidney, liver, immune, metabolic and cognitive

   2. By measuring ageotypes, you can see how rapidly someone is aging

      1. Specialists try new interventions to slow or reverse progression

      2. Metformin (diabetic drug) might be a way to systematically slow aging

Exercise is most Important for Longevity

1. A study compared exercise to Metformin use and found exercise is more effective for insulin sensitivity

2. Exercise is number one for promoting longevity, food is number two

   1. Exercise helps maintain muscle mass

   2. Muscle is more metabolically active and slows aging

3. Deep molecular measurements have shown that regular exercise can positively alter half of your molecules

   1. helps with muscle remodeling (change in strength and density)

   2. supports healthy immune function

Dr. Snyder's Lifestyle Habits

1. Daily exercise with weight training

2. Try to avoid carbs and eat a lot of protein/fat

3. Trying to include more fiber dense foods

4. Eat a lot of omega 3's (healthy fats)