APRIL 20189fects like statin-induced myopathy affecting 0.1% of the patients who are not prescribed the correct dose. However, their tremendous med-ical significance can be put to full use when the dose is prescribed appropriately. Drug therapy these days are strongly recommended to be done based on the genetic make-up of an individual. However, today there is much more that is happen-ing in the personal genomics arena.New generation genetic reports are given out for just anybody who would care enough to know more about themselves. More than 70% Indians are lactose intolerant and about 140 million Indians are glu-ten intolerant. So much for a coun-try whose diet is governed by milk and wheat. Both the conditions above are difficult to detect and are brushed off as casual discomfort. Yet it is possible to estimate your risk of developing these conditions using genetic technology. Today di-rect-to-consumer genetic testing is the trend. Nutrigenomics, fit-ness genomics and applications to other industries like skin care and improving the success of assisted reproductive technologies are on the rise. While other applications are slowly catching up, nutrige-nomics is towering as a significant sub-branch of personal genomics. Dealing with the genome-diet inter-phase where your genetic makeup influences your response to macro and micronutrients it focuses on the preventive aspects of your health. A notable mention is the MTHFR gene which is widely tested and has vast clinical and non-clinical ap-plications. A variant of the MTHFR gene that prevails in 30-40% of the population reduces the ability to convert folate (Vitamin B9) to meth-ylfolate by 40-70%. This one step al-ters different wings of your system ranging from natural detoxification to molecular-level processes like DNA repair. Depending on whether or not a dietitian has this informa-tion will lead to drastically different diet strategies.Credit to technology like mi-cro-array geno-typing that has en-abled companies to study lakhs of polymorphisms in a single person at once. This has done miracles to the turnaround time and mass repro-ducibility. Bio informatic tools allow data scientists to mine thousands of scientific literature efficiently and maintain a vast database. This has also lead to in silica storage of genetic information from which in-formation can be extracted at any point. This has lead to using genet-ic information for preventive mea-sures than for diagnostic purpos-es. Personal genomics has a wider reach and functionality than just in the medical and pharmaceutical industry.The ability to choose to access your own genetic information is still a relatively young concept. Yet it has picked up considerable momentum with the advent of niche applica-tions of genomic knowledge on ev-eryday life. This will significantly advance the management of health in the population and aid valuable policy changes for the benefit of the world. The ability to choose to access your own genetic information is still a relatively young concept. Yet it has picked up considerable momentum with the advent of niche applications of genomic knowledge on everyday life
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