Can hacking into your DNA lead to a leaner, fitter body?
SINGAPORE — Lose weight faster, boost athletic performance in a shorter time, and prevent premature skin ageing. In an emerging field known as wellness genomics, these are now all possible by tweaking your lifestyle based on your unique genetic code.
Wellness genomics refers to the science of identifying the genetic variations present in a person’s DNA with specific wellness traits.
“We believe that our bodies hold the key to customisation — our genes greatly affect our skin health, athletic potential and nutrition needs, so it is only natural that we work with our intrinsic needs.
‘‘There is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to wellness, especially for people with specific goals like weight loss or fitness performance. What works for someone may not be as effective for another person,” said Dr Wong Mun Yew, managing director of Imagene Labs, the latest company here to offer DNA tests for wellness purposes.
From S$249 per test, a person may undergo a DNA test with Imagene Labs, which involves collecting a saliva sample that unlocks information on his or her unique genetic markers affecting skin, fitness or nutrition needs.
Based on the results, the client receives a report detailing personalised lifestyle recommendations backed by global scientific research.
While the use of DNA testing for wellness purposes is not new in Singapore, Imagene Labs is the first company in South-east Asia to carry out the genetic tests in-house at its lab facility, which is accredited to international standards, said Dr Wong. It also offers personalised services and products such as nutritional supplements and facial serums based on their clients’ genetic results.
Since its launch in September, Dr Wong said “hundreds of tests” have been run at its lab facility. Most clients are aged between 25 and 35, who want to know how their lifestyle choices can affect their wellbeing, he said.
The company, which plans to expand in the region next year, will also launch two mobile and Web apps using artificial intelligence technology to enable people to track health and wellness improvements early next year.
ENABLING SMARTER LIFESTYLE CHOICES
While there are fundamental practices for good health, individuals can cut out the guesswork and hone in on what works for them using information from genetic tests, said Ms Alina Uchida, Imagene Labs’ product development director.
For instance, this writer’s DNA profile on fitness revealed a strong inclination to stress fractures (small cracks in the bones) and overall injury risk. High impact sports that involve sudden changes of direction like rugby or soccer are not recommended for people with such genetic tendencies.
“If you tend to injure yourself a lot, how else would you know that you are highly predisposed to stress fractures without doing (a genetic test)? Knowing that, you would avoid high impact sports involving a lot of jumping, and do more activities like stretching or strength training,” said Ms Uchida.
However, she emphasised that results from the genetic test are not a diagnostic tool. Neither are recommendations provided meant to treat or cure diseases.
UNLIKELY TO BENEFIT HEALTH, SAYS U.K. EXPERT
Traditionally, DNA sequencing is used to identify known diseases or provide insights into specific tumour subtypes to help doctors diagnose or treat cancer patients, said Dr Yong Chern Chet, chief executive officer of ParkwayHealth Laboratory, which provides genetic testing for clinical purposes. But outside of a clinical setting, can genetic testing be used to make lifestyle and wellness recommendations that actually work?
Take genetic-driven wellness services with a dose of scepticism, some experts told TODAY.
“If you have money to spare, getting a DNA profile may be interesting but it’s unlikely to benefit most people’s health and well-being,” said Professor John Mathers, director of Human Nutrition Research Centre in the Institute of Cellular Medicine and Institute for Ageing at Newcastle University (UK).
Prof Mathers added that while there is good evidence to show that a person’s genetic makeup affects many aspects of his health, such as body size and shape, how he copes with infections and responds to nutrition, the current evidence on using DNA information to improve one’s health and well-being is weak.
In a European Union-funded research project known as the Food4MeStudy, researchers tested the idea that personalised nutrition would enable people to make more appropriate changes in their diets than can be achieved with conventional one-size-fits-all advice. Prof Mathers, who was part of the research, said, “Our major finding was that people who received personalised nutrition advice did better than those who received conventional dietary advice.
‘‘However, we saw no evidence that adding phenotype or genotype-based information had any added benefit.”
The phenotype refers to physical characteristics, such as body type and shape, while genotype is the set of genes in one’s DNA responsible for a particular trait.
According to Dr Yong, genetic testing used in a wellness setting is based on a similar approach used in clinical testing, but the majority of the tests focus more on a correlation factor used to infer a trait or characteristic in an individual.
But correlation does not translate to causation; mutations and variations in human gene sequences are known to correlate to specific diseases but there are no long-term studies to establish the cause, said Associate Professor Tan Nguan Soon from the School of Biological Sciences and Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University.
“It does not guarantee you’ll get (a disease), just as results showing no risk markers doesn’t mean you are not at risk,” added Dr Yong.
A ‘HALF-TRUTH’, SAYS NTU EXPERT
NTU’s Assoc Prof Tan said: “This is one of those ‘half-truth’ things ... As research has shown, genomic sequence is not the determining factor (whether a person develops certain diseases).” He added that external factors such as the environment play an important role — something that Imagene Labs has also addressed.
Its lab reports for clients include the note that most wellness traits are influenced by three factors: Nature (genetics), nurture (upbringing), and current lifestyle (choice/ behaviour).
Its report states: “You can use (the test results) to overcome your potential predispositions through a change in lifestyle. For example, people predisposed to exercise aversion find it more difficult to motivate themselves to exercise than those without this predisposition. If your result shows an aversion to exercise, yet you are very active, your family upbringing and personal choices may overcome your genetics.” But Assoc Prof Tan said companies offering DNA wellness testing “play on the Catch-22”.
“Say someone went through the test and was ‘prognosed’ with a high risk of osteoporosis, and the companies recommend a diet. If one followed their recommended diet and did not develop osteoporosis, the companies say their genetic sequencing has prevented that. If this person develops osteoporosis, the company can say the genetic sequencing predicted correctly,” he said.
“Regardless of the outcome, they will always have the ‘right’ thing to say.” For most people, healthy lifestyle habits are sufficient to reduce the risk of most health issues, according to Prof Mathers and Assoc Prof Tan.
“If everyone adhered to national healthy eating and physical activity guidelines and avoided smoking, this would have a much bigger public health benefit than the dissemination of individual DNA profiles,” said Prof Mathers.
While it is premature to assess benefits from recommendations derived from wellness genetic tests, Dr Yong believes there is “potential” in this field.
“As more data are collected over time and the genetic library (of genetic traits and their known correlations) builds up, stronger correlations can then be established on how different types of diets or exercises are suitable for certain people. If a person is currently practising a well-balanced lifestyle, additional insights from wellness genetic testing could still help refine one’s present lifestyle,” he said.
