Beauty bible

Lisa Armstrong asks, is it all in the genes?

ACCORDING TO A new book by Dr Sharad Paul, the best all-round exercise for fitness and brain health is the tango – it’s down to the unique combination of leg work, upper-body strength, eye contact, cardio exertion and concentration. Good to know. I’ve never been one for jumpy-up-and-downy exercise, and after decades of feeling guilty, I now know there’s a reason for this, beyond traumatic early experiences with ineffective sports bras.

Turns out, I’m genetically highly motivated to exercise, it’s just that I’m not a natural athlete. Although, Dr Paul says, if I had really wanted to, I could have become one; it would simply have required more effort. He knows this from the results of a gene test he has developed.

Current thinking in the genetic science community concludes that we can all defy our DNA to an extent. By eating the right foods, doing the right kind of exercise and understanding our stress triggers, we can reduce our chances of succumbing to degenerative diseases that ‘run in the family’.

But first we have to know our optimal forms of exercise and diet, which is where the DNA test comes in. Until recently, these have tended to be divided into reductively simplistic tests, or hugely costly ones that examine your whole genome and produce readings that are impenetrable to the laity – as Dr Paul discovered when his patients asked him to decipher their results.

It was his desire to improve the health of his patients’ complexions – he’s a skin-cancer surgeon attached to the University of Queensland and Auckland University – that propelled him to write The Genetics of Health: Understand Your Genes for Better Health (Atria Books, £16.99). It’s an easily digestible tour of a vast subject with lots of tips.

It was Dr Paul’s passion for delivering more targeted care to his patients that inspired him to develop his own userfriendly Dna-tester kit. Patients supply a small amount of saliva, send it off in the pre-addressed envelope, et voilà: a few weeks later they have a detailed, yet understandable report that reveals not just their predisposition to the main food intolerances, but how quickly they metabolise and how their genetic variations can affect their body’s responses to different forms of exercise.

Knowing where you’re predisposed to excel means you can strategise accordingly. Dr Paul often works with schools in New Zealand, advising rugby coaches about which positions their pupils are best suited for genetically.

One of the interesting aspects of the test is that you may have come to some of the conclusions yourself – I always feel better avoiding gluten and dairy (turns out I’m genetically liable to be moderately intolerant), regularly feel exhausted (that’s my predisposition towards low iron) and have never felt entirely safe on high heels (apparently my Achilles heel is literally my Achilles heel). But it’s useful to have it all confirmed – and know you’re not just being faddy. If I could get my act together to ditch baguettes, for instance, I would shed weight fast on a high-protein, no-to-low-carb diet, whereas others could follow the Atkins for years with feeble results.

Knowing that you’re susceptible to diabetes, that your omega levels are prone to be low, or your salt reserves high, means that you can take specific steps rather than the scattergun approach most of us deploy. As Dr Paul says, ‘Your genes are a blueprint for your health, not your destiny. If eating an orange a day could stop you getting diabetes, why wouldn’t you?’

The GT 21 Gene Test costs £217; drsharadpaul.com