Your genes can have an incredible influence on the quality of your sleep, whether you gain or lose weight easily, the feelings that dominate your emotions, even the way you parent your kids.

Kashif Khan is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of The DNA Company, where personalized medicine is being pioneered through unique insights into the human genome. He is also the host of the Unpilled podcast.

“Inside of our human cells there’s an instruction manual … a blueprint, a literal human blueprint that tells each and every cell what to do,” Khan says in a recent TEDx talk.

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

Growing up in Vancouver, Canada in an immigrant household, Khan developed an industrious entrepreneurial spirit from a young age. Prior to his tenure at the DNA Company, he advised a number of high-growth start-ups in a variety of industries.

Inside of our human cells there’s an instruction manual … a blueprint, a literal human blueprint that tells each and every cell what to do.

As Khan dove into the field of functional genomics as the CEO of The DNA Company, it was revealed that his neural wiring was actually genetically designed to be entrepreneurial. However, his genes also revealed a particular sensitivity to pollutants.

Now seeing his health from a new lens, Khan dove further and started to see the genetic pathways that led to his own family’s challenges, and the opportunities to reverse chronic disease. His measure of success is not in dollars earned, but in lives improved.

ADVANCED DNA TESTING KITS

Khan’s company provides DNA 360 testing kits that provide customers “a full breakdown of all the specific genetic markers that we evaluate in our advanced testing.” It’s been publicly offering its own specific type of DNA testing since 2018.

While some generic DNA tests might tell you what your risk percentage would be of acquiring a certain condition, The DNA Company’s test “not only tells you your likelihood of risk, but goes even further to tell you exactly what foods, lifestyle, supplements, environment and health choices can help you reduce health risks,” the company claims.

The recommendations come from the company’s proprietary algorithm that uses 4.7 billion data points that give detailed information about your genes.

If you’re looking to find out more information about your ancestry, that’s not The DNA Company’s focus.

“Our mission as a company is to provide users with health insights that allow them to live healthier lives,” according to the company. “As a result, our core focus is in developing reports that give you the tools to make the right health decisions.

“While Ancestry or 23andMe may tell you what your ethnicity is, our reports do not focus on that. Instead, we tell you what your health risks are and exactly what steps you can take to reduce those health risks.”

Check out Khan’s TEDx talk below.

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