If you had the chance to know if you are at a higher risk of developing a dangerous disease down the line, would you take it? Knowing what is coming ahead of time is rarely possible, but with the help of genetic testing, you can be one step ahead when it comes to arguably the most important aspect of life: our health. Below, we explain how predictive genetic testing helps secure your long-term health.
Verify your risk of genetic disorders
Getting a home DNA test in Singapore, such as a Disease Susceptibility Gene Test, allows you to discover potential inherited medical conditions. This is valuable information since it can often explain the presence of symptoms that do not always have a clear cause.
For instance, if you are experiencing difficulties in concentrating, genetic testing can help reveal if you have attention-deficit disorder (ADD) or not. Similarly, people having trouble with unexplained and frequent mood swings can use genetic tests to learn if they possess genes that may contribute to bipolar disorder.
Learn the potential of late-onset genetic diseases ahead of time
Not all genetic diseases arise in the early stages of life. For the most part, many people in their childhood and adulthood carry defective genes that put them at risk of developing certain kinds of illnesses once they get older. These hereditary conditions include cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, while others are medical conditions like chronic kidney disease, arthritis, and diabetes.
Taking a DNA test helps to uncover your risk of the most prevalent diseases today, along with the recommended preventative steps you can take to intervene and control the factors that can trigger the onset of said diseases.
Lead to better nutrition
Nutritional genomics or nutrigenomics is the relationship between diet, nutrients, and gene expression. Essentially, it seeks to understand the effects of food on a person’s genes and, in turn, how it affects the way their body responds to food.
Nutrigenomics aims to learn more about how diet and genes could affect a person’s overall health and risk of developing diseases. Although DNA test kits cannot provide all the answers regarding which foods are best for you and which ones to avoid, there is still value in understanding your genetic code better, leading to more informed decisions that affect your fitness and health. Read more about how DNA Fitness Tests work here.
Discover potential genetic diseases within your community
Some communities worldwide have been identified to have a heightened risk of having specific genetic disorders. For instance, African Americans are at a much higher risk of developing sickle cell disease (SCD) compared to the general population.
Another example is those whose lineage stems from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe, who are highly likely to carry the Tay-Sachs genetic disorder. If you come from one of these at-risk groups, taking an ethnicity test could prove beneficial in better understanding the risks to your health and playing a significant role in the potential risk exposure of your future offspring.
Final word
As the saying goes, ‘health is wealth’. Given how our health dictates a big part of our lives, it only makes sense to spare no effort to ensure that we are always at our best. Although general health check-ups in Singapore and other similar tests ensure your well-being in the short term, trying out genetic testing can help extend this assurance into your older years.
