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You ca n’t change your genes , but you could modify your behavior , right ? Well , a Modern study finds that people who have a inherited trial outcome that differentiate them they are at high risk for lung malignant neoplastic disease or heart disease are n’t likely to change their health behaviour anyway .
research worker in England discover that providing the great unwashed with selective information about their estimated genetic jeopardy for developing certain diseases , such as diabetes , lung cancer , tegument canceror heart disease , had picayune or no effect on their health - related behavior , consort to the subject , published today ( March 15 ) in the journal The BMJ .
The results from genetic tests were just not a constituent that motivated people tochange their modus vivendi habits , especially when it came to quitting smoking and getting more exercise , the study showed .
For example , tobacco user who discover out they had an increased genetic risk of developing lung Cancer the Crab were not more motivated to cease smoke than those who were not told they had a higher genetic risk of exposure of lung cancer . And telling middle - aged men and women they weremore potential to develop diabetesdid not appear to encourage them to begin a even use political program , grant to the study .
These finding were not surprising , say Theresa Marteau , lead author of the study and a prof of behavior and health at the University of Cambridge in England . Other studies have shown that communicating entropy about perceived risk generally has a small impact on the type of wellness behaviors that were measure in this review study , namely , smoke , forcible inactiveness and diet , she say . [ 9 Healthy Habits you’re able to Do in 1 Minute ( Or Less ) ]
In the reassessment subject , the research worker analyse information call for from 18 dissimilar studies of more than 6,100 adults years 30 to 56 . The studies all involved one radical of participants who received personalized , DNA - base estimates of their disease jeopardy for circumstance whose danger could be reduced by behavior change , compared with a second group who did not instruct their disease risk of infection from genetic testing .
Personalized familial testing
Companies that offer " personalized medicine " or sell genetic - examination services to consumers may claim that obtaining these results could possibly motivate mass to change their behaviors and gain their health .
But the new finding intimate this is not the compositor’s case .
The reason may be that people are n’t propel to make changes that may reduce their jeopardy of foresighted - term threats , such as the possibility of developing diabetes in the next 10 year , Marteau evidence Live Science .
She said another grounds why the risk estimates may not have much influence is because the behavior that needs to change is one that isroutine or habitual , such as eating cooky with coffee , and it ’s sluttish to continue doing that because mass subsist in an environment with a ready provision of cheesy , tasty cookies and coffee .
" Information is , at dear , a weak treatment for exchange demeanor , " Marteau said .
The results from this review bring home the bacon no grounds to abide the use of personalized genetical testing as part of policy to change people ’s demeanour to preclude coarse , complex diseases , such as diabetes , heart disease and many form of cancer , she pronounce .
Instead of rely on selective information to helpchange people ’s behavioron a large enough scale to forbid chronic diseases , a more efficient feeler is to shift cues in the environment to make sound behavior more in all likelihood , Marteau said .
For model , this may involve putting cigarettes in manifest packets to remove branding pool stick that may appeal to children , serve beer in straight rather than curved glasses to reduce the speed and overall consumption of inebriant , and placing solid food on small-scale plates to reduce the amount feed at repast , she said .
However , although data from genetic examination may have small effect on changing health behaviour , it may have other benefits , she take note .
The tests may have a office in dividing population by their risk degree , so that hoi polloi at increase hazard of a yield condition could be offer discussion , such as surgery or medication , or be give more frequent screenings for that condition to help reduce their endangerment , Marteau said . [ 7 disease you’re able to Learn About from a Genetic Test ]
Or the examination results could be supplemented by the offer of effective behaviour - change programs , such as fume cessation programs that use a compounding of behavioural and pharmacological strategies , and commercial weight - loss programme , such as Weight Watchers , she enunciate .
People will see genetic - testing kits and may desire to buy them to study their peril of disease , and some may purchase the test , thinking it will motivate them to change their behavior , Marteau say .
But , she advises , " buyer beware . " consumer should understand that the scientific evidence suggest that they would be as likely or as unlikely to shift their health behavior had they not undergone transmitted examination , Marteau said .
