In Defense of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing

From the earliest days of the ambitious and high-budget Human Genome Project right through to our present-day marketplace of affordable direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing kits, much of the narrative-and controversy-has been focused on genes that tell us about disease risk. The interpretation of genetic information is moving away from the analysis of each gene in isolation and towards the analysis of families of genes that work together to control specific functions in the body (polygenic analysis). This approach has been determined to have a higher level of predictive ability in terms of defining the ways that genetic information can influence individual response to environment, lifestyle, and diet. While disease risk is the purview of specialized medical professionals, perhaps it is time to consider the many ways that DTC genetic testing could be used by consumers as a tool for self-discovery and optimized functional health.