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ConsumnerDan's avatar

This is interesting, but I'm really concerned as I've been down so many protocol dead ends. I have done full DNA plus other testing, found a path to walk down with a protocol only to find either marginal temporary improvement or just a dead end. The cost is pretty high. I'm always optimistic, but feel very unsure I would find meaningful benefit and outcome...

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Understandable there's a lot of dead end material out there. Can't say anything except what I find in the research and what I've found with clients.

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ConsumnerDan's avatar

With this test, have you seen a client find successful outcomes, with gut dysbiosis, sulfur issues, histamine issues, and chronic fatigue like symptoms?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Yes I just gave you examples in the main article.

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kevin kovar's avatar

That's exactly how I feel. I've spent over $1500 on Genova and Vibrant wellness (along with whole genome sequencing) and I am no closer to any answers. Many of the results from Genova conflicted with the results from Vibrant and I took them at the exact same time! Not to mention I got these tests for my wife and children as well. The ultimate cheat sheet with these tests leaves me with more questions than answers. So, it's kind of annoying to have to spend another $700 in hopes that this time it will be different.

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St. Mudphud's avatar

I’m somewhat late to the party, but a hearty congratulations to you Chris and to Mitome team! I wish you all the best with this product launch!

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Thank you!

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Conrad S's avatar

Let's say someone did the Mitome test and then implemented the treatment strategies and made improvements. Would there be benefit from doing the Mitome test again in say, 6 months to 1 year, or some time frame?

I'm wondering if by improving "bottlenecks", do other bottlenecks show up?

Would 1 time of testing essentially give you what your signature bottlenecks are? Or, by opening up those bottlenecks, would other possible issues then become exposed? Could there then be a "next" bottleneck?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

The answer is yes and it applies to all testing except whole genome sequencing, though that might be worth repeating to see if any of your main conclusions from it could be errors.

In general most health issues for most people seem to operate with 3-6-month time horizons.

The test cannot discern what is genetic and what is environmental so it addresses both, and it is ALWAYS the case that your key performance indicators should never be biochemical tests and should always be the things you actually care about, which inevitably require you to turn subjective experiences into numbers and track them if you care enough about them to optimize them.

The protocol you get will be partly trying to fix what needs fixing but can also be trying to work around it rather than fixing it. If the "fix" elements were successful you should see the thing that needed improvement on the test improve. If the "fix" were not successful but the "work around" improved your own experience, you would see the test stay stable but you would see the improvements you wanted show up in whatever you are actually trying to improve (energy, sleep, etc).

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Alexa's avatar

Hello, I contacted MITOME to ask - I am from the UK and have been completely bedridden for eight years since age 24. Unfortunately, the thousands of pounds for the dry ice with no guarantee is too much of a risk. I can’t travel as I can’t even sit in a wheelchair so coming to USA is not an option either.

They suggested that I could order the test from somewhere in Belgium and then just pay for you to do the analysis.? is that something you have actually agreed to do? Is it an option? How much would just the analysis be if I could actually find a way to get the test?

Thanks

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Please sort this out with Mitome support and not here. You can trust any answer you get there.

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St. Mudphud's avatar

I have a curiosity question: as you've discussed in previous articles, environmental toxins (e.g. heavy metals, I think of mycotoxins) can adversely impact the electron transport chain. Do you have examples of patients that followed the Mitome protocol despite these other issues and were able to improve? I'm just wondering if people need to focus on identifying and eliminating environmental toxins before pursuing this test, or if they're less likely to succeed if those sources are unaddressed.

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Lando Sembery's avatar

This is exciting! Would you say this test precedes in importance testing the two ratios you describe in "A PhD's Secret Weapon: The Four Biomarkers..."?

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Ixchelle's avatar

I understand what information the test delivers, but is this a DNA-only test? I have a Sequence DNA kit I'm waiting on, would that be able to be uploaded to provide the same results without the cost of an additional DNA kit?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

There is no DNA analyzed here, it is enzymatic activity.

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Suzanne's avatar

I am interested to see if this might be helpful for my son who has been sick for 12 years, after a viral onset. ME/CFS, POTS, Brain Fog, etc. Nothing has helped. I would like to see a sample report if possible.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Email support@mito.me about sample report. Yes POTS is generally mitochondrial or peroxisomal dysfunction. Peroxisomal dysfunction can be inferred from this test due to interactions with mitochondria. Viral-onset issues are almost always rooted in genetics.

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Just asking's avatar

look up RCCX theory

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Gil's avatar

Hi, would appreciate a clearer explanation for what is the place for such test. i.e is wgs still needed genova testing, specifically for mito optimization beyond just standard nutrients deficiency. Thanks

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

This test is an isolated test of mitochondrial function that does not integrate other tests but gives as much practical advice as possible on the basis of these alone. Almost everyone would benefit from it. Will be covering much more detail about mitochondria through the rest of the year that could shed additional light.

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Lisa's avatar

Hi!

I’m very interested in this test and have contacted the company in Belgium about it (on recommendation by Mitome).

I have some questions about the test though.

1) I don’t understand if it is mainly a genetic test or not. I’m thinking that if it is it might not say so much about the status right now. I guess that when you say you can quantify people in to different types, that makes it sound as a genetic test, be it mitochondrial DNA or not. On the other hand, it seems as you would need the current status in order to be making some of the recommendations you do.

2) I’ve done Genova NutrEval twice with about a year in between. I’ve done this via a doctor in Functional Medicine. It seems as if I have a problem with Oxidative stress and we can’t come any closer to figure out why. Can this test be useful for that?

For clarity, my main interest in this is fertility issues.

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Lisa's avatar

Sorry, I read through your previous responses I can see that my first question is already answered :)

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

On number 2, the test will not be able to resolve chicken-and-egg questions about oxidative stress because the respiratory chain causes oxidative stress and oxidative stress hurts the respiratory chain, but it will tell you whether there is something actionable to be done about your respiratory chain, which could be the cause of your oxidative stress. So you could implement the protocol you get and then retest the NutrEval and see if the protocol fixed the problems showing up there.

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Lisa's avatar

Thank you for your response!

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Conrad S's avatar

Would this test replace your suggestion for getting a whole genome sequencing done?

What I mean is from the standpoint of your post/video on "Finding your health super-unlock". It seems like this Mitome test would give a person the main info that you put pieced together from your whole genome sequence?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

No, this does not test genetics. It tests respiratory chain activity.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

To compare the two, generating actionable insights from whole genome sequencing alone is impossible and with cross-referenced biochemical data is extremely labor-intensive to do right, whereas the Mitome test automatically generates you a personalized protocol. Not everything in it will work but it narrows down the information into actionable insights that are considered high probability of being high ROI for you to test for yourself.

It does not generate whole genome sequencing, but WGS by itself is going to be information overload and have you feeling a little lost, whereas this is biting off a chunk of what is high-ROI from the full suite of what I've been using that can generate practical information automatically.

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Nichole's avatar

Would this test be appropriate for someone with Chronic Lymphatic Leukemia (CLL)? They have not had to start any treatments yet. It seems like it may reveal supportive information.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Yes there is evidence that CLL involves mitochondrial dysfunction.

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orjeta's avatar

Would it help for autism ?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Autism is driven by heterogeneous mitochondrial dysfunction so I would expect this to be very informative for anyone with autism.

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orjeta's avatar

I just received the MitoSwab results for my daughter, and the comments say that the values are in the normal range. Now we can finally order the analysis from you, but would it still make sense or be helpful to do so, since the lab is saying that the values are in the normal range ? I am confused on this part.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Yes, you will get a report regardless, and we do not use their normal ranges for reasons explained in the report, so that means nothing.

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orjeta's avatar

thank you

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

99% of the time "everything normal" contains within it very insightful information.

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Banti Gheneti's avatar

What data does the Mitoswab test return? Couldn't wind clear details on that.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

The activity of citrate synthase and respiratory chain complexes I, II, II + III and IV, from which the Mitome report generates very unique practical insights.

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Lisa's avatar

I have a bit of a hard time understanding how this activity is analyzed. When you read about the test on the site for mitoswab it seems as if only complex I and IV is analyzed, plus citrate synthase. That means more than half of the complexes are not analyzed. How can a conclusion be drawn about all complexes from only 2?

Also, it says on the site for mito.me that 297 genes are analyzed. How can this be done when it’s not a genetic test?

At the European site Redlabs (which mito.me referred me to) they present a scientific article for the test that also only talks about complex I and IV.

https://catalog.redlabs.be/en/search/177-mitoswabplus.html

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

The measurements are citrate synthase, C1, CII, CII+III and CIV.

We had some runaway copy writing that made some mistakes in boiling down what I had provided as scientific info into sound bites, and we are now fixing that. This does not measure genes.

I have no idea why any other company is saying whatever they are saying, the measurements are what I wrote above.

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Lisa's avatar

Thank you very much for your response! I can see the info is already updated at the mito.me website.

I received some articles from mito.me and if I understand it correctly all complexes are analyzed by exposing each single complex with substrates, not by making assumptions about some complexes based on analysis of just two. Is this correctly understood? (I choose to write this here so others can benefit from the info as well)

For your information, I contacted mito.me and asked if the test could be arranged if you live in Europe. They referred me to Redlabs so it’s not any random company but of course you’re not responsible for what they write on their website.

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

There are no assumptions made. There unfortunately is no measurement of III outside of the II + III measurement but doing both II and II + III allows some tentative inferences about III.

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sabrina fuizzotto's avatar

Can this replace a genova comprehensive screening for energy metabolism or methylation panel ?

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Chris Masterjohn, PhD's avatar

Replace, no, as they are not measuring the same things. However, if you had to make choices to cut costs, Mitome would be the best cost-saver, because it can indirectly make inferences that you would find on the others, would put the most critical to address stuff up front first, and costs a lot less than comprehensive testing.

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P One's avatar

It would be valuable to determine mitochondrial bottlenecks and potential workarounds to those. I will wait for the test to go under $400.

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