All Those Internet Genetic Testing Services - Are They Really Any Good

People these days often believe that genetic testing - a cheap test that costs around a couple of hundred dollars - will right away have them learn about all the different diseases they could be at risk for. It's in fact just a way to know a little bit more about yourself.

It's all been going quite well for a few years for the Internet genetic testing companies. But now, there's been a bit of inconvenience brought into this whole comfortable situation. The Johns Hopkins University has done studies on genetic testing. They found that for most intents and purposes, genetic testing is quite useless. These test results don't give you any actionable information on most common diseases.

It's not that the technology that we have today is inadequate even if it isn't all that advanced. It's just that genetics is not where all the action is. You can't look at a person's genetic susceptibility for a disease and right away think that he's going to get it. Your environment apparently is very important, too.

Not only do you need to look at the results of your genetic tests, you also need to take preventive action as much as is possible. Diagnose diseases early and live healthy. If you believe that genetic testing is a kind of blueprint of everything that's going to happen to you health-wise, there is another think coming.

And even if genetic testing is a helpful thing in general, the study wonders about how useful or reliable an Internet test can be. These reports need experts and protection. You need a doctor sitting next to you explaining what everything means. If you don't have that, your test results are either just going to scare you, or they are going to lull you into a false sense of security.

A lot of the time, people get these tests done and their results tell them that they are not at risk for any of the major diseases. Right away, they feel wonderful. This is not to mention they take it to mean that they're not going to get anything. That makes no sense. If you have a drinking habit and you live right next to a fertilizer plant - these things really are going to have an effect - a far stronger effect than what the genes have to say about it.

Some doctors would liken your genome to sheet music. Sheet music is not a CD. A CD, and no matter what music player you put it into, is going to sound more or less the same. When it's sheet music, there's only limited information in there. A lot depends on the musician with the music instrument who's reading it, interpreting it and playing it. You can consider your environment to be the musician to your genome that is sheet music.