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The DNA Company: Clinician talks genomics and testing in personalized health
29 Apr 2025 | The DNA Company
Bryce Wylde, functional medicine clinician and co-founder of the DNA Company, explains how DNA testing and genomics can personalize health strategies by guiding diet, lifestyle, and supplementation. He debunks the misconception that genes are destiny, stressing that environment and habits significantly influence health outcomes. Wylde discusses the need to integrate genomics into healthcare and highlights the importance of matching supplements to genetic profiles. He also touches on AI-driven ingredient discoveries.
This is Yolanda vanal from Nutrition Insight.
I'm here with Bryce Wildes, who is a functional medicine clinician and a co-founder of the DNA company.
Thank you for joining us today.
And I'm really curious to dive into a little bit on, DNA testing genomics, if you can explain a bit what the differences are, but also, how it helps enable personalized health strategies.
Right.
So, we have a saying, within the study and concept of, pathway genomics, cause that's the study ultimately of our DNA, and how multitudes of that information, work simultaneously untoward, understanding what we may do about it into, our diet lifestyle.
In order to manage, so you can't change your DNA.
This is what we say.
You cannot alter your genetic code.
Mom and Dad have given you cards, and those cards you have to learn how to play in this game of life, but that's your hand.
That's what you've been dealt.
You can't change that hand once it's been dealt.
You can, however, modify genetic expression.
And this has been known since, you know, early 2000s.
How you modify the genetic, that genetic expression, what ultimately you impart within your diet lifestyle, perhaps even using ingredients to supplement with to, as I refer to it, you know, affectionately, wash over your genes to better manage that genetic aptitude.
That's either going to work for you or maybe not.
And we know some of these, you know, modifications are quite powerful.
What we do to sleep better, exercise more, move our bodies, choose the right types of foods, and as I've already mentioned, you know, ingredients.
So genomics is really, again, the study of our genes, collectively known as the genome.
And, you know, how they interact with each other and our environment, you know, it goes beyond just genetic traits, of course, it explores how How your genes influence health, predict disease risk to some degree, and guide personalized nutrition and lifestyle strategies, as I mentioned.
And some genes, by the way, are far more important or more relevant than others.
And, and why it matters.
Some people process caffeine or gluten poorly.
Other people, it won't matter.
Targeted supplementation, so knowing whether you need methylated B vitamins or not.
And then, you know, there's longevity optimization.
We know it's not just about putting more years on your life, but healthy years.
We call this health span.
So managing inflammation, which is a medical buzz term of the day for a good reason, or detox pathways based all on your genes.
And of course, the big buzz of the day.
I, you know, mental health insights, you know, this is huge.
So looking at serotonin, dopamine, noradrenaline, all these different neurotransmitters in the brain, and how do we, how do we manage or affect mood, perhaps.
So all of these things are, are all relevant separately together, mostly together as it relates to DNA and genetics and genomic pathway modifications.
And I'm also curious, if there's, in your perspective, if there's one misconception about like genetic testing and the role in health that it can play, that you'd like to debunk, it's like one misconception that's out there in the world that you'd like to debunk, what would that be?
Right, wow, there's so many, I, I would say that genes control everything is a big misconception still that persists.
I think, you know, this whole idea of nature nurture, which we've always regarded as sort of a fifty-fifty split, as much as DNA plays a very important role.
I would actually argue, and I'm a huge proponent of genomics and pathway genomics understanding that to tailor diet lifestyle supplementation, I would say the biggest misconception is still that your DNA is your destiny.
So we, we have another little sort of saying here that genes load the gun.
But your environment pulls the trigger.
So your, your DNA gives you this predisposition, not a prediction per se.
It helps to inform.
But again, lifestyle, diet, stress, sleep, toxin exposure, all of these up or down regulate your genes, how your genes express, and this is the science of epigenetics.
So, I would say your genes are not.
Your destiny.
That's the biggest misconception that people think, for example, oh my gosh, I've got a variation called APOE that holds a 4.
Anytime there's a 4 there, there's some risk for, as the studies extrapolate and reverse engineer for Alzheimer's and cognitive decline.
So a single 4 variant within your APOE, and this is, it stands for APO lipoprotein E.
Increases your chances by about 40% depending on the studies you look at.
A double 4, you're looking at upwards of 70 or 80% chances of developing Alzheimer's.
But are you really?
Let's look at the science a little closer now and the work of, for example, Dr.
Dale Bredison and, you know, how he's typed Alzheimer's.
So it depends on all kinds of different factors and subtypes.
If you were to, for example, be predisposed to diabetes, and you've got a 4.4, watching your sugar.
And your glycation end products and managing methylation, and you could easily thwart that, you know, so the biggest misconception full circle is that your DNA is not ultimately your destiny.
Yeah, interesting.
And I'm also curious, with this kind of testing becoming more mainstream, where do you see that might integrate in terms of the conventional healthcare system that we have now?
Is that something that might be prescribed in terms of personalized nutrition in the future?
Where do you see that going?
Yeah, so I think it's becoming more and more mainstream accepted that genetics is playing a part of the bigger picture of how we manage healthcare in one's, I, you know, just recently, 23andMe filed for Chapter 11, you know, they are unfortunately going bankrupt.
Julie Witkowski, or rather Anne, sorry, Witkowski's decision to bring this company back from You know, an IPO into a private domain was probably a bad mistake.
Besides the business component of it though, people found this very intriguing, very interesting.
30 million people got their 23andMe done.
But how that translated this sort of ancestry fun to do who are my ancestors into mainstream, I don't think that bridge really got crossed in a meaningful way.
When you, and that's really the study of single genes and some phenotypes and ancestry, but when you take pathway genomics and you study detoxification pathways, this is not some fun, cute way to do a cleanse at a health food store.
This is how you deal, and by the way, not just with ethereal toxins made by me.
You know, industry or even heavy metals.
You live and breathe, you make toxins.
Methylation, another buzz term of the day for a good reason, how we methylate, which is loosely translated to inflammation, is huge.
How our pathways work for our hormones, huge.
Once we understand these things, and by the way, Pharmacogenetics.
So how does our body deal better with certain medications?
Now we're talking.
So there needs to this bridge over to pathway genomics, pharmacogenomics, educating healthcare practitioners.
So most physicians still aren't trained to interpret functional genomics.
Medical school curriculums haven't caught up.
So we need a continuing education programs that demystify genetic pathways to help clinicians and, and, and by the way, preventive care, not just diagnostics.
So where is somebody right now in their health.
Care, you know, journey and what genetics or pathway genomics do they express.
That's part of the story.
The other story is, how do we learn early days, what our predispositions are and then avoid those predispositions.
And then we have to embed this into EMRs.
We have to, you know, align genomics with clinical guidelines.
We have to reframe genomics, as, you know, risk reduction.
That's where I'm, it's not about predicting disease with certain.
It's about understanding susceptibility.
So again, once physicians realize that they can reduce ER visits, medication side effects, or unnecessary imaging, of course, that is, you know, ionizing imaging anyway, they begin to see the genomics, that's a cost saver.
It's not just this curiosity.
And by the way, building multidisciplinary teams, so the future is collaborative care.
It's physicians, dietitians, naturopaths, coaches.
Genetic counselors all working together, you know, using this one set of data, personalized data, and of one, because we're all different, multi-end of one to guide patients toward these more optimal outcomes.
So, we're not replacing medicine here.
We're reframing it.
We're refining it.
Genomics isn't this alternative to conventional care.
It's, I, I suppose I'd sort of end by saying it's a lens that brings the whole picture into a more streamlined or a sharper focus.
That's what I think.
Interesting.
OK, yeah, and I'm also curious just cause that's more the, the pharmaceutical aspect.
Looking at supplements specifically.
I'm also curious if you can talk a bit about how that plays a role in terms of genetic predispositions, but also if there are supplements that are maybe being overhyped at the moment, or if others maybe deserve more attention, looking at all these genetic predispositions that people may have, in terms of, you know, achieving long-term health.
Absolutely.
So let's just use the example of methylation pathway.
So for far too long, methylation has been understood as this.
Dysfunction or this genetic mutation of MTHFR, which everyone affectionately refers to as the gene that is responsible for all kinds of, messes in the body and even maybe autism predisposition.
It's been misunderstood.
So, methyl tetrahydrofolate reductase is a gene, it's a single gene involved in the pathway.
I, I consider the methylation pathway is sort of a Relay race, you know, in this race you've got 5 main racers, not 4, but the idea is that with the baton, you're going to pass the baton off and without dropping it, and you're also going to get the best time.
That team wins.
If you drop the baton, then there are problems you disqualify.
MTHFR is just a single gene.
It's a single racer with that, the baton being the CH3 or the methyl group to pass on.
We have to understand.
MTR, MTRR, SHMT1, even a gene called fucal transrase or FA2.
So now we put all this together, it's the methylation pathway.
Once you understand that and you understand it , you can actually discern whether somebody with a particular variation in each of these racers.
Has a need for with respect to B12.
Cynocobalamine, which is synthetic, and a lot of people vilify that for, I don't think any good reason, but nonetheless, is that gonna work for you?
Is methylcobalamin the right choice, or is it a Denisocobalamin?
Is it, you know, , hydroxycobalamin?
Which one's gonna work the best for your runners so they don't drop that baton?
Now over to folic acid, another key player in the meth.
Methylation pathway.
Do we really need methyl tetrahydrofolate or reduced or quadrahydrofolate, these IP ingredients that are a lot more expensive, or can we get away with folic acid?
Most people can't.
Interestingly enough, most people actually don't even do on the methylated tetrahydrofolates.
They do better on folinic acid.
So now if you have somebody's whole methyl pathway, and you understand that they do better on not just adenosyl cobalamin but sublingual because their gut can't carry B12 into the methyl pathway, and they need a folinic acid, now you are changing their life.
So, you know, some things get overhyped and so I, I think bottom line, what we're talking about here is that I think supplements need to match your genetic blueprint.
First of all, supplements aren't a one size fits all, so your genes dictate how you absorb, activate, utilize nutrients, and again, Some of the MTHFR variant, they need maybe methylated folate or folinic acid, but not folic acid.
Maybe somebody with a comp or catecholomethyltranrase, also part of that methylation, might do worse on high dose green tea extract or coercetin, right?
So genetic predispositions guide what you need or what you don't need.
And predisposition to full circle of what we were talking about earlier, it doesn't mean destiny, but it tells you where you're likely to need extra support.
So if you don't detoxify , we're going to support your glutathione pathway.
Your serotonin transport gene is slow, we're going to support tryptophan metabolism and the gut brain access, right?
So overhyped ingredients, there are so many, I think, I think NMN.
Might be one of them.
If you talk to Charles Brenner, he's gonna tell you about nicotinamide riboide.
If you talk to David Sinclair, from Harvard, you know, anti-aging lab, he's gonna tell you about NMN.
I personally think we could probably get away with a combination of D-ribose, you know, good old D-ribose, maybe it's a little bit more in a scoop, and some niacinamide, right, a flush-free formula of niacin together are going to make more of what we're looking for downstream, which is increasing ATP, which is, you know, the currency of energy.
So I also think turmeric, curcumin, I think, yes, it's anti-in.
Inflammatory, but not everyone absorbs it so , and some may actually overmethylate if it's combined with, you know, piperine long term, depends on your genetic susceptibilities.
I also think I'm a huge fan, by the way, I take myself, I love actualconda, but I think a whole bunch of adaptogens out there that, you know, great for stress, I guess, you know, but, but those with slow male.
Monoamine oxidase or low cortisol clearance genes, they might get the opposite effect.
It might actually make them more tired or, or apathetic.
And I am a huge, so last, I'll just, I know we're coming up to time here, but Berberine, oh my gosh, this whole trend around, you know, GLP-1, glucagon-like, you know, these, these mimics, the drugs that are out there.
It's not suitable for everybody, you know, especially if there's impaired bioflow or maybe even mitochondrial variants within their genes.
Berberine is gonna do them more harm than good.
So, your genes are the instruction manual, supplements are just the tools, but using the wrong tool for the wrong job, that can backfire, right?
That's why personalization matters so much.
I, I travel the world.
One of my, the, the most, you know, fun things I do besides clinical practice, I've been in clinical practice for over 25 years now.
But early days, I couldn't stand sort of the equivalent of these pharma reps coming into my practice and showing me these white papers or small scale studies and of 9, and here's why you should use my, our product and.
So I started investigating and in that process of investigation, it led me around the world into the manufacturers of the raw materials that supply the consumer facing brand.
So I'm never about a brand.
I'm about the ingredient in or the what I refer to as the intel inside to leverage against the tech world, and I can tell you some.
Of what I, you know, have found in this world of ingredients is both surprising, exciting, but also shocking.
I still think it's somewhat buyer beware, to a large degree, and there's a huge degree of science and evidence lack, lacking.
My criteria is typically safety, sustainability, transparency, traceability.
There's got to be evidence, efficacy, purity, and potency.
I hate pixie dusting.
You gotta use enough of these ingredients to actually have a therapeutic outcome.
But I'm excited about certain, you know, up and comers, I call them, you know, I think, I think acromansia is on scene for a good reason.
I think we have to, in terms of ingredients, I love upcycling.
I think there's a really cool Chardonnay, powder like I'm upcycled from pumice from Chardonnay that might, you know, become a thing.
As it pertains to prebiotic, I think we've been over, I think we've been irresponsible with probiotics.
I think the true story is really prebiotics and then how do we accentuate the best postbiotics, but I don't know about giving people too many probiotics, and that's an issue, and I think, and I had the pleasure of actually interviewing myself recently, Doctor Jeffrey Bland.
I think there's.
Something really cool about this sort of longevity in a grain, this old grain, centenarian level polyphenol, stuff called Himalayan tartary buckwheat.
I think there's a story there.
And I think there's maybe even a story with black seed oil is back, but with standardization of thymaquinone.
So I'm all about these ingredients.
But, and I know I think you are too.
I think AI driven ingredient discovery is huge.
I think we have a predictive, you know, nutrition is sort of no longer a science fiction, and I'm a huge fan of this technology that's available on Sate.nyc.
There's in the industry, we're all about spins, right?
What's, what's happening, but what if you could use this sort of predictive.
Crystal ball almost like technology to see where people on Google are trending, where people on TikTok and social media are, are trending.
So I, I, I just, I'm all about, you know, the future.
I love to predict trends and I love to explore the world, and determine sort of what's working and how for people and then pairing it back, with genomics, to prove that through.
So that's what, that's what I'm about.
Awesome, thank you.
