What can your DNA tell you about your health?
It can show how you may respond to some medicines and which health checks may be worth starting earlier. It can also show conditions you could pass on to a child, and how you handle some nutrients. Most results change your odds. A DNA test does not diagnose disease.
Mostly tendencies, a few clear results
Most of what DNA shows is a tendency. A tendency raises or lowers the chance of something. Your habits, your surroundings and chance decide the rest.
A few results are clearer. Most people carry at least one variant that changes how their body handles certain medicines. A small number of rare variants greatly raise the risk of a specific condition.
Each result should be weighed with your age, family history and other health information.
What a DNA test can cover
- Medicines. Some variants change how your body handles certain medicines, such as some antidepressants, painkillers and blood thinners. Take any such result to your doctor before changing a medicine.
- Health checks. Some results suggest starting a check earlier or doing it more often, such as a cholesterol test or a cancer screening.
- Conditions you could pass on to a child. Carrier screening looks for variants that usually cause no illness in you. A child can be affected if both parents carry a variant for the same condition. The genes in the carrier screen.
- Food and nutrients. Common variants influence how you digest milk and process alcohol, fats and some vitamins. That is one reason two people can eat the same way and feel different.
- Ancestry and traits. These are the most firmly established results for most people.
What DNA cannot show
Your DNA sequence stays the same for life. So it cannot show whether you are ill today, or measure how fast you are aging. For that you need your doctor, blood tests and other measurements.
How much a DNA test can tell you
Two things decide how much a DNA test can tell you.
The first is how much of your DNA is tested. Tests such as 23andMe check about 600,000 to 700,000 chosen positions. Whole-genome sequencing covers about 3 billion, which is how it finds most rare variants. Whole genome vs a DNA array.
The second is who explains the results. The same variant can mean different things for different people. It depends on ancestry, health history and how strong the research is. In a Helixir report, a scientist checks every result in the report. How the analysis works.
Informational and educational, not a diagnosis. Bring anything of medical consequence to your physician.
Test once. Keep it for life.
Your DNA stays the same all your life. Adriano De Marino, PhD, reviews every report.
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