We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaclyn Downs a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jaclyn, thanks for joining us today. Setting up an independent practice is a daunting endeavor. Can you talk to us about what it was like for you – what were some of the main steps, challenges, etc.

In the 1980s, the field of nutrition often found itself under a cloud of skepticism, with many regarding nutritionists as little more than quacks. I was a child at this time and my father was in the nutrition industry. I was well aware of the comments people would make about him and the information he was sharing. But as time unfolded, I saw that what he had been saying all along was indeed valid and actually had the science to back it up; he was just too far ahead of his time.

Seeing this first hand allowed me to realize at a young age that the nutrition information that Americans were being fed was not actually what led to true health and vitality. And as I got older, I realized that much of it is due to corporate lobbying, food industry interests, and agricultural subsidies.

During my college years I had wanted to major in nutrition, but at the time, schools in my state did not offer the nutrition information that I was hungry to learn about. I wanted an education that wasn’t antiquated or bought by corporate interests. Since that wasn’t available to me, I got a psychology degree instead.

Shortly after college I fell into birth work and became a doula (in 2002 when nobody knew the word or why the hell they’d want to pay a complete stranger to attend their birth) and also apprenticed with a midwife that served the Amish and Mennonite communities to give birth at home.

As time progressed, I found and enrolled in a graduate school that offered degrees in holistic nutrition. I also became a yoga instructor and certified health coach.

Even though I had a solid education, I didn’t have a thriving practice. I was fledgling on my own and decided I could help a larger number of people if I worked at an established practice. Luckily, I found a local naturopath that was looking to hire a research assistant to research a gene called MTHFR, which has to do with your body’s ability to use and methylate the nutrient folate. This was in 2013.

I had previously learned a little bit about epigenetics, but this job took me deep into a world filled with information about genetics and biochemical pathways, and I ate up and digested every bit of information I learned.

What started out as MTHFR exploded into other genes in the methylation pathway, and then how that pathway interacts and intersects a multitude of other biochemical pathways.

In the past few years, practitioners and health bloggers began to discuss MTHFR. When I would read what they were sharing, I knew deep down that I had a much broader and deeper understanding of the topic. Even still, I still did not feel “ready” to incorporate genetics into my practice. Hello, imposter syndrome!

But then a book I’d been writing on and off for a few years got accepted by a major academic publishing company!

This helped me to gain the confidence to speak more loudly about epigenetics/nutrigenomics and reproductive health.

In addition to consulting with clients, I began to offer (what I think, as well as all my 5-star google reviewers) the most comprehensive and personalized genetic interpretations on the market. I saw that people are not aware of how limited or automated the genetic reports they use are, and I’m working to change that. Most of the interpretation companies only report about your genes without knowing a single thing about you. Just because you have genetic variants does not mean they are expressing. My meticulously detailed intake form allows me to craft your personalized interpretation based on your past and current diet, diagnoses, exposures, stressors, etc. I type up your report and make a video of me going through it along with your genetic profile in the software I use.

My advice for a young professional would be to ignore the imposter syndrome and just do the thing. You may never feel “ready.” I didn’t: I kept saying to myself, “I’ll just get a little more knowledge, read one more book, etc.” but that kept me from getting my service to the people that will benefit from it. You don’t need to be a master or expert, you just have to be a couple steps ahead of your customers.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

In the previous section I shared a brief recount of how I got to where I am today. But I didn’t detail what my book is or what it is about. I wrote my book, Enhancing Fertility through Functional Medicine: Using Nutrigenomics to Solve ‘Unexplained’ Infertility (Routledge, 2023) for practitioners and motivated laypeople. It dives deep into common, but lesser known root causes of inflammation that are at the root of all chronic issues. It is designed to be used as a guidebook to avoid or move past puzzling roadblocks. It discusses topics like histamine intolerance, oxalates, mold/mycotoxins, detoxification pathways (and the right and wrong ways to detoxify), iron dysregulation (not just anemia!), blood sugar regulation, and the importance of the body being able to properly use dietary fats. And I name genes associated with all of these topics.

With genetics being the future of health and personalized care, and the future is now, i I feel it is important for people to know what to look for, as well as what’s NOT going to give you the information that you’re hoping for. For instance, some practitioners are still ONLY testing for MTHFR. I say in my book that is like thinking you know what a puzzle looks like based on two pieces.

Given that genetic interpretation services are so new, we’re currently in a phase akin to the “wild wild west” of offerings. People don’t have any expectation or standard, nor do they have much to compare their results to.

My aim is to set this bar high so people are getting personalized and actionable steps based on hundreds of genes and over 200,000 genetic variants (called Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, or “snips”). I want consumers to know how limited and contradictory the amount of information actually is with the interpretations that merely offer automated canned-responses for a handful of genes. Those just cause analysis paralysis.

My genetic interpretations provide insight into where your inflammation may be stemming from. A few examples are:

*Is it that you don’t make enough antioxidants to put out your inflammatory “fires,” or is it that you are predisposed to overactive pro-inflammatory genes that are trigger-happy, emitting huge inflammatory fires when only a match was needed?

Could you have a genetic predisposition that makes it harder for your body to eliminate pesticides or other toxins effectively, potentially leading to disruptions in your detoxification processes given the heavily contaminated environment we inhabit?

*Is your histamine tolerance “bucket” (your histamine clearance genes) so small that regular amounts of histamine exposure cause reactions for you?

*Are you predisposed to making enough bile to support your brain and liver health, as well as to move toxins out of the liver and keep pathogens from setting up shop in your digestive tract?

My interpretations can also tell you why a supplement or protocol may not have worked, or worse, backfired. They can tell you which form of a supplement may be best to take, and which supplements you may already have that are going to be a waste of money.

What sets my services apart is that I look at hundreds of thousands of genetic variants, as opposed to all the other companies that report on anywhere from a couple genes to a couple dozen genetic variants. I also do not use automated canned responses that state something like, “You have this genetic variant so take this supplement,” which contradicts another genetic variant a few pages later, that says “You have this genetic variant so avoid taking this [that same] supplement.” Those are only reporting on your genes, not interpreting them in real time, based on the information you provide me in your detailed intake form.

I spend hours on each client’s genetic interpretation, crafting it for them based on their past and current exposures, stressors, diets, diagnoses, lab test results, symptoms, etc. This is why my services cost more. But the crazy part is, my prices are still lower than some of the other influencer-associated companies that are charging similar prices for SUBSTANTIALLY less information.

I am most proud of my testimonials and reviews. They make me know full well that what I am sharing with the world is helping people and worthwhile! The reviews state that people have gone to numerous practitioners and no one has given them the level of insight and action steps that I have. My interpretations have proven to save people time, money, stress, and even heartache (miscarriage prevention).

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I mentioned this previously, but I had never felt ‘ready’ to put my services into the world. I felt i needed one more training, one more course, one more book, just a little more research…

I felt that there were people that knew more that I did on certain subjects so why would anyone want to listen to what I have to say, especially because I don’t have a PhD.

I realized that the more I learned, the more I realized how much more I didn’t know! There are always going to be people that know more than me, but they do not have my voice or my approach or my story. And that I might be robbing someone of help, healing, or vitality, or chances at a healthy pregnancy if I don’t share what I know.

I also realized that as long as I am a few steps ahead of my clients that I can help them.

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

I wonder this sometimes, but I doN’T think that I would. I would just hope to have a different mindset about it, as it has taken lots of inner work to overcome lack mindset and imposter syndrome.

I’ve always been fascinated by nutrition and its logical principles. The idea that our bodies are meant to thrive on natural, unprocessed foods has intrigued me for as long as I can remember, well before I chose it as a career path.

Contact Info:

• Website: JaclynDowns.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/functionalfertilitysolutions/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaclyndowns-functional-nutrigenomics/

Image Credits
Linette Messina Martinez photography