Anyone heard of this? any thoughts?
I think that may be a super interesting idea in about 40 years if a lot of smart people work on it.
My thoughts are that many triathlete’s “greatest fear” is not that they have sucky genes but that they have potential, so a lot of people would be psyched to pay the $189 so they can say “I’m slow because of my genetics. Pass me another donut.”
I would love to see how they would suggest changing someone’s training plan though based on the results.
You’re paying $190 for a gimmick and some novelty. Its neat but I’d be extremely dubious as to any advice they can provide based on genetic testing. I’m sure they have evidence to support each of the genes they are testing (ie- such and such polymorphism was associated with higher aerobic capacity in rats) but these studies are all likely to be animal model based or correlative in nature. So sure, the correlations might exist but its far from conclusive proof. Your money might be better spent on genetic counseling in looking for known polymorphisms in cancer-causing genes (ie- BRCA1 and 2).
Bear in mind we still don’t really have any idea about the genetics of many complex diseases. Its not as simple as Gene “x” gives you cancer or heart disease and Gene “y” protects you.
What would be really interesting would be to genotype every pro cyclist past and present and look for the correlations there. My guess is you wouldn’t be able to pinpoint much. They’ve looked at genomes of African elite runners and its still not very clear why they are the best runners in the world: http://www.runnersworld.com/elite-runners/the-latest-on-african-running-supremacy
one word - pseudoscience.
I think that may be a super interesting idea in about 40 years if a lot of smart people work on it.
my father is a ph.d geneticist and when i asked him about this idea his sentiment echoed this.
I didn’t read the link. But, my wife and I did sign up for DNA testing on 23andme.com last year. Back then, they were allowed to not only send you your ancestry make up, but also your genetic likelihood of getting certain medical conditions. What was creepy was that I have all three of the top three conditions listed on my report.
Perfect solution for determining whether or not a former “pro” should be eligible to snatch AG World’s spots.
It’s really a way to get a DNA profile so over-zealous officials can hunt down people dropping empty get packets or water bottles.
My colleagues keep telling me that there is good money selling sh!t to stupid people. That sentiment is at times a little oversimplistic, but mostly accurate. In this case, I am assuming that you are just ignorant (and not stupid) on the subject of DNA testing, in which case I am in a position to provide some limited guidance. What specifically are you asking about this? If you are asking if it is a good deal, or if it will be informative to you; then no, it will not be (it will be a waste of money). If you are asking if the information that they provide may be useful in the years to come, then again, most likely it will not (due to what they look at and the way that they gather that information). If you are asking if this is something that may be interesting in the future, then I can say that you will probably see something which provides some real data in about 10 years or so (this is my guesstimate). There are molecular techniques which are available right now, but are not utilized because of dogma within the molecular biology community; so availability will depend on how fast heads are pulled out of the sand as to how fast (or even if) a really meaningful analysis of this type will be available. As a telltale, you can utilize health diagnostics. When tests are available which tell you your probability of coming down with a certain disease state within a specific time period, you will know that it has caught on, and tests for ‘play things’ like athletic ability will follow up.
Stephen J
In terms of athletic value, I suspect it tells you what you already know. Endurance athletes will be told they have a high proportion of slowtwitch fibers and sprinters see the opposite. It will be fascinating to see in the decades to come what will emerge here but I don’t see it as illuminating much these days. The one case where I think people have found value is when they may have limited knowledge of their family background. From an emotional/psychological standpoint I’ve heard it to be a comfort to some adopted people to discover the existence of relatives.
one word - pseudoscience.
No pseudoscience; just bad science.
Stephen J