Home DNA Test Kits
Home DNA Health Test Kits
Home DNA health tests can give you a large amount of information from your genes and certain aspects of your genetic health. Certain predispositions and risks of diseases can be identified by having a closer look at your DNA - the blueprint of life.
DNA is in all body cells and influences how humans develop. It contains our genetic information and the many genetic predispositions that are within us. This ranges from hair and eye colour to the characteristics of your metabolism and the predisposition to becoming overweight and certain diseases. In addition, every person’s DNA is absolutely unique. It is also known as a "genetic fingerprint", which can be used to identify people beyond any doubt using DNA testing.
What are DNA tests?
With DNA tests, laboratories can extract a large amount of information from your genes and thus, for example, determine certain predispositions and risks of disease or assign DNA traces to a person.
There are different methods of testing DNA. One modern method is DNA sequencing. DNA sequencing involves reading and comparing the sequence of the four bases adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. These four bases are the main components of DNA, and certain DNA sequences are found in people who are overweight, for example - this variation in the genes studied indicates a predisposition to obesity.
What does a DNA test tell me?
DNA tests can be used to find out various things -
Possible applications of DNA testing are, for example:
- - Determining kinship, as in a paternity or origin test
- - Match DNA traces to a person, especially when solving crimes
- - Assess the risk of hereditary diseases, the causes of existing diseases and other physical dispositions
- - Bring to light information about cell ageing
Epigenetic DNA tests
Not only the genes themselves can be examined in the laboratory, but also how the body reads and activates them. The processes that take place in the body are called epigenetics. Each of your cells has the same DNA. It is epigenetic processes that decide how cells develop and what function they take on.
Among other things, epigenetic tests can examine the extent to which environmental influences and our lifestyle have affected our cells. This allows conclusions to be drawn about cell ageing, for example.
DNA tests from cerascreen®
There are two home DNA health tests among the cerascreen® health tests:
The cerascreen® Metabolism Test examines six specific genes and determines your metabolic type. You can therefore find out whether you are more likely to gain weight through carbohydrates or fat, whether you tend to feel very hungry, and which sport is suitable for you to lose weight.
The cerascreen® Genetic Age Test is an epigenetics test. It examines the phenomenon called methylation that occurs when information is read from DNA. The degree of methylation allows conclusions to be drawn about how much your cells have aged due to external influences. From this, the test calculates your biological age - and gives advice on how to slow down your cell ageing.
