Wednesday, August 18, 2010

DNA Is a Doctor's Best Friend

The Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH):

"It did affect me to find out that I was at risk for diabetes, which I had no family history of. But my family has all been extremely lean and I was not so lean, as I discovered when I got this information," Collins says.

The "wake-up call" led Collins to switch up his diet and start an exercise program.

His efforts helped him drop 25 pounds.

That impact on behavior is far from universal though. Feedback of DNA based risk assessments does not motivate behaviour change, found a recent BMJ study: http://goo.gl/3HaRy


Human chromosomes (grey) capped by telomeres (white). Image source: Wikipedia, public domain.

References:

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