You probably know whether you are allergic to dogs…
So imagine your surprise when you see a genetic report that gives you the opposite result you would expect based on what you know about yourself.
You know you’re not the one who is WRONG… Fido either does or doesn’t make you sneeze. It’s a fact, right?
So why does your report say the opposite of what you know is true?
Genetic health reports are really just a prediction based on available information and statistics.
The #1 health DNA testing myth is that your DNA is cold, hard truth… And that when it gets something “wrong,” it means the DNA testing company messed up…
But when DNA companies are analyzing your genetic data, it’s literally a computer program reporting the genetic variations it sees. There isn’t much room for error. 99.9% of the variations read by the computers are reported correctly.
So what’s wrong with the reports then?
The reality is that environmental factors and the old “nature vs nurture” battles play as big of roles in your health as your DNA does.
To complicate matters even further: Genes have a way of being “turned on” and “turned off.”
You may have all the right genetic variations for a dog allergy, but those genes may be “turned off,” so you don’t sneeze when Fido jumps up onto the couch with you.
This phenomenon is called “gene expression.”
Now, for a quick exercise:
Look around where you’re sitting right now (or standing or lying down or swimming)… Find the nearest lamp. Floor lamp, overhead lamp, street lamp, it doesn’t matter.
If that lamp is turned on, it’s shining light.
If that lamp is turned off, it’s NOT shining light.
Mind-blowing concepts, I know…
Let’s take it deeper:
Imagine you’re in a DNA molecule right now and that lamp is one of these genetic variations we keep talking about…
If the lamp is on, you’re more likely to be allergic to dogs.
If the lamp is off—or if there is no light in the room—you’re less likely to be allergic to dogs.
The trouble with a DNA test is that it can’t tell whether the lamp is on or not. A DNA test can only see whether there is a lamp, not whether it’s shining light.
When CRI Genetics scientists put together your health and trait reports, they make predictions based on the available information.
If there is a lamp in the room, there’s a higher probability that there is light shining in that room, right?
If there is NOT a lamp in the room, there’s a lower probability that there is light shining in that room.
The same goes with genetic variations…
If you have certain genetic variations in your DNA, there’s a higher probability that you also have the traits associated with them.
If you do NOT have those variations, there’s a lower probability that you have the traits associated with them.
Let’s make it even more complicated and talk about “Nature vs Nurture”…
If we return to the metaphor about whether there is light shining in a room…
Even if your room has no lamp at all, there’s still a possibility that light is shining from an environmental source, such as sunlight through a window. Unfortunately, a DNA test can’t see that either. It can only see if there is a lamp or not.
Your DNA is an amazing thing. It created YOU in all your glory, after all…
But it’s not the only thing that plays into making you who you are.
For example, there are no genes that can predict what languages and dialects you speak. That’s largely determined by where you grew up and how you were raised.
For all of the traits your DNA can predict, there are always still environmental factors that could cause a gene to be expressed (“turned on”) or not.
Your diet, the climate you live in, and levels of air pollution are all just a few examples of the many environmental factors that could play a role.
You could have all the right genetic variations for dog allergies, but those genes could be silenced by factors in your environment or lifestyle.
You could have NONE of the right genetic variations for dog allergies, but experience dog allergies anyway for non-genetic reasons.
No genetic health report is a guarantee
Remember, a DNA test can only see whether you have certain variations and make a prediction based on that information.
DNA tests can’t see whether genes are expressed (“turned on”) and they can’t see what environmental or lifestyle factors are at play.
So when a genetic health report appears to be WRONG, all it really means is that your genes on that marker are either not being expressed or they’re being counteracted by non-genetic factors.
Even when they appear to be “wrong,” your genetic health reports are still giving you valuable information. At CRI Genetics, we want our health reports to empower you with self-knowledge you can use to make health-conscious changes to your environment or lifestyle.
While it’s great to get a heads up about a potential health concern you want to counteract… It’s also a great thing to find out you’re already counteracting some, isn’t it?
I don’t know about you, but I love finding out I already solved a problem I didn’t know existed.
So here’s to those “wrong” reports. *CHEERS*
