Are your genes to blame for that sweet tooth?

ELIZABETH ARCHER took a DNA test to see if she was right in thinking her love of cupcakes was beyond her control

AS I TUCKED into a red velvet cupcake topped with delicious buttercream icing with my afternoon cup of tea, my colleague laughed. “I have never known someone with as much of a sweet tooth as you,” she chuckled. And it’s true. All my friends know how much I love sugary treats. Whether it’s cake at work, a bag of Haribo after dinner or a packet of Jaffa Cakes eaten in one sitting, I can’t get enough of the sweet stuff.

My cravings are something I feel I can’t control and I struggle to walk past the bakery section in the supermarket without buying something – which is why I’d always assumed my sweet tooth was genetic.

So when I heard about cancer surgeon Dr Sharad Paul’s GT21 test which reveals how your body deals with certain foods and drinks as well as recommending how to adjust behaviour and diet accordingly, I was intrigued.

It claims to be able to tell whether you’re genetically prone to having a sweet tooth, as well as whether you’re more likely to enjoy fatty or salty foods and whether you are predisposed to certain food intolerances and vitamin deficiencies.

I took the test (which involves taking a saliva swab and costs $299 (£228) plus shipping and posted it back to the lab, convinced that the results would say I was genetically predisposed to like sweet foods.

A few weeks later the results landed in my inbox and I was completely taken aback. Not only did the test come back negative for the sweet tooth gene it also said I was more prone to illnesses such as diabetes if I did eat sugary foods.

That’s because the gene which determines whether you’re more