Making the most out of your Living DNA wellbeing results

As well as being one of the world’s most popular providers of ancestry and genetic DNA testing kits and services, we have also built a solid reputation thanks to our expert Wellbeing kits. These kits provide people with a wealth of information about their own bodies, things they couldn’t possibly know through intuition or looking in the mirror. The information concluded in these tests is based on the fascinating role that genetics plays on our lifestyle, health, diet, and exercise decisions.

What can you learn from the kit?

The LivingDNA Wellbeing kit provides results on a number of categories from the realms of nutrition and fitness, as you can see below:

Nutrition:

- Vitamin D

- Vitamin C

- Vitamin B12

- Vitamin A

- Omega 3

- Lactose tolerance

- Celiac disease risk

- Carbohydrates and sugars

More detailed explanations of what these vitamins and nutrients mean for your body can be found on our DNA Nutrition Testing page.

Fitness:

- Endurance - oxygen flow

- Maximum strength

- Recovery speed

- Endurance - trainability

- Endurance - blood vessel response

- Tendon durability

Learn more about what each of these categories can reveal to you on our DNA Fitness Testing page.

What do the Fitness results look like?

The results of each category could state:

- Increased

- Decreased

- Regular

- Variants found

- Inconclusive

We asked our friend Ben to do the test so that we could use his results for this guide. One of the fitness results suggested that Ben has a higher oxygen flow than average, for the section ‘Endurance - oxygen flow’. Based on this result, our system was able to provide him with the following information:

- Ben would benefit more from intense activities like circuit training and sports

- Ben’s body may respond well to activities with repeated and prolonged movement such as mountain biking and jogging

- Ben might also want to consider using more intense workouts such as short exercises with short rests, or long exercises with long rests, using a stationary bike, rowing machine, or treadmill

- Circuit training using body weight and/or external weights would be great for Ben. He should use higher reps quick rest between exercises and longer rests between circuits

All of the above information was provided with green ticks, but there was one red cross, a little bit of caution for Ben to be aware of. It states:

- Having a genetic advantage in oxygen flow isn't a free pass to push your limits. Listen to your lungs and consult a professional when making significant changes to your workout routine

Using the information above, Ben can choose to come to a conclusion about which sports he does and if he should change his approach to fitness. Understanding his oxygen flow could mean that the sports he is doing currently are not using his body optimally.

What do nutritional results look like?

Again, thanks to Ben for taking the test. Let’s have a look at his Vitamin A results. They’re marked as ‘decreased’. He is given the following information:

Ben, you may need to take extra care to ensure you are getting enough vitamin A. Your genetic results suggest you may be at a disadvantage when it comes to breaking down beta carotene to create vitamin A. This does not mean you cannot break down beta-carotene at all, so a healthy balanced diet will still be important in ensuring you reach the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A. You may benefit from having a greater percentage of your daily intake of vitamin A from animal sources, as this is not affected by beta-carotene metabolization.

To complement this, our system provides dietary advice:

- Consider recipes with yellow, orange, and red fruits and veggies such as carrots, bell peppers, squash, tomatoes, papaya, and cantaloupe.

- Find hidden carotene benefits in spinach, a veggie that masks its 'orange' values behind chlorophyll pigmentation.

- Easy vitamin A benefits can be gathered from animal origins, such as eggs, salmon, sardines, tuna, and liver.

- Consuming vitamin A in excess can be harmful, particularly to pregnant women.

In the corner of the page, Ben is given an overarching piece of actionable advice:

- You may benefit best from animal sources of vitamin A (cod liver oil, eggs, cheese, and milk) in addition to fruit and vegetables.

What are the limitations of testing?

We must remain responsible as a testing company and remind our valued clients that the Wellbeing analysis does not provide a diagnosis and does not state conclusively that you will develop a health condition. It is advice, and like any good advice, you can embrace it, ignore it, or ask for a second, more qualified opinion, before you act on it.

We must point out that DNA is one of several deciding factors on the health and performance of your body. Your lifestyle, where you live, your environment, how you sleep, how much water you drink, how stressful your work and home life are, the air quality of your area, your diet and exercise habits, and more, can all rewire your body’s response to nutrition and fitness.

What is a Fitness and Nutrition Deep Dive?

You can ask our co-founder, Hannah Nicholson. Back in January 2020, Hannah, just like Ben, used the Wellness analysis to find out more about her body and the role that genetics play. After learning a great deal from every category about her health and her body, she penned this conclusion:

“Overall - I walked away from these results a little surprised at how able my body is. I don’t have any excuses not to be working out. I am a mid 30’s working mum and keeping fit is a responsibility I have to my body. So all these reports indicate the importance of a regular routine that is suited for my body. I really loved seeing this kind of detail and being able to know the weight type and the activity type that is best suited.”

“This month I am going to explore longer training periods, different kinds of weights and more water. Bring it on.”

What else is there to say?

Well, the process itself couldn’t be much easier.

1) Purchase your wellbeing kit online and receive it by standard or express postage, almost anywhere in the world
2) Take the DNA mouth swab, rub it inside your cheek, then put it in the free return bag
3) Wait 6-8 weeks for your insightful results which can be accessed in our easy-to-use online portal