Source: Thailand Medical News Jan 01, 2020 4 years, 10 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, 2 hours, 29 minutes ago
According to new research by University of Alberta, in most cases, your
genes have less than five percent to do with your risk of developing a particular
disease.
The researchers examined two decades of data from studies on the relationships between common
gene mutations, also known as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and different diseases and conditions in a largest meta-analysis of its kind ever conducted. The results show that the links between most human diseases and
genetics are shaky at best.
University of Alberta computational biologist David Wishart, who was a co-author on the study told
Thailand Medical News, "Simply put, DNA is not your destiny, and SNPs are duds for
disease prediction. The vast majority of diseases including many cancers, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease have a
genetic contribution of five to 10 percent at best."
The new research also highlights some notable exceptions, including Crohn's disease, celiac
disease and macular degeneration, which have a
genetic contribution of about 40 to 50 percent.
Wishart added, "Despite these rare exceptions, it is becoming increasingly clear that the risks for getting most diseases arise from your metabolism, your environment, your lifestyle or your exposure to various kinds of nutrients, chemicals, bacteria or viruses."
The research findings fly in the face of many modern
gene testing business models, which suggest
gene testing can accurately predict someone's risk for
disease.
The researchers suggested non-
genetic indicators that may provide a much more accurate measure of human
disease risk and are also more accurate for diagnosis.
Wishart further added,"The bottom line is that if you want to have an accurate measure of your health, your propensity for
disease or what you can do about it, it's better to measure your metabolites, your microbes or your proteins not your
genes.This research also highlights the need to understand our environment and the safety or quality of our food, air and water."
The research study, "Assessing the Performance of Genome-Wide Association Studies for Predicting
Disease Risk," was published in
PLOS ONE.
Reference : Jonas Patron et al. Assessing the performance of genome-wide association studies for predicting disease risk, PLOS ONE (2019). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0220215
