The number of home DNA test kits that suggest nutrition and diet in line with your genes. These are based on the idea that each of us responds to food differently, due to our unique genetic make-up, so we have different nutritional needs. But science is emerging and there are calls for greater control of the industry. Can adapt your diet to your genes help improve your health?
The idea has been around since scientists finished mapping the human genome about 20 years ago. But recently DNA tests have become cheaper, faster, and more readily available for home use. These are sometimes known as direct-to-consumer genomic tests. A variety of tests can be purchased, including kits to review your lineage and assess the risk of developing certain health conditions.
You order your kit online, post a saliva sample or cheek swab, and have your DNA tested to find out if you carry genetic variations associated with certain food responses.
The report you will get back may include advice on eating or avoiding food DNA tests, how to lose or control your weight, and your need for specific vitamins and nutrients.
How do tests work?
But if an experiment shows that you can respond to nutrition in a certain way, that doesn’t mean you must. “Hereditary tendencies are just that,” says Dr. Keith Grimaldi, chief science officer at DNA Fit.
Like most DNA testing companies, DNA fit screens for gene variations where “a reasonable level of scientific sensitivity reduction based on human research” will have a special effect. Dr. G. Grimaldi says that if you carry the genetic variation CYP1A2 (AA), for example, you will “almost certainly” metabolize caffeine that no one else does. Therefore feel its effects more strongly. Probably people with a variety of MCM6 genes will tolerate the sugar lactose found in milk.
DNA testing helps reduce and manage obesity
According to Bimal Karani, Professor of Nutrigenetics and Neutrogenemics at the University of Reading. DNA testing is being successfully used to treat people with a genetic predisposition to obesity.
Variation in the FTO gene, also known as the ‘fat gene’, is strongly associated with a higher risk of obesity, especially within certain ethnic groups.
Does the DNA Home Test Kit work?
According to Dr. Jose Ordovis, director of nutrition and genomics at Tufts University in Boston. We currently have limited knowledge about the interaction between genes, nutrition, and health. There are millions of genetic variations in human DNA. Scientists still do not know how most of them affect the functioning of the body. How differences in one gene affect another.
Future DNA tests
Dr. Virani believes that nutritional testing will be more meaningful when combined with your individual digestion and metabolic processes: biological markers, metabolism. Other information about the intestinal microbiome.
So far, no single test has brought all this information together. Health science company ZOE will soon launch a home test kit in the UK that analyzes the response of your intestines, blood fats, and blood sugar to food. And some DNA testing companies do blood tests as an add-on to their genetic tests. But there are complex issues that affect our unique reactions to DNA food tests.
There is still a lot of work to do to understand how Bong combines all the information with algorithms that create useful dietary advice.
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