Personalized Medicine: Your DNA Is the GPS of Your Health

Personalized medicine could be the reason you still feel off even when your labs come back "normal," and this episode shows you why. Cannabis genetics expert Len May reveals how reading your own DNA turns guesswork into a personalized plan for energy, focus, and long-term health. If you are tired of cookie-cutter healthcare and ready to understand your own body, this conversation is for you.

Len explains why only a fraction of your genes are active at birth, the three forces that switch the rest on or off, and how his EndoDNA's BIOS platform pairs your genetics with AI to personalize what your doctor recommends. He also debunks three myths about cannabis and the endocannabinoid system that most people accept without question.

New Normal Big Life streams free in audio and video on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Educational discussion only, not medical advice. This episode covers medical cannabis, addiction, and recovery. If you are struggling, the SAMHSA national helpline is free and confidential at 1-800-662-4357.

Chapters

• 0:00 Genetics As Your Life GPS
• 0:22 Safety Note And Medical Disclaimer
• 1:21 What DNA Based Wellness Means
• 4:42 Len May’s Path Through ADHD
• 10:39 Building EndoDNA For Personal Protocols
• 14:49 Endocannabinoid System And Cannabis Dosing
• 20:50 DNA Privacy And Data Security
• 22:40 Ethical AI With Clinical Guardrails
• 29:37 Nature Break For Foraging Story
• 30:52 Stress Genes And Root Cause Medicine
• 36:31 Cannabis Myths And What Research Shows
• 40:27 Final Takeaways And Where To Connect

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Transcript

Safety Disclaimer And Welcome

Speaker 0:00

If we're looking at our genetics as the GPS of life, we will know where the potholes are in our own roads. And if we're collaborating with our healthcare practitioners and being accountable for our own healthcare journeys, we'll know what the things that we consume and put in our bodies will turn those switches on or off and so we can avoid stepping into those bottles.

Speaker 1 0:21

Before we begin, a quick note. This conversation explores medical cannabis addiction and recovery for education only. It is not an endorsement or medical advice. And nothing here is a recommendation to start, stop, or change any treatment. If you are in recovery or this topic feels heavy for you today, please take care of yourself and step away if you need to. Always work with your own qualified provider. If you or someone you love is struggling, you can reach the SAMHSA National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357. Free and confidential 24-7.

Speaker 2 0:58

Welcome to the New Normal Big Life Podcast. We bring you natural and integrative health information and stories about nature that we hope will inspire you to get outside an adventure, along with a step-by-step plan to help you practice what you've learned to create your own new normal and live the biggest life you can dream. I'm your host, Antoinette Berrafato, the wellness warrior. Let's get into today's

Why Health Care Must Be Personal

Speaker 2 1:20

topic. Welcome to New Normal Big Life. Len May, why don't you tell us who you are, what you do, and the one big thing you want us to remember from the expertise you plan to share today.

Speaker 1:30

My name is Len May, and I'm the CEO and co-founder of a company called EndoDNA. We have this system that we call healthcare, but it really is sick care. And we're treated a lot like everyone else that comes in, sort of this cookie-cutter approach. And what I would encourage people to remember is that healthcare and everything is personal. So if we can utilize what my company and maybe some other companies do to personalize the experience for people, we can actually collaborate with our healthcare practitioner and be in partnership and prevent disease instead of just addressing symptoms.

Speaker 2 2:07

I'm excited for this conversation. I like where you're going so far.

DNA Switches Lifestyle Turns On

Speaker 2 2:11

So what is DNA-based wellness?

Speaker 2:14

I think people need to understand what DNA is, period. People think that when they're born, it's in their genes, so there's nothing they can do about anything that happens. And I really think that's not really the case because we get 50% from our other 50% from our mother or DNA. But I like to use this analogy. We're born, think of having like a really big circuit breaker with a bunch of on-off switches. And maybe 20 to 30%, depending on the individual, are turned on. And things like hair color, eye color, skin color, those things. However, we have a whole bunch of other genetic predispositions that are encoded in us that are turned on based on actions that we do. And what are those actions? So those actions are lifestyles. And number one is the food that we put in our body, what nutrients we consume. That's extremely important for those switching on or off. The next thing, exposure. So exposure to things like heavy metals and pesticides and things of that nature. They're really important for monitoring, turning those switches on and off. And the last is something that people don't think about is our own neurochemistry. So the expression of our own neurochemicals, that can actually turn those switches on or off. So if we're looking at our genetics as sort of our GPS of life, we will know where the potholes are in our own roads. And if we're collaborating with our healthcare practitioners and being accountable for our own healthcare journeys, we'll know what the things that we consume and put in our bodies will turn those switches on or off. And so we can avoid stepping into those potholes.

Speaker 2 4:00

That's so well put. You know, patients do have to take personal responsibility. I know that happiness researcher Dr. Sonja Lubamirski and others say that 50% of what makes you who you are is genetic, 40% is within your control, and only 10% is environmental. So she's right there with you. And other MDs that I've recently interviewed say that 90 to 98% of our health outcomes are based on our lifestyle choices.

Len May’s Path From ADD To CEO

Speaker 2 4:31

So your story from the streets to global CEO with multiple patents is incredible. What were those pivotal moments that led you to focus on DNA-based wellness?

Speaker 4:42

I think I'll start as a kid. I was the kind of kid that would sit in class, the teacher would call me, and I was somewhere else. I was wasn't paying attention. And then I became disruptive. And the main reason was because I was bored. I was not interested and wasn't stimulated. So my parents thought they'll take me to doctors, and they did, and I was diagnosed with ADD, attention deficit disorder. Now it's all under ADHD, but there well back then they had ADD and ADHD, which were separatized. So I wasn't a hyperactive kid. And they put me on medication and they stamped me with this brand that says you have a disorder. So it's something is wrong with you. So you can use that as a crutch. Something is wrong with me. Well, I can't do this because I have a disorder. Or you can do something a little more research-based and find out what does that actually mean? Well, it means maybe I was born with the depletion of dopamine. So my neurodivergent brain thinks differently, processes information differently. So is it my fault that the teacher's lesson isn't interesting, is not stimulating dopamine? My brain is going into other directions to find that next hit of dopamine. So understanding this throughout, and you know, I discovered other things that except for the prescription medication that I was put on that was really beneficial to me, but other people didn't find that being medicine. So I was hanging out with some older kids in the in high school, and they asked me if I wanted to smoke a cigarette. I'll smoke a cigarette. Well, I mean, you know, obviously no health benefits of smoking a cigarette, but just to be uh socially hanging out with the with the cool kids. I never questioned why they had one cigarette. They passed it around, got to me, I took a drag, didn't really taste like a cigarette, took another one, and they were laughing. Like, what? They ended up putting cannabis in the cigarette. So when I went back to class, and I kind of described you know my version of uh ADD is sort of you have browser windows, a bunch of them that are open all the time, which I actually do all the time. And I know where everything is, but that's what it what's going on in my brain. So I was able to focus, and those windows narrowed, and I proceeded to get off my prescription medication and consume cannabis as my my go-to medicine, which was very difficult. It was illegal at the time. My parents didn't care too much about it, and that's exactly what they would catch me, and they ended up uh calling the the cops on me, trying to have me arrested and kicking me out of the house. That's where the homeless journey comes in. And kind of going through that and living in motel rooms for a while until I couldn't really afford that. So I was couch surfing, staying at people's houses, and then my grandmother let me stay with her on her couch and just entered university and proceeded to get a job at a record store called Tower Records and no longer around, but that was the greatest job ever, even though it paid me $7 an hour. But it was it was great.

Speaker 2 7:47

You can imagine, though, the fun you had there and the things you learned.

Speaker 7:51

Yeah, music is my other passion. So I went to physical therapy school, never worked a day in my life as a physical therapist, opened up an internet company in 1993, was able to exit out of that uh by '98. Then I was recruited by a company called Price Waterhouse and then uh stayed there with PWC. Then I was recruited again by a venture capital company. So I absorb different things that are interesting to me. And I was actually introduced in the, I was doing a talk, and the guy introduced me, said, uh, you know, Len May, he's an autodidactic polymath. I was like, what? What does that even mean? I don't know, I never heard that before. But that's exactly what it is. You know, partially it's the ADD brain, because I actually wrote a book about this, and we can talk about as well. But it's partially an ADD brain, but it's partially is leaning in to your strengths and not looking at this disorder as there's something wrong with me, but shifting it to an advantage. What can I do to lean into my advantage? And my advantage is the ability to multitask. And it's and people think, oh, you're doing how can you multitask? You have to focus all the time. And I'm like, yeah, but the thing with an ADD brain is we recognize patterns in things that other people don't see. So it could be three things that are unrelated to an average person, but to me, there are three things that are related, and that's where the the polymathy comes in. Because I grab the piece of this, grab a piece of that, and put them all together, and you know, they make they make a nice meal, I guess. But that's the whole point. It's leaning into your strength, not looking at the things that people think are a deficit. And then I guess being brave enough to take chances. You have to be able to say, if you're curious about something and if it's of interest to you, go ahead and do it. You have one life and just do it. You can be successful, and it's how you measure success. It doesn't mean that you can be financially successful. Yeah, that's wonderful, but maybe you learned something from this experience and that enriched you enough, and now you can use that to move on to something else.

Speaker 2 9:59

Well, as a person who was not born neurodivergent, I'm neurodivergent because of a traumatic brain injury. I can definitely relate to everything you just said. In fact, after my brain injury, I became really good at looking at a piece of software and immediately knowing all the different ways I could try to break it and find the bugs in it. And I think it was because of my brain injury, not despite of my brain injury. So this is really enlightening for people maybe who are raising children with ADD or any other type of neurodivergence.

Building EndoDNA And Precision Testing

Speaker 2 10:39

So, what is it that you folks are up to at Indo-DNA? What's moving the healthcare and longevity needle forward?

Speaker 10:46

Yeah. So, you know, going back to my journey and and how I got into DNA. The when I moved to Los Angeles, I was sitting in a real estate office, these guys walked in, they wanted to open up an alternative pharmacy. I was like, what isn't an alternative pharmacy? And it was a cannabis dispensary. Okay, fine. Let me see your paperwork. You have to be compliant. So I'll help you. And they offered me a partnership. So we ended up opening up four more dispensaries under the same brand. And the one thing I started noticing was two people will consume the same varietal and have a complete different experience. So I got into plant genomics, sequencing the plants and trying to understand what's in the actual plant. The company I was learning this from, they were doing what's called pharmacogenomics, which is the study of how drugs affect individual bodies and also possible contraindications between different medications and drugs. So I got into human genetics. And then my light bulb moment was like, we have plant DNA here, we have human DNA here, let's bring those two together. And I opened up the company EndoDNA with that in mind, and we created the first test, and we have a patent on the use of DNA to make recommendations associated with the endocannabroid system. So we have a DNA test for your endocannabroid system. And then what happened was a few years went by, we, you know, we have thousands of customers everywhere. We've done fairly well. And I had a doctor to call me and she said, look, I'm seeing a lot of women who are in their late 20s, early with perimenopause symptoms. And then I'm seeing a lot of women who are coming in with menopause with really extreme side effects like hot flash severity and frequency and sleep issues and weight, all these different things. Is there a way that we can get ahead of these challenges? I say yes. And I went back to my bioinformatics team and we created a female hormone health test. And then we shifted our entire model B2B to work with doctors. So we did the female hormone health test, and we did the male hormone health test, and we continue to build tests. And then the one thing that we figured out is from feedback from doctors is a lot of doctors don't know genetics and even epigenetics. Is there a way that we can build something that'll allow the doctor to chat with your DNA? So we build our platform called BIOS, and we have a patent on the machine learning-based efficacy predictions based on genetic and biometric information. So the idea is now that you do your genome, you swab, you register, HIPAA, GDPR compliant, the doctor would do it. You get your baseline biomarkers for your labs, and now the platform will give the practitioner suggestions on what type of protocol should be recommended to your patient. So it's completely personalized, and they can ask BIOS any questions. Show me how Len metabolizes, show me his last hormone level, whatever that is, that they can ask. And the protocol suggestion will come up in three different phases. The first part is pharmaceutical intervention. So if they want to do testosterone or estradiol, whatever that is pharmaceutical. The second one is supplementation. So anything like minerals, nutrients, vitamins, et cetera. And the third is lifestyle modifiers. So that would be like exercise diet, or it could be like red light therapy, cold plunges, saunas, et cetera. Now that you have that protocol, the doctor can edit it, save it. It's in their health record system, it's in the patient's portal as well. Now you're collaborating with your healthcare journey. And the thing that really sets us apart from everybody else is that feedback loop. Now that when you come in three months after that and you get your other markers, the AI will say, okay, well, this changed, this didn't change. These are the new modified suggestions. And now we can see which protocol is the most efficacious for the individual.

Speaker 2 14:42

That sounds very exciting. And we're going to dive a little more into the testing and how it's used.

Cannabis Stigma And Real Risk

Speaker 2 14:49

But some people are going to say, I don't know if I want to take cannabis because they've heard people with an addiction say that they used a cannabis product for the first time when they were younger and then they became addicted. So talk to us a little bit about that.

Speaker 15:10

Yeah, I mean, it's not just cannabis. The endocannabody system test is only one of our tests. Like I said, and I'll go into the that, but it's it's the endocannabid system test, but we have male uh hormone health, female, it's anthopause, menopause, cognitive. We have 16 citations on PubMed. We're doing three clinical trials right now using a recognitive test. One is in Parkinson's, one is in Alzheimer's, one is an autism. So we are a science-based company that's doing a lot of clinical trials and a lot of clinical work. But I think this whole thing with cannabis, we've we've learned so much about the plant, but there is still a stigma and there is still a lot of lobbying that's going on to keep us fearful of the

Endocannabinoid System Explained Simply

Speaker 15:53

plant. And I think that people don't understand that we have an endogenous endocannabinoid system. So we have a system called the endocannabinoid system. This is our primary modulating system in our bodies, and its goal is to maintain what's called homeostasis or balance within our bodies. It was discovered in 1992, which is not that long ago, by Dr. Rafael Mishulom, who's an Israeli scientist. He passed away a couple years ago. But the system is to maintain balance, and the way that it works is it gets signals from the other systems in our bodies, our immune system, our digestive system, et cetera. And it takes that signal up the central nervous system to your brain, and then your brain determines which neurochemicals to secrete to get that other system back in balance.

Speaker 2 16:48

So kind of like how your body regulates blood sugar.

Speaker 16:51

Exactly. It's that that's a great example, and I'll tell you a story about that if you want to know how interconnected everything is. So the two endogenous neurochemicals that your body produces as part of your endocannabody system, the first one's called anandomite. So the word ananda means bliss in Sanskrit. So this is our bliss molecule that we secrete. And we get that when we get the runners high or working out or euphoria with endorphins and adrenaline and all that stuff, we secrete anandemite. And the formula is it's called AEA. That's the abbreviation for that neurochemical. The second one is called AG. And that one is secreted and helps to regulate immunal function, helps to digestive function, et cetera, in our bodies. So when we have a deficiencies in our own naturally occurring uh neurochemicals, we're lucky that we have a plant in nature. When the cannabis plant grows, it has these phytocannabinoids. And the one that we know, the one that gets you high, quote unquote, is delta 9 THC. And the way that it's secreted is when the plant grows, that delta-9.thc, tetrahydrocannabinol, has an acid molecule with it. So it comes out from the plant as THCA. That's why when you eat the raw plant, it doesn't have that euphoric quality. So when you heat it, it drops the acid molecule and now becomes this three-prong molecule called delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC as we know it. When it becomes that molecule, it has a binding affinity for what's called the CB1 receptor. The CB1 receptors are located mostly in your brain and your central nervous system. When you ingest phytocannabinoids or THC, it binds to your CB1 receptor and releases anandemite. So the feeling of euphoria or that feeling of being high is that enandemite that is being secreted into your bloodstream. When you consume CBD, which is a non-intoxicating part, that has an affinity for the CB2 receptors, which are mostly located in your immune, digestive system, et cetera, and they secrete that 2AGE and neurochemical. So getting the right balance gets your body back in homeostasis and everything is properly functioning. What happens is THC has a very narrow therapeutic window. So people that take too much and they have genetic predispositions to anxiety, impulsivity, et cetera, it can trigger that expression. So understanding what your own deficiency is and what your own genetic makeup is, you can find the right dose for you. The challenge that I have with this whole thing is I'm not an alcohol drinker, but when people drink too much alcohol, I hear the conversation is, you know, I drank too much. I don't feel good. I drank too much. Nobody's pointing to the tequila company saying, hey, it's the tequila company. It's their fault. No, I consumed too much of that and it made me feel a certain way. So when you're consuming too much cannabis and it's providing an adverse effect, that's not the plant's fault. That's your fault that you have taken too much. And then your body, your immune system will overreact to that and overcorrect. So I just wanted to make sure that everybody understands how it works. And I can give you many examples of different substances, how they work in our bodies. We have a ligand that binds to a receptor and we release our own neurochemicals. And that's what happens with cocaine. It binds to your dopamine receptor and squirts a bunch of dopamine into your bloodstream. The difference is in if you pause phytocannabinoid consumption, your receptors reset themselves, but not with other drugs. Opiates don't reset themselves like that. And your brain wants to conserve energy, so it sends signals, say, hey, give me more of that exogenous substance. I like that. So I don't have to, you know, create my own dopamine.

Speaker 2 20:49

Interesting.

Dosing Tolerance And Drug Comparisons

Speaker 2 20:50

So many in our audience, and myself included, are concerned about privacy. So how does endoDNA protect customer DNA from hacks, governmental overreach, or just, you know, corporate misuse by anyone who wants to use your DNA information against you for whatever reason?

Speaker 21:11

Yeah. So our primary customer is a healthcare practitioner. We are HIPAA. We are GDPR compliant. The data is de-identified. It's treated just like a medical record. So when you register, when the word doctor registers you in the clinic, you have a record identifier. Your personal information is encrypted. Only you and your doctor can access that through the portal. From a technical standpoint, we are an Amazon AWS shop. So all the data resides in a bucket, it's called an S3 bucket. So your personal information is on one bucket. Your genetics are in another bucket. There is encryption. So when you log in, you with your login and password, it's decrypted. So you can get your healthcare record the same way as your doctor can get your healthcare record. So that's the way. It's treated. I'm not saying that we're hack proof. I don't think that exists. The largest financial institutions in the world get hacked. Somebody wants to get your data and the government. If they want to get your data, they probably can. But the challenge is that they have to decrypt your personal information and your genetics and really combine the two. You know, I always tell people if somebody really wants to get you a DNA, they can go swab your Starbucks cup and they'll have it if, you know, a special DNA or, you know, get your hair sample. We're really careful about privacy because we work with doctors. Doctors are our customers and it has to be treated like it's a medical record.

DNA Privacy And Ethical AI Use

Speaker 2 22:40

A lot of people think, and I have a tech background, so in some regards, AI is exciting, but I'm also a little concerned about it. And a lot of our listeners are too. They see it as a black box that could allow human judgment to be overridden and human connection to be lost. And you also lose personal values, right? How does enddo DNA use AI ethically and personalized recommendations without eroding trust?

Speaker 23:07

It's a whole interesting topic. I'm a big fan of AI. I understand the fear that's associated with it. You know, human nature is fear-based. We were afraid of getting into an automobile from a buggy. It took three years for people to start riding elevators because they were afraid to get into an elevator. Technology is scary. I remember when I had my internet company, they were saying, nobody's going to use email. We have mail. Who's going to use this? Who's going to send an email? It doesn't make any sense. So there's progress. Now, we need guardrails with that. So we need to train the AI. However, the computational power of AI and machine learning, it's not just AI, it's machine learning, is so much more precise and elaborate than human. So to give you an example, you know, when you get an MRI, an FMRI, your doctor's looking at it. I've had this experience myself. There was a mistake that was made. Now, if you're looking at AI, AI is pulling those images from millions and millions of other images and comparing that instantaneously. And it really limits the amount of mistakes that a human can make. So your AI should not replace how you uh show up. Your AI is an extension of you. And if you use it correctly and you focus it on doing what you tell it to do, now it becomes an invaluable asset. But for us, being able to quickly establish and compare information between different patient groups, different genetic groups, and giving those suggestions to doctors, at the end of the day, the AI is not making the treatment plan. It's making the treatment plan suggestions for the doctor. And that's your checks and balances. The doctor gets to go in and edit that, gets to approve it, and then put that treatment plan into their electronic health record system. So you're not replacing the practitioner with AI, you're enhancing the practitioner's capabilities while leveraging AI.

Speaker 2 25:19

Well, as the maker of these tools that doctors can use, you have built in certain guardrails, but will they continue to use those guardrails, knowing that AI can hallucinate? Sometimes it gets things wrong. And also you have to take into other things that you can see with the human eye that maybe AI isn't picking up. But the bigger point is that doctors could become so comfortable with the technology that it that they forget that AI can make mistakes. But then the other piece of it is that doctors are increasingly pushed to see more patients in a shorter amount of time. It went to, you know, a 15-minute appointment. Now people are saying, my doctor's spending five to seven minutes with me at an appointment. And so if they think they've got all the answers because they have this great tool, and they don't ask themselves the question, is there any hallucination in this response or in these recommendations because they're pressed for time, then we lose the guardrails that you put in place.

Speaker 26:29

Yeah, it's a great question. Let me see if I can impact it in several different ways. So the first thing I'm gonna answer is this whole 15-minute visit. We are not insurance-based, it's cash-based. Our customer is pretty much a functional medical professional, and they tend to spend more time because it's cash-based. And I completely agree with you. I went with my daughter when she was going back to college, I think like two years ago, she had to get something signed off from a doctor. It was literally a 15-minute visit to the doctor, and he like listened to her breathing. I was like, Are you gonna break out the mallet and hit the knee? I mean, it was the 1950s, ridiculous. So insurance-based doctor visits are are interesting. And you get not to go deeply into this because then my area of expertise, uh, but they get more reimbursed in a 15-minute visit than they do an hour visit. So it makes sense why there's incentive there. Hallucination. So you're absolutely right. I was speaking at a conference and I met this doctor's brilliant doctor, is the geneticist and an MD. And he said that he's got this practice because half the people who are coming to me right now came from other doctors that used Chat GPT to give him their recommendations. They were wrong. So you're absolutely correct about hallucination. This is a major part of what we do. So, first of all, we built our platform on a healthcare model that is a specific healthcare model, anthropics healthcare model. We grounded it on that. And that's the company that makes Claude, for instance. But it's not the only thing that we did. That was our base. The other thing is the model is then trained for your practice. So if you have a certain specialty, like you're a peptide doctor, and that's what you do, we will train it on there and we will instill guardrails to make sure that it works as an extension of what you do within your clinic. The third part of that is there's still the checks and balance of the doctor needs to approve it. So can we guarantee that the doctor won't just click the button? We can't guarantee it. But the next time they come, they have to do the same thing over and over and over. So you, you know, there is not 100% that the AI will get something that's incorrect. The checks and balances and the ability to edit and approve goes back to the practitioner who has that level of knowledge. So, and then the model is always learning. And it's not only learning from that clinic, it's learning from the hundreds of other clinics that we're working with. So there's a central repository that's trained, that's grounded, and the model gets better and better and better with time. So the ability to have the human touch that is the ultimately approving it, the feedback loop on efficacy, how well that's working, and that ability for the grounding for the specific clinic's expertise. I think that those are the checks and balances we have in place right now.

Speaker 2 29:33

That's fair.

Nature Break Foraging And Wildcrafting

Speaker 2 29:37

Before we cover the next topic in this episode, I want to introduce you to the adventure sports lifestyle with a micro story about an adventure that I've had. The adventure sports lifestyle and my deep connection to nature is essential to my good health. So here's the story. Spring and summer makes you want to get outside in adventure. The timeless practice of foraging and wildcrafting are experiencing a modern renaissance. Since the early 2010s, these ancient skills have been steadily gaining popularity, but the 2020 pandemic sent interest soaring as people sought meaningful connections to nature and greater self-reliance during uncertain times. So foraging is gathering of wild foods, and wildcrafting is harvesting plants for medicinal or craft purposes. And they offer more than just practical skills. They provide a gateway to a simpler, more grounded way of living that younger generations increasingly crave. So catch season one, episode 12, foraging and wildcrafting, ancient skills from modern self-reliance to learn how to get started foraging and wildcrafting. I cover the tools, plant identification, and where to go in this knowledge pack solo episode. Now back to the topic with Lynn May.

Stress Cortisol And Confusing Biomarkers

Speaker 2 30:52

So, Lynn, our listeners value faith, family, and self-reliance. What's one simple way people can use basic genetics or epigenetics insights today to optimize diet, fitness, stress, and longevity concerns?

Speaker 31:06

Yeah, it's a great question. I'm going to give you an example of what happened to me personally, and I'll tell you another example of how I can utilize this. So you mentioned earlier about different neurochemicals and blood glucose level. So I, for those of you who can't see or whatever, I have a lot of tattoos. And so I'm not afraid of needles, but getting my blood drawn, there is something since I was a kid I have passed out before. I went to get my physical and went to a functional medical professional. I told them in advance I don't do well with blood work. You'll be fine. I'm okay. So they sat me down in this ergonomic chair and a nurse, I put my arm out, and we're having a conversation. Everything is fine. And all of a sudden I hear in the back, hey, come in here, come in here. So I guess I started sliding off the chair, and they had to give me juice and everything, and I started feeling better. And they're like, You okay? I'm like, Yeah, okay. So we have to continue. I'm like, what do you mean continue? Like, well, we have to pull the needle out because we thought you were gonna, you know, fall off, so we have to continue. Fine. They did that, then went back to my doctor and we went over my results. And she said, I'm really concerned that your blood glucose level seems a little high. I'm like, really? That doesn't make any sense because I don't I haven't eaten meat in 16 years, I don't eat sugar, I take really good care of myself. I love that story of going outside. I'm almost a daily hiker. Like, this is my right on moment of going out and sort of reconnecting this meditative for me. So I'm like, I take really good care of myself. I don't understand how that could be. And she said, it could be that because of the stress level that you have exerted through getting my blood drawn, your cortisol level spiked, which actually increased your blood glucose level. If you're really concerned about that, maybe we can do a glucose monitor. Let's see for a few weeks what happens. So I did that, and my blood glucose level was fine. So if I would have gone to an actual, not every doctor, but traditional doctors, they would have said, oh, pre-diabetic, let's give you a pill for that. And I would have been on medication instead of looking what the root cause is. So that is what happens when your neurochemicals can affect your other chemicals and give you false readings. I'm not a doctor, so if I'm using the wrong terminology, then you know a doctor can threaten.

Speaker 2 33:37

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 33:38

But this this story, so I'll tell you really quickly how this can actually impact. It I'll bring you back to the endocannabality system for a second. So if I'm walking down the street and I'm crossing the street and a car comes out of nowhere, almost hits me, well, I can have that fight or flight experience. So my neurochemicals are gonna excrete, I'm gonna have some adrenaline, I'm gonna have some dopamine, converted norepinephrine, and cortisol. All that is pumped into my bloodstream. Now, when my brain realizes no line chasing me in the jungle, everything is fine. Now, those neurochemicals will be taken back up, so there's a reuptake of them, and my brain is gonna excrete new neurochemicals. And as we talked earlier, to get my system back in balance, there will be some endogenous endocannabinoids. So as they're excreting anandamite, I may have a genetic predisposition with this single nucleotide polymorphism, the SNP or this genotype on this gene called pha F-A-A-H. It stands for fatty acid amide hydrolase. You don't have to remember any of this stuff. The point is that that one gene produces an enzyme that breaks down an andemite. So if I have a genotype that I break down way too much of my own endogenous enandemite, then I'm not producing enough. That cortisol level that is secreted into my bloodstream can stay longer in my bloodstream. So if that stays longer in my bloodstream, my immune system can say, oh, something is wrong. Let's go there. Now we have inflammation and we're feeling discomfort and pain. And it usually starts in our joints, ankles, knees, hips, neck, back, etc. If we have a predisposition to gut health issues like IBD, et cetera, it can turn on that expression of our gut health issues. So now we have all these things going on. I'm going to a doctor to get my gut health treated and they're giving me medication for that. Let's do a colonoscopy. But all it is is from stress. And if I know the root cause of that and I know what my genetic predisposition is, first of all, I know that I break down more in andamite. Second of all, I know that I'm prone to stress reactivity. Third of all, I'm prone to PTSD. So if I have trauma, it'll pull that up. So this is why your genetics and your epigenetics and all the things that are going on, it tells a story. And if you're empowered with your own story, now you can collaborate with your healthcare professional in your own healthcare journey. At the end of the day, we do to-do lists, we have goals, we have all these different things. But when we're sick, we have one single goal, and that's to get better. So that's where we should be investing. A lot of our focus is in our healthcare journey.

Debunking Cannabis Myths With Research

Speaker 2 36:31

So your book, Making Cannabis Personal, ties genomics to cannabinoids for people dealing with chronic pain, recovering from addiction. What's a busted myth about cannabis wellness backed by your research?

Speaker 36:45

Well, first of all, that cannabis is a gateway drug. Second of all, that cannabis is addictive. And third of all, that we don't have any evidence of proof that cannabis is efficacious. We have thousands and thousands of people have used it. If you go on PubMed or NCBI's website, you can see tens of thousands of peer-reviewed citations of essays and studies that show the opposite of that. And I think I said earlier I described the endocannabinate system how it works. And I think this is the biggest issue that people get wrong. They believe that this plant that we have in nature is a root cause of a lot of these things, but it has to do with our own neurochemistry. We produce these neurochemicals endogenously by ourselves. And there's been something that's been going on recently. There's uh doctors, I don't know if they're getting paid by Big Farmer or not. The doctors are posting a lot of different things about these harmful effects, long-term harmful effects of cannabis, especially cognitive impairment. There is no studies showing that. Now, we did a study with Wayne State on younger people's use of cannabis. So this is people who are before 25, before their brain formed. I have to say, and anybody can go on PubMed.

Speaker 2 38:10

Fully formed. Before their brain is fully formed.

Speaker 38:13

Before it's fully formed. Exactly. If you go to PubMed and you put on my name, you can see the studies is probably easier to find it. But we found that it's true that certain individuals who do not have their fully formed brain, it does affect some of their brain matter and some development. Now, they had a specific genetic profile that was associated with that. So it's not everyone. There is four or five genes that were associated with that and method of consumption. So you have to look at your genetic predisposition. Yes, and I'm not advocating for people who are not of age to consume. However, there are parents of kids that have conditions that cannabis is extremely helpful to. So they sort of put it on the scale and weigh it and say, is it worth to take this risk versus the effects that I'll get with cannabis? Every single medication has side effects. Some of them have much, much greater side effects that we prescribe all the time versus cannabis. But, you know, there are side effects and there are adverse effects. So understanding that, you have to make a decision of what works best for you. But I would say that those probably are the biggest myths that we need to sort of get past. And it's pretty simple to do, just look at the research that's already been done.

Speaker 2 39:35

Yeah, I saw kind of a heart-wrenching documentary about parents. And this was well before there was even a consideration of medical use of cannabis here in the United States, where they had a child who was maybe a second grader, and her seizures were so severe that she really was not living and she was failing to thrive because of it. And they couldn't find any medication or other therapies that worked. And someone suggested cannabis and it worked. And those parents who their religious beliefs were kind of like, I shouldn't be doing this, but also didn't want to see their child suffer. And just hearing them make these kinds of decisions, you know, your heart really goes out for people in that situation. So this has been so enlightening, Lynn. Thank you so much for answering what I'm sure were hard questions.

Personal Protocols And Final Takeaways

Speaker 40:41

Yeah, I I I think the one thing that I want to leave everybody with is one thing on the cannabis, just one more thing that I thought of. Cannabis is approved by the FDA for a specific form of childhood epilepsy called Gervais syndrome. So it's not like we're talking about something that doesn't they already have medication that's approved by the FDA, and there's more medications that are coming. There's also isolated uh THC medication called Marinol. It just doesn't have the same efficacy as the full plan because it's missing some of the components, just an isolated molecule, which Big Pharma focuses on instead of like whole plant extracts. So I would just say do your research. There's a lot of propaganda in general, you know, to do your own research. Also understand that you are in partnership with your healthcare practitioner. This is the one thing that I really want to emphasize for people. Talk to them about doing genetic and epigenetic testing. Talk to them about having a personalized protocol for you, whether it's enddoDNA or some other company. It doesn't matter to me. Just we need to fight for health care and not sick care, the root cause of things and prevention of disease before it actually happens. So I would definitely urge people to do that. You can find me, our website is endodna.com. I'm all over social media, Len May. I think on Instagram I'm Len May DNA, but everywhere else, you know, you can email me, len atendodna.com. Thank you for mentioning my book, Making Cannabis Personal. I just published a new book. It should be coming out this week. It's called Jack of All Trades, Master of Some. It is the connection between ADHD and polymath. And the reason why I wrote the book is because I tried to find a book on it and I couldn't find one. So I'm like, eh, you know, ADD kicked in uh hyper focused and uh took me six months. But I mean it's a you know 350-page uh book about uh the connection between ADHD uh AD ADHD and polymathy. Just to give you an example of who those people are in history Leonard Da Vinci, Richard Branson, Benjamin Franklin, etc. If you look at those people, they were able to utilize their neurodivergence in a way as a superpower, and you can as well.

Speaker 2 43:04

I love that. Thank you so much, Lynn. This has been a great conversation. I really appreciate your time.

Speaker 43:09

Thank you.

Closing Medical Disclaimer

Speaker 43:10

The information in this podcast is not medical advice and should not be treated as such. Always consult your physician or healthcare professional before pursuing any health related procedure or activity.