Consumer genetics is generally provided by the commercial laboratories directly to consumers with their own genetic information without any need for prescription or involvement of a healthcare provider such as doctors or consultants or any other third party. It provides a broad range of services like health, ancestry and lifestyle information related to an individual.
The genetic information provided in here varies from person to person. It can state whether an individual is allergic to any food or material, whether he/she has risk to cause certain diseases like cardiovascular
disease, diabetes, etc or it can even help to know how an individual can respond to certain drugs. If the test results indicate that an individual has a genetic variant for a certain disease or trait of
interest, then he/she may take immediate steps to improve their own health and combat adverse stages of the same. Consumer genetics mainly helps in increasing the awareness and importance of genetic testing
among the population.
Major types of consumer genetic tests include:
A healthy and fit body is usually what every individual craves for. As per research, almost 100 to 1000 genes are present which influence the way our body responds and adapts to particular exercise. These genes allow us to measure various keys of fitness such as muscle performance, endurance ability, cardiac performance, oxygen intake, etc.
Genetic testing helps determine how genes are influencing response to exercise training and predisposition to injuries and chronic diseases. Our genetics also influences whether or not an individual is well suited for a certain type of exercise. Getting tested does not mean that an individual should stop some activity, it means that he/she need to take extra efforts to boost their performance.
Genetics play a crucial role in determining sports performance of an individual. Hence, such tests are useful for a sportsperson to understand their genes better and boost their performance by involving small improvements.
If you are a person who is looking for weight loss, this test can make it possible. The test can tell you which fitness activity can boost to burn your calories.This can help an individual achieve fitness goals which helps build their strengths.
Genetic Nutrition testing, also known as nutritional genomics, is the study which depicts the interaction of food molecules with our genes. It helps us know how the food we eat can change our genetic make up. This test provides us the information to understand which nutrients are suitable for our optimal health and also why some people are more susceptible to a particular type of disease.
For example, if an individual is detected by a genetic marker that can contribute to diabetic condition, he/she can change their dietary plans accordingly thus delaying the onset of disease. Thus. Nutrigenomics testing helps us to understand about our system and pick better lifestyle and food choices accordingly.
Common traits are basically personality traits that relatively include thoughts, feelings and behavior of an individual that determines their tendency to respond in certain ways under certain circumstances. Personality is influenced by genetic and environmental factors and are mainly associated with the mental health of an individual. In Genetic testing, personality or common traits are usually tested using a “Five Factor Model” (FFM), also known as ‘The Big Five.’ They are mentioned as follows;
- Extraversion - reflects talkativeness, assertiveness and activity level.
- Neuroticism - denotes negative affect like anxiety and depression.
- Agreeableness - measures cooperativeness and compassion.
- Conscientiousness - depicts order and discipline.
- Openness to experience - captures intellectual curiosity and creativity
Personality test can help an individual know about his/her unique strengths and weaknesses. This type of testing can help you understand your own personality, so that you are able to ask for your needs, connect more easily, and optimize your behavior.
Most of the population may carry the risk for a particular disorder such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, etc even though they show no symptoms for the same. The genetic test can confirm or rule out a suspected genetic condition or help determine a person’s chance of developing or passing on a genetic disorder.
This includes mainly testing of the ‘carrier status’, i.e, whether the person carries genes for certain type of diseases or not. It also helps to predict the response of an individual to various drugs related to any condition. Early detection or prediction of certain disease can help you approach better treatment or can help you adapt better lifestyle, dietary and fitness patterns that can delay the onset of that particular disease.