GARS Test

GARS™ Test

From a simple cheek swab, GARS™ is able to identify an individual’s genetic predisposition toward addictive, compulsive, impulsive behaviors, and personality disorders. These behaviors all share a common physiological root: an altered chemical balance in the brain, termed “Reward Deficiency Syndrome (RDS)”.
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The Genetic Addiction Risk Score (GARS™) is the innovation of Geneus Health co-founder Dr. Kenneth Blum. The science is derived from the early groundbreaking findings of Dr. Kenneth Blum and Dr. Ernest P. Noble (former director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism). The research was published in JAMA (1990), discussing the first association of the dopamine D2 receptor gene and severe alcoholism. This was the first ever confirmed gene in the field of Psychiatric Genetics. The importance of this discovery paved the way for subsequent gene variations involved in what has been defined as the Brain Reward Cascade (BRC).

It is the interaction of many chemical messengers (neurotransmitters) in the BRC, that enables the release of the molecule dopamine at just the right amount to the reward site of the brain called the nucleus accumbens.

The final interaction of these systems provide the net release of dopamine that then stimulates 9 receptors (the D1 and D2 most prominent) to induce a feeling of well-being and even heightened pleasure states. Humans are therefore wired to achieve this feeling in spite of daily stress and trauma. In simpler terms, if the exact amount of dopamine is compromised or potentially reduced, then the individual cannot deal with typical every day events, and finds unnatural ways to obtain a “dopamine fix” leading to all types of additive behaviors.

All of these substance and non-substance behaviors have at one thing in common...they cause dopamine to be released at the reward site of the brain. So in essence by seeking out anything that will fix the low dopamine function, the individual finds resolve by self-medicating to overcome what has been termed “hypodominergia” (low levels of dopamine). While initially this seems beneficial over time, both substance and even non-substance addictive behaviors attack the reward centers of the brain locking people into unwanted dependence. 

GARS™ helps identify the various genes tied to the normal release of dopamine via the BRC and pinpoints any variation of these required reward genes. GARS™ is based on the primary genes identified in the BRC and subsequent variations (alleles) or polymorphisms (a single nucleotide switch -SNPS).

The collective research by numerous global scientists, Geneus Health scientists, and the Colorado Institute of Behavioral Genetics, have clearly identified ten reward genes across the BRC and eleven SNPS that predicted clinical severity outcomes (drug and alcohol severity as measured by Addiction Severity Index: ASI).  

Each risk variation utilized in GARS™ has been the subject of thousands of published articles. Following a four year observation evaluating GARS™ and its predictive abilities in a multi-centered study, it was found that individuals carrying any combination of seven alleles or more predicts clinical alcohol severity, while four alleles or more predicts clinical drug severity.  

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