GUT Instincts

Gastroenterologist and mother-of-two ANDREA RAJNAKOVA reveals her top health tips, what she stocks in her fridge, her secret to staying energised, and more.

- Amy Greenburg

Dr Andrea knew she wanted to be a doctor from the moment she received her first toy “doctor’s set” for Christmas at age four. Born and raised in Slovakia, she attended medical school there before starting work at one of the country’s largest hospitals, where her boss, a professor in gastroenterology, inspired her to choose gastroenterology as her specialisation. In 1995, she moved with her husband Peter to Singapore, where she earned her PhD and MMed, and worked at a local hospital before opening her own clinic in 2010.

“I love my job and my specialty,” says Dr Andrea, who treats patients with a wide range of gastrointestinal conditions such as reflux, inflammatory bowel disease, gallstones, and gastric, colon, liver and pancreatic problems, and provides endoscopy procedures like gastroscopies and colonoscopies. “Gastroenterology and endoscopy are dynamic, fast-changing medical fields with a wide range of new technologies, innovations and treatments, developed and implemented in clinical practice over the past decades.”

In addition to using these modern advances, Dr Andrea says she’s able to provide patients with holistic care by focusing on their diets, lifestyle choices and food allergies, which have become increasingly important in recent years as food-related allergies and gastrointestinal problems have substantially increased.

“The reasons for increasing frequency of food allergies and coeliac disease are unclear, but could be related to recent dietary changes, gluten-rich dietary patterns, processed foods, food additives and changes in microbiota,” she says.