US$600 DNA test that tells you how to exercise and what to eat offered to Hong Kong gym-goers – we give it a try
Tailor-made fitness and diet plans meant to optimise your health and life chances are growing in popularity, but how useful are the findings?
One size does not fit all when it comes to working out and eating well, claims a company that offers DNA tests for people who want a better idea of how their individual body works.
Based on the idea that a person’s genes can dictate what kind of food and exercise they require for optimal health, Pure Fitness in Hong Kong ran a DNA testing trial last month, and I was invited to participate.
Hongkongers look to gene tests to tell whether they’ll be better at Chinese or prone to an illness
The gym’s Innovation Lab, a division of the company that experiments with new fitness trends, partnered with Advanced Genomic Solutions (AGS), a US genetic testing company that has been in Hong Kong since 2015, to offer a select group of volunteers a free DNA sequencing test – usually valued at HK$4,800 (US$615).
In the initial session, representatives from Pure and AGS spoke to participants to answer questions and ease any fears about data privacy (AGS does not sell or share data with third parties, nor does it store it in the cloud), samples getting mixed up (highly unlikely), and whether eating a pork bun beforehand would throw the test off (it doesn’t). They swabbed each participant’s mouth with cotton buds, which were sent off to be analysed.
While waiting for the results, I met business development director Eneko Goya and dietitian Krystal Li at AGS’ lab in Central. “We’re in the era of personalising everything, but when you go to a dietitian or personal trainer, they don’t know what’s behind that customer and their optimum training,” Goya says.