Saturday Quack – Home Genetic Testing

At least 14 companies in the USA have been marketing home DNA kits that claim to warn people of their potential risk of conditions like cancer or osteoporosis. However, FDA and GAO (Governmental Accountability Office) investigations are ongoing, and the Senate Special Committee on Aging has held a hearing.

Many of the tests are called ‘nutrigenetic tests’, and their results are accompanied by recommendations for nutritional substances to ward off the indicted disorder. Clients have to fill in a lifestyle questionnaire and submit it together with a swab taken from inside their cheek. The problem is that most of the test reports are based on the lifestyle answers, rather than the DNA results.

The GAO took samples from two people and sent them to 14 different labs under fictitious names. They found that the results differed from lab to lab, and were not ‘clinically valid’. The y made unproven and ambiguous predictions, and encouraged clients to purchase expensive nutritional supplements related to their specified risk.

This seems to be a more sophisticated version of the old quackery, in which people with different blood groups are told they need to take different diets and/or supplements to ward off diseases associated with their blood group.

When in doubt, you should check with your doctor before spending a lot of money to get valueless information and avoid being sucked into buying unnecessary supplements.