If you’ve tried everything but haven’t seen progress on the scale, you may be tempted to try genetic testing for weight loss. I can see why this may be appealing, especially when you’ve struggled to figure out why you can’t lose weight despite trying.
Genetic tests may seem to provide exciting, novel information that will help you finally reach your weight loss goals. But while the latest wellness-focused genetic tests make all sorts of claims about which types of diets and lifestyle changes may benefit you, unfortunately, the current research is disappointing [1, 2, 3, 4].
Key Takeaways:
- Genetic testing for weight loss has several challenges that make it inaccessible for most people, including its high cost and limited capacity to provide actionable information.
- The research on direct-to-consumer genetic tests does not support their health and wellness claims around weight loss.
- Clinical trials have found very little difference in weight loss between those with and without a gene variant linked to obesity after weight loss interventions.
- Nutrition and physical activity are far more important than genetics when it comes to weight, and don’t require you to take a test before starting.
- Poor gut health may be a factor in people with unwanted weight gain or who have difficulty losing weight—an unhealthy gut can also leave you feeling fatigued and unmotivated to exercise.
- Probiotics can help to create a healthier gut environment, which may support a healthy metabolism.
Direct-to-consumer genetic tests are expensive and can be difficult to interpret and challenging to translate into practical recommendations. They often lead health care providers (like dietitians and nutritionists) to recommend rigid rules around food, which tends to incite fear rather than empowerment. The truth is, environmental factors are far more important when it comes to body weight and weight loss (and other health outcomes) when compared to our genetic predisposition [5]. This is great news since it means we have a lot of control over what happens to us health-wise.
