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23MgVitamin.qxd
2/13/03
22 · February 23, 2003
12:44 PM
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Illustration by Joseph Daniel Fiedler
23MgVitamin.qxd
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12:46 PM
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Singular supplements
I
t sounded plausible, especially in
light of modern genetics: Take a
DNA test to find out what vitamins
you really need.
I was reading an article on
the connection between nutrition
and genetics when I came across
GeneLink of Margate, N.J., and its
test. The claims GeneLink made
were seductive. The DNA analysis,
according to the company’s Web site
(www.bankdna.com), “helps guide individuals
in choosing the optimal combination of nutrients and vitamins, matched to their unique genetic makeup.”
The idea that GeneLink could offer a simple test that would open a window onto my
health future was irresistible — and, if something of a long shot, not inconceivable.
Science now takes as a given that inherited
genetic differences between one person and the
next explain why some people can eat butter
and steak, never come near a green, leafy vegetable, and still live a long, healthy life, while
others who follow all the rules battle cancer or
drop dead from a heart attack in middle age.
The genetic code that each of us carries
coiled in our cells is three billion characters
long. Compare any two people, and the codes
will look 99.9 percent identical.That still leaves
thousands of places where the codes vary from
one person to the next.
But can we do anything with the knowledge? Scientists around the world are trying to
A customized
vitamin mix,
based on
your very
own DNA.
Shampoo and
skin cream
to match.
A Margate
company is
already there.
Is the science?
pinpoint which of these variant genetic
spellings influence our vulnerability to cancer,
Alzheimer’s, osteoporosis, heart disease and
other common scourges.
The hope is that doctors will eventually
test people and then use the results to steer
them toward a course of preventive medicine,
whether that means eating more spinach, running on the treadmill, or taking a daily aspirin.
So why not vitamins? And why not a company in Margate? Somebody has to be first, after all.
A
t first I just wanted information, so I
tried to contact GeneLink’s chief executive officer, John DePhillipo. David
Closs, a public-relations man in New York, returned my phone calls and told me that DePhillipo was extremely busy and couldn’t see
me for five months.
I also tried to call GeneLink cofounder
and advisory-board member Robert Ricciardi,
a professor of cellular and molecular biology at
the University of Pennsylvania. He was even
busier, said Closs, who began to press me on
what I expected to ask them.
All this lack of availability made them even
more intriguing.
So I called NuGenix, the Berwyn-based
company that distributes the vitamins, to see
about ordering a test for myself.
I found myself talking to DePhillipo’s son,
Chris, and later to his daughter, Laura Sullicontinued on next page
Faye Flam is a staff writer on The Inquirer’s science desk.
By Faye Flam
Inquirer Magazine · 23
23MgVitamin.qxd
2/14/03
10:08 AM
Page 24
The company tested six genes, then colorcoded my vitamin needs on a scale from
“basic support” to “extra added support.”
VITAMIN
continued from previous page
van, NuGenix’s marketing director.
(GeneLink’s CEO refers to NuGenix as its distributor, but the companies seem to be a family affair.)
Chris DePhillipo explained: “We
all sat down to figure out how we
could utilize all the [genetic] information they’ve got, to come up with
something fabulous, something wonderful.”
And soon it will be more than
nutrition, he said — GeneLink and
NuGenix are branching into personal care. Soon they will be able to use
my DNA to tell me what kind of
shampoo and skin cream to use.
“The possibilities are unlimited and
endless — we believe that one size
doesn’t fit all,” he said.
I would need to pay $299 for the
test, but that would include the first
month’s worth of vitamins. Further
supplies of vitamins would cost
about $75 a month. (It certainly
sounded like a lot of vitamins. All I
take now are calcium and folic acid
— and I’m not religious about the
folic acid.)
I read off my credit-card number, and they mailed me a kit that included six cotton swabs and a white
envelope marked “sterile.” As instructed, I scraped the insides of my
cheeks with the swabs and packed
them up in the envelope.
And off my DNA went.
A
bout a month later, I received
a shoebox-size package in the
mail. Inside were five white
packets of pills, a can of powder, and
a document called “Your Genetic
Compass.”
Things didn’t look so good for
me: I had less-than-optimal versions
of five of the six genes tested.
The genetic compass didn’t,
however, say which six genes were
tested — only that two were related
to “oxidative stress,” two to “heart
and circulatory health,” one to “immune function,” and one to “detoxification.”
My score was color-coded.
Green means you need something
24 · February 23, 2003
called basic support, yellow means
“added support,” red “extra added
support.” I scored five yellows and a
green. It wasn’t at all clear whether
that was good, average or dismal.
It would be $75 a month to continue with the program, which, the
literature said, allows you to “use a
more scientific approach to being
proactive in doing your best to prevent health problems that might otherwise occur later in life.”
As I studied the documentation,
it appeared to me that GeneLink/NuGenix was working in the same arena
as mainstream science. In the six unnamed genes, the companies looked
for something called SNPs.
SNP (pronounced snip) is a
standard term in genetics. It stands
for “single nucleotide polymorphism.” SNPs are simply places
where the genetic code varies from
person to person by a single letter.
Unlike rare mutations that lead to
problems such as cystic fibrosis and
muscular dystrophy, most SNPs are
just common variations — genes that
in their healthy form can come in one
or more flavors.
Most SNPs don’t have any effect, but a few can influence a person’s biology or even personality, according to some studies. Scientists
have found SNPs and other common
variable genes that they believe influence memory, shyness, and the tendency to overeat, to become addicted
to drugs or alcohol, or to develop
anorexia. There is even a gene connected to devout religious worship.
And, according to those practicing in a growing field known as nutritional genomics, there are SNPs that
determine your dietary needs.
“If the SNP test predicts that you
might not be as efficient as possible
in any given health area, you now can
do something about it,” the
GeneLink material said.
But could I really have so many
substandard genes? How did I know
I would benefit from swallowing
these things, which included such
mysterious ingredients as Fo-ti root
extract, cat’s claw bark extract, lycium
berry extract, lutein, licorice root extract, natural policosanol, guercetin
dihydrate, and indole-3-carbinol?
I
called NuGenix and peppered the
younger generation of DePhillipos
with questions. They suggested I
submit written questions.
I did, and within a day my
phone was ringing — suddenly CEO
DePhillipo’s calendar seemed to
have cleared. Meet me at company
headquarters, he said.
Headquarters turned out to be
in his house, about a block from the
ocean in Margate. DePhillipo, 61,
met me under a skylight in his thirdfloor office.
“I’m a business guy, an entrepreneur,” he said. “The last deal I developed was a retrofit air bag.” He
picked up some mechanical part
from his desk. “That’s the sensor —
I reinvented this and created a marketing company to sell it worldwide.”
I confessed that I was disappointed with the vague information
in my “genetic compass” and that I
had hoped to find out which genes
were tested.
“We don’t do that — we’re the
science company,” said DePhillipo.
“We’ve got three companies . . .
Lab21 . . . they make DNA cream
sold at Bergdorf Goodman department stores in Manhattan. They’re
rolling it out nationally,” he said.
I told him I didn’t get any skin
cream in my package.
“No, that’s different,” he said,
seeming exasperated. “That’s something else — anti-wrinkle cream.
Let’s back up.”
He said he founded GeneLink
along with Dr. Edmund DelGursio.
The two went back years, having
been fellow lifeguards at the Shore.
DelGursio brought along Ricciardi,
the Penn professor.
Is DelGursio a medical doctor? I
asked. “Oh yeah!”
At first, the fledgling company
offered something called DNA banking. It took DePhillipo a full 10 minutes to explain why anyone would
want to pay more than $200 to have
his DNA stored somewhere. Given
that a person’s DNA is everywhere
— blood, saliva, hair, sweat, dandruff
— I still don’t quite understand the
point.
He said that once the multibillion-dollar private and public under-
taking known as the Human
Genome Project was completed a
few years ago, his company saw a
new opportunity. “We were enamored of SNPs and pharmacogenomics and wanted to find a way for
our company to get involved.” How
did the genome allow for this vitamin thing? I asked.
“They identified all the genes,”
he explained, as if I must be an imbecile for asking.
When I pointed out that the
genome project did not identify the
genes — it simply mapped the genes
on the chromosomes and read out
the genetic code characters — he
replied, “That’s what we needed to
do this.”
The conversation turned circular, with DePhillipo invoking the
“$40 billion business” of cosmetics
and at one point saying, “I’ll make
you a bet — if I win you have to buy
me a present.”
In the middle of the interview,
the previously unreachable Robert
Ricciardi of Penn called, and DePhillipo put him on the speaker
phone. Ricciardi said he wanted to
meet me at the restaurant at the Inn
at Penn. I said I’d be happy to meet
in his office. “Conflict of interest,” he
said. “I’ll tell you about it later. . . .
I’d prefer to meet you at the restaurant.”
He hung up.
DePhillipo was still stuck on face
cream — “You can buy the face
cream today if you want,” he said
suddenly. “Go to lab21.com.” But I
still wanted to know why they don’t
tell customers which genes they test.
“What are people going to do
with that?” he said. “This is the kind
of thing physicians are going to get.
“Marie,” he called to his wife,
“do you have any of that DNA
cream? Let her see it, stick her finger
in it.”
The cream came in a little blue
jar. I didn’t touch it. It looked like
any other skin cream to me.
I still had not gotten a clue from
DePhillipo about vitamins and asked
him who figured out which ones to
recommend. Garden State Nutritionals, based in West Caldwell, N.J.,
continued on Page 26
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VITAMIN
continued from Page 24
formulates the vitamins, he said, based on
“golden pathways” supplied by GeneLink.
“The golden pathways are printed,” he said.
“You seem to think we invented these golden
pathways.” As a matter of fact, I suspected
that he made up the term.
Pathways between what and what? I
asked. “Let Ricciardi go through it,” he said.
“You’re getting deep, deep, deep into the science.
“Let him educate you tomorrow.”
R
icciardi is a small, balding man with a
voice that barely carried over the
restaurant table. By way of explanation for meeting off-campus, he said his office was too loud.
He insisted there was evidence backing
up the health significance of the GeneLink
tests. As one example, he said, they tested
me for a variation in the gene named for the
enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD), which
is connected to the ability of cells to fight
damaging compounds called free radicals.
Free radicals are produced constantly by
breathing and other basic life processes.
All people have two copies of the gene
— one from each parent. My SOD test
came back with a yellow warning, because I
had one of the “good” kind and one of the
“bad” kind, Ricciardi said; he himself got a
red alert, which meant he had two of the bad
version.
He said the bad version could also make
skin get prematurely wrinkly. (Oh boy, another skin-cream promo, I thought.)
Ricciardi argued that the people with
two bad SOD genes were the ones who really need help. “Would you deny these people
the chance to address this?”
He cited a couple of papers that backed
up the health significance of the GeneLink
tests, but after poring over them, I found
nothing convincing that any of the variations
that GeneLink tested for directly influence
my vulnerability to disease.
In the case of SOD, one type of the related enzyme seems to work better than the
other in ameliorating damage from those
ubiquitous free radicals — in a test tube. A
link to actual human disease has not been
established.
In all the literature that Ricciardi handed me, there was nothing that seemed to
connect all the dots — associating the genetic variations they tested for with the need
for ginkgo biloba leaf extract, lutein,
quercetin dihydrate, Vitamin B-12, or anything else in the $75-a-month cornucopia
NuGenix sent me.
continued on Page 32
VITAMINS
continued from Page 26
P
atrick Stover of Cornell University’s Institute for Nutritional Genomics specializes in
the connection between nutrition
and genes and says it is absolutely
true that my genetic makeup influences which nutrients I need. But, he
says, I don’t need to bother with the
five-pill cocktail and powder I got
from NuGenix.
The company makes much of the
issue of oxidative stress, a process in
which those free radicals damage cells.
Antioxidants, such as Vitamins A, C
and E, are supposed to be the great
rescuers, helping prevent this damage.
But the effectiveness of supplements
has had mixed results in the scientific
literature, Stover pointed out.
In his lab, Stover has done some
work on a gene called MTHFR, for
methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase.
This was the only test I had passed,
getting a GeneLink green code.
(When pressed, GeneLink did eventually tell me which six genes it tested for.) But Stover says I have no
reason to cheer.
Most people, like me, have at
least one “good” version of MTHFR.What’s more, “good” and “bad”
are not precise descriptions. People
with the “bad” version of MTHFR
actually seem at lower risk of colon
cancer.Those with the “bad” version
may have a higher risk of heart disease, and the women among them
may have a higher risk of giving birth
to children with neural-tube defects
such as spina bifida. Both problems
can be alleviated by the use of folic
acid — while the colon-cancer risk
with the “good” gene is not as easily
remedied.
“All of this is sort of silly,” Stover
said. “The government put folic acid
in the food supply five years ago —
the whole country is very folate-replete already.”
Stover said that in most of the
other genes that GeneLink analyzed,
there are some theoretical links with
disease, or links established through
test-tube studies. It’s plausible that
people with one type of gene will
have different vitamin and mineral
needs, but to demonstrate this will
require human studies.
I read him the list of Fo-ti root,
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32 · February 23, 2003
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or [email protected].
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T
hough I had agreed only to
pay for the test and one
month’s supply of vitamins, I
received two additional boxes of vitamins from NuGenix. “I hear you’re
still taking the vitamins,” Laura Sullivan of NuGenix said when I called
her with some questions. I explained
that I had not at any time agreed to
buy more vitamins, and she arranged
for me to be refunded.
The truth is that I haven’t swallowed a single pill.
And may have no need to.
Stover pointed out that, with the
possible exception of the impoverished, drug addicts, people with
anorexia nervosa, and sometimes the
very elderly, most Americans get
enough micronutrients.
I also contacted Judy ChenCooper, a nutritionist at the Princeton Longevity Center, a new facility
that specializes in preventive medicine. I filled out a questionnaire on
my height, weight, activity level, and
all that I ate for three days, which included fairly healthy but typical fare
— steak, eggs, whole-wheat bagels,
pasta, turkey sandwiches, salads, a
couple of desserts.
She ran the results through a
computer program and sent back a
bar graph showing how well I did in
getting several dozen essential nutrients. The results — not bad at all. I
get plenty of B vitamins, iron, and
Vitamins A and C. I came up short
on Vitamin D,Vitamin E, and calcium. Chen-Cooper explained that if I
use cooking oils, which I didn’t include in my food diary, I’m probably
getting more Vitamin E than it
would appear. As for Vitamin D, people make their own if exposed to
sunlight, so as an outdoor person I
get more than enough.
She suggested I take calcium.
And folic acid, she said, is highly recommended for all women of childbearing age. Luckily, I have both in
my medicine chest.
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