From DNA to Daily Life: Applying Genetic Test Results to Health and Wellness

Genetic tests give you information about variants that have been associated with certain traits. This information is one of the pieces of data you can consider in your lifestyle decisions; however, on its own it does not determine your health outcome, your performance or how you will live. In this article we explain how you can bring genetic test results into daily life and where you should stop.

What does a genetic test result tell you, and what doesn't it?

A genetic predisposition shows that a particular trait or response may be more likely than average; it is not a certain outcome. Most traits studied in sport, nutrition and health are influenced by many genes, each making a small contribution; sleep, nutrition, physical activity and environment are often more decisive. The microarray method used in commercial tests does not sequence the whole genome; it reads selected variants. You can find details of the method on our Science & Safety page.

In sport and training planning

If your test results show a tendency toward endurance or power, you can take this into account in your training plan; however, the result does not determine which sport you should do. For example, the ACTN3 variant has been reproducibly associated with power and sprint performance, but its effect is small, and international consensus statements do not recommend using genetic tests for performance prediction or talent selection. A more realistic approach is to share the findings with your coach and use them as additional data in planning load, recovery and warm-up. You can see how these topics are presented in the Sports & Fitness Genetics report.

In nutrition

Some variants are strongly associated with nutrition-related traits; lactase persistence and caffeine metabolism are examples. Findings like these can be a starting point for small experiments, such as moving caffeine to earlier in the day. Your vitamin and mineral levels, however, can only be measured with a blood test; a genetic finding does not replace that measurement. Make supplement decisions together with your doctor.

In preventive health

Genetic findings give you an opportunity to think about which topics you could discuss more regularly with your doctor. The report does not make a diagnosis; your family history, examination and laboratory results always take priority. A tendency does not mean the condition will develop; a low tendency does not mean there is no risk.

Does information alone change behavior?

Research shows that learning DNA-based risk information alone changes smoking, eating or physical activity habits very little or not at all. Personalized nutrition advice may lead to more behavior change than general advice; however, adding genetic information to that advice has not so far been shown to provide any additional benefit. That is why turning the results into concrete, small steps together with an expert matters more than reading the report.

Bringing your results into daily life step by step

• When reading your report, look at the evidence level of each finding (strong, moderate, limited); approach findings with limited evidence more cautiously.
• Share health-related findings with your doctor and sport findings with your coach.
• Try one small change at a time and observe its effect for a few weeks.
• Do not make medication, supplement or treatment decisions based on the genetic result alone.

If you would like to see how findings are presented in a report, you can explore our sample report page. For the package covering preventive health topics, see the Genetic Health Map page.

References

• Hollands GJ, French DP, Griffin SJ et al. The impact of communicating genetic risks of disease on risk-reducing health behaviour: systematic review with meta-analysis. BMJ 2016. PMID: 26979548. doi:10.1136/bmj.i1102
• Celis-Morales C, Livingstone KM, Marsaux CF et al. Effect of personalized nutrition on health-related behaviour change: evidence from the Food4Me European randomized controlled trial. Int J Epidemiol 2017. PMID: 27524815. doi:10.1093/ije/dyw186
• Webborn N, Williams A, McNamee M et al. Direct-to-consumer genetic testing for predicting sports performance and talent identification: Consensus statement. Br J Sports Med 2015. PMID: 26582191. doi:10.1136/bjsports-2015-095343
• Ma F, Yang Y, Li X et al. The association of sport performance with ACE and ACTN3 genetic polymorphisms: a systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2013. PMID: 23358679. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054685
• Enattah NS, Sahi T, Savilahti E et al. Identification of a variant associated with adult-type hypolactasia. Nat Genet 2002. PMID: 11788828. doi:10.1038/ng826
• Wang TJ, Zhang F, Richards JB et al. Common genetic determinants of vitamin D insufficiency: a genome-wide association study. Lancet 2010. PMID: 20541252. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60588-0