Empowering Human Performance | Athletigen Blog

Insulin has gotten a bad rap over the past few years and has been cast as an evil hormone, when in fact it doesn’t deserve the treatment it has received. We'll explain why but first, what is insulin?

“Though the ACTN3 gene does appear to influence sprinting ability, making a sports decision based on it is like deciding what a puzzle depicts when you’ve only seen one of the pieces. You need that piece to complete the puzzle, but you certainly can’t see a meaningful picture without more pieces.” - David Epstein

There are over two decades worth of genetic research used in a variety of ways, from helping athletes understand themselves, to identifying risks for certain diseases. While there has been remarkable progress, this is only just the beginning of our understanding of genetics. New discoveries can lead to increased scientific confidence, or change our understanding completely. Many know ACTN3 as the “sprint gene” — something remarkable sprinters have to help them win gold medals.

But it didn’t start out this way.

Do you ever wonder why each and every person has a different experience with food and their diet?

We’ve probably all seen by now how individual responses to different diets — from low fat to low carb and high fat — vary enormously. That’s why we see so many heated discussions out there on what the ‘best’ diet is. Yet some people on a specific diet program lose 60 pounds and keep it off for two years, and other people follow the same program religiously and they only lose 15 pounds and then gain it right back.