Tiffany Di Pietro examines genetic testing and biohacking companies, warning that many biomarker tests are already part of routine exams. She flags supplement companies with lab results as conflicts of interest and advises consulting your doctor before pursuing testing.
I was asked by one of the local news stations to comment on genetic testing and biohacking and all this, and I feel like I might get into my own genetic testing in a different reel, but I want to kind of focus on this one on some of these companies that are kind of, in my opinion, taking advantage of consumers. So first of all, you need to talk to your primary care doctor about anything before you do it, okay? And if you don't like your primary care doctor, you need a new one because you need to be able to trust them and their opinion. And I think some of these companies are probably well-intentioned, hopefully, but a lot of them, you know, they will say, well, we're going to do all of these biomarkers, and then, you know, your doctor doesn't do half of these during their annual exam, which is not true. Okay, we— I actually looked at one of these companies and pulled what they do, and I think your doctor on an annual physical does truthfully probably about 95% of those tests. At least we know we do in our office. Most importantly, if any of these companies are then willing to sell you a customized supplement on the backend based upon these labs. Ask yourself, who's making money from this? Because in my opinion, most legitimate lab companies, most legitimate doctors' offices, okay, supplements have a role, but they shouldn't be making the money off of them in the backend. Their job is to give opinions and say, this is what probably will help you. But if they're making money on the backend by those supplements, they're making those supplements also. That should be a huge red flag to you as a consumer. Do they really have your best interest at heart?
