You’ve likely seen the news of late about the genetic testing which is sweeping the nation. The tests such as 23andMe and a few others are all the rage.

Cocktail party discussion of your famous ancestor and whether you’ll die of heart disease along with your cheese and crackers. Umm... no thanks.

They suggest that they can predict your likelihood of contracting a host of scary diseases. But, is the information that they provide accurate and actionable to us… or just more scare tactics and blurry, worry data?

You know us by now. We try to take an anti-alarmist approach to the new and shiny coming off the medical presses. After all, this is not our first rodeo.

The idea is that, if you know your DNA, you’ll know your likelihood for an array of maladies. Alzheimer’s, Diabetes, heart disease and cancers chief among them.

But our DNA is not our destiny. The medical establishment has a term for the interplay of (DNA + Environment) called epigenetics.

The truth of the matter is that our DNA can only predict the propensity for us to develop these maladies and not a certainty. This, even before we get to the question of “Do I really want to know?”

Recently, the lab that brought us the BRCA2 test, a test used to predict(?) genetic cancers of the breast and uterus stepped back from their previously stated policy to announce that the BRCA2 is “indeterminate” regarding these serious cancers. Many women had prophylactic mastectomies or hysterectomies upon the results of this now questionable test.

Keep calm and carry on is the order of the day.

It’s best to remember that the epi part of epigenetics is key. That prefix implies features that are "on top of" or "in addition to" the genetic code.

Our self-made environment...

Diet, exercise, supplements, regular doctor visits and quality sleep.

We are not advocating for a dismissal of regular diagnostic tests, but rather a grain of salt when something new… and untested… comes along.

In the movie Terminator, Sarah Connor scratches into a picnic table...

So, let us make our own fate and destiny by living well and right, independent of our propensities.

Yours in health,