DNA health test: what your genes can and can’t tell you

A DNA health test looks at the DNA you inherited from your parents, which stays the same all your life. Some tests check a set list of known variants, a method called genotyping; others look at whole genes for changes.^[1] What a test can tell you depends on the question it was built to answer.

Our genetic tests start with a sample you collect at home, and they’re genotyped in our own CLIA-certified laboratory in Chicago (New York orders excepted). Results are usually ready 5 to 7 business days after the lab receives your activated sample (10 to 14 business days during holiday weeks).

The same thing by another name: a test of your genes that answers a health question. Neither name means one standard product, so read what each test looks at before you compare them.

Each kind of test answers one kind of question. These are the questions our tests answer, each with a page that goes further.

Some genes affect how your body processes certain medicines. A pharmacogenomic (PGx) test reads them, and the result is something to talk through with your prescriber. It can’t say which medicine will work for you. GenePGx: Checks selected known variants in 15 genes, plus CYP2D6 copy number, by genotyping. GenePGx is for adults 18 and older. DNA tests for medications, explained.

Pharmacogenomic results describe how your body is likely to process certain medicines. They do not tell you whether a medicine will work for you, and they are not dosing instructions. Never start, stop or change a medication because of a genetic result. Bring it to the prescriber who manages your medicines.

Some inherited variants raise the chance of certain cancers, and testing tells the most to families where cancer shows a pattern. For people with no personal or family history of cancer, GeneCancer is our at-home option. Checks selected variants across 108 genes, including BRCA1 and BRCA2, by genotyping. A result with none found doesn’t rule out inherited risk. Hereditary cancer testing: who should test, and how.

If you or a close relative has had cancer, ask your doctor about full-gene clinical testing.

Other genes are studied for how they relate to everyday traits in diet, fitness, sleep and stress. These are patterns seen in groups of people, not predictions for you, and they can’t choose a diet or change your weight. GeneCore puts the diet, fitness and everyday-health areas in one report, and each area is also sold on its own. DNA nutrition tests, explained.

For general wellness and information, not diagnosis.

For a newborn, GeneBaby checks for some inherited conditions, to discuss with your pediatrician. It uses a gentle swab along your baby’s gums.

GeneBaby does not replace the newborn screening your state performs at birth, and it is not a diagnostic test. Deciding to test a child is a decision to make with your pediatrician.

• Whether you have a condition. None of these tests is a diagnosis. If you have symptoms, see your doctor.
• Your whole risk. Many things shape your health, including your environment and how you live. Your genes are one piece.^[2]
• Everything in a gene. A test of selected variants can miss the ones it doesn’t look for, so a result with nothing found can still leave you at risk.^[2]
• The same answer from every company. Companies don’t all test the same variants, so two tests can give different results for the same question.^[2]
• What to do next. A result is information to take to your clinician. Decisions about medicines, screening or treatment stay with the two of you.

A clinical genetic test is usually requested by a doctor, a genetic counselor or another health care provider who has looked at your personal and family history, and it may read whole genes.^[1] An at-home test starts with you, and ours check selected variants. If you have symptoms, or cancer runs in your family, start with your clinician. At-home or clinical testing? sets the two side by side for cancer.

Start from your question, not from the test. Then ask three things experts ask of any genetic test: how reliably it finds what it looks for, how closely what it looks for is tied to a health outcome, and whether the result helps with real decisions.^[3]

Not sure where your question fits? Find your test asks a few short questions and points you to one.

No. Oral Health DNA reads the DNA of microbes in your mouth, not your own DNA, so it says nothing about your genes.

Oral Health DNA is a laboratory-developed test performed in our own CLIA-certified laboratory. New York is the exception: orders shipped there are completed through a physician order or a reference laboratory permitted in New York. It has not been cleared or approved by the FDA. It measures the DNA of microbes in your saliva, not your DNA: it is not a genetic test, not a diagnosis, and not a prediction of any disease.

Every test and its price is on all tests. What genetic testing costs explains why prices vary from one test to another.