The global Direct-to-Consumer genetic testing market was valued at over $1 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow to over $3 billion in 2025.
Thousands of people will be ‘giving the gift of health’ to friends and family this holiday season in the form of a low-cost DNA test.
Unfortunately DNA testing is an inexact science that’s prone to errors throughout almost every step of the process. And according to new research a DNA test is not a reliable predictor of health either.
A new research study published by a team from the University of Alberta shows that genetics only contributes 5-10% to chances of developing the majority of diseases or conditions (cancer, diabetes, Alzheimers, etc.).
Notable exceptions are Crohn’s disease, Celiac disease and Macular Degeneration, which have a genetic contribution or heritability of about 40-50%.
The study was led by Dr. David Wishart, a chief scientist at Vancouver’s Molecular You Corp.
Molecular You is a personalized digital health company with a mission to deliver true precision health on a single platform that empowers individuals to take control of their health.
The paper, “Assessing the performance of genome-wide association studies for predicting disease risk,” demonstrates that variations in an individual’s genetic code contribute far less to disease risk than expected.
In particular, these new findings indicate that variations in the genetic code, or SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms), contribute only 5-10% to a person’s chance of developing a disease.
This challenges the assumptions of most genetic researchers and the claims of many consumer genetic tests, which have asserted that genes contribute significantly to human health and disease.
What does it mean in practical terms? According to Molecular You, if you want to know your health risks you should look at metabolite, protein and microbe testing – not genetic testing.
As Dr. Wishart said, “Our destiny is not in our genes.”
According to Dr. Wishart, other contributions, such as diet, lifestyle, age and exposure to chemicals or microbes contribute far more to a person’s health and disease risk. These contributions can be much more accurately measured using metabolite and exposure analysis—two fields of molecular profiling offered by Molecular You.
Molecular You’s flagship AI-assisted digital health platform, MY Health Intelligence, generates personal health assessments and Lifestyle Action Plans through a visually intuitive dashboard based an individual’s multi-dimensional blood biomarker data (metabolites, proteins, nutrients, environmental exposures).
MY Health Tracker is the company’s smart phone app that helps customers conveniently track their progress and stay engaged with their Lifestyle Action Plans on an ongoing basis.
