IS GENETIC TESTING GOING TO THE DOGS?
Well, “Yes”………and “No.”
I own two dogs. I acquired both through rescue groups and would recommend that avenue to anyone thinking about getting a dog or a cat.
I adopted my second dog “Cocoa,” a female, as a year old youngster in August of 2006 as a companion for my male, “Mocha.” I was told when I got Cocoa that she was likely a border collie mix. She has a kind of salt and pepper color, with a full, soft coat, and a face that tells everyone how happy she is 24/7. She is Miss Personality Plus — a dog with a playful and mischievous side that runs like a gazelle. She is the Energizer Bunny in a canine costume. She can go on forever.
I adopted Mocha as a 7 week old puppy a year earlier in May of 2005. The picture above is of him at four months. He has the color and markings of a chestnut thoroughbred with four white stockings, a fluffy white chest, and a long white plume at the end of his tail. When I first got him I was told his mother was a chocolate lab or Boykin spaniel, but they didn’t know anything about his father. They said they believed Mocha would grow up to be around 35 to 45 pounds. Well today (96 pounds later!), I have a very big cuddly boy with the winter coat of a grizzly bear, the demeaner of King Mufasa (you know, from ”The Lion King”), and the heart of a teddy bear. He’s just Mr. Lovable. He attracts attention everywhere we go. No matter where I take him everyone stops us and asks, “What kind of dog is that? He’s beautiful!” I always shrug and say, “He really is beautiful, isn’t he? Sorry to say though, I really don’t know for sure what kind of dog he is. I wish I did.” And I really do wish I knew what his genetic heritage is. And Cocoa’s too.
Fortunately, soon I will.
High-tech DNA tests are now available that can tell a dog owner what his dog’s genetic heritage is back three generations. These new tests will give owners long baffled by the breed makeup of their mutts something to do besides what I normally do, shrug and speculate. For $65 MetaMorphix subsidiary, MMI Genomics of Beltsville, Md. can test for about 115 breeds based on the DNA from a cotton swab of your dog’s mouth. And Mars Veterinary of Virginia offers a blood test through vets which can test for 157 breeds at a cost of $100-$200, depending on your vet. For me, the days of shrugging will soon be over.
Interestingly, genetic testing is also rapidly becoming one of the new frontiers in health and wellness. Alticor is the largest stockholder in Interleukin Genetics, the only company that has developed a DNA based risk assessment test that can tell people whether or not they have a genetic risk factor that affects their own inflammatory response. Chronic inflammation is now thought to be an important risk factor for heart disease, and interleukin 1 (IL-1) genetic variations have been shown to be an indicator of early cardiac events.
Interleukin Genetics has been awarded 20 U.S. patents for work linking variations in inflammation genes with risk for disease. A quick review of Interleukin’s website shows it is at various stages of developmental work on genetics tests for osteoporosis, weight management, general nutrition, cardiovascular disease, skin aging, and PerioNX. Of importance to Quixtar IBOs is that the Interleukin website states that since 2003 the majority of Interleukin’s development efforts have been part of a broad strategic alliance with Alticor.
Over the past few years Quixtar has been moving toward making itself the leading health and wellness company in North America, and eventually around the world. It now offers two Interleukin developed genetic tests. One, the Gensona Heart Health Genetic Test, is the first and only IL1 gene test to identify an individual’s predisposition for over-expression of inflammation and increased risk for cardiovascular disease and acute cardiac events. The other, the Gensona General Nutrition Genetic Test, identifies nutrient metabolism (including Vitamin B and anti-oxidants). And then Nutrilite follows behind those tests and offers specific products in response to those tests that can help those found to possess some of the risk markers to maintain and enhance their health. It can’t get much better than that.
These kind of product offerings clearly improve Alticor’s and Quixtar’s credibility in the general marketplace, and particularly in the health and wellness field. Hopefully there will be more offerings to follow in the future from Quixtar as Interleukin’s developmental research moves forward, offerings which obviously would only further enhance Alticor’s and Quixtar’s health and wellness reputations.
In my opinion, these are the type of products that are integral to the success of the current business transformation, not primarily because of the dollar volume of sales they can generate (even though I know that is very important), but because of what these products reveal about the quality and timeliness of the products Quixtar delivers to the consumer. How could any reasonable, rational person put products like MonaVie or Xango in the same league with the kind of product offerings coming from Quixtar via Interleukin and Nutrilite today? Quixtar’s health related products are Major League caliber and truly substantive. The others are little more than bush league, hype, and spin.
So is genetic testing going to the dogs? Thankfully, I can say, “Yes!” But when it comes to the genetic tests offered by Quixtar, it’s quite clear they are anything but “dogs.” Quixtar’s genetic tests and Nutrilite’s follow-up products are leading edge and first tier and Quixtar’s IBOs should be excited we can promote and market such terrific product lines.
By the way, when I get the DNA results back I promise I will tell you on this blog what the genetic heritage of my dogs is. Can’t wait!
What are your thoughts on Quixtar’s latest move into genetic testing?
written by Chuck Lia
\\ tags: Disease risk assessment, DNA testing, Dogs, Interleukin Genetics, Mars Veterinary, MetaMorphix, Quixtar