BILL’S RESULTS

DNAFit

COST : R1 750*

GENES TESTED : 15 core ‘sports genes’, plus a handful pertaining to nutrition and metabolism. SURPRISE FINDING :I’ma sprinter, apparently. CAVEAT : Per the user consent agreement, Helix owns your data; you can’t download the file the way you can with 23andMe and other services.

Carmichael Training Systems

COST: R875* GENES TESTED: Not specified, but traits range from endurance to strength to caffeine metabolism to B vitamin levels. SURPRISE FINDING : High bone density, contrary to family belief that we have brittle bones.

CAVEAT : The report covered general traits ranging from endurance to nutrition to bone density, but felt vague. A follow-up consultation with a CTS coach helped answer some questions, but quickly turned into a sales pitch for coaching services. *CTS and DNAFit prices include R600 sequencing by Helix.

Athletigen

COST : R650 for Athletic report, and R750 for Nutrition report GENES TESTED : Unknown. Uses 23andMe or AncestryDNA data. SURPRISE FINDING : I should eat less chargrilled meat, due to low genetic levels of enzymes that remove toxins from the body.

CAVEAT : My report had conflicting conclusions about whether I was suited for endurance. On one page, I was; on the next, I seemed to have poor endurance.

Orig3n

COST : R2 175 for fitness test, R2 175 for nutrition test

GENES TESTED : 27 genes pertaining to endurance, strength, metabolism, recovery, and injury risk. SURPRISE FINDING: See below.

CAVEAT : My results from Orig3n differed drastically from the other services on more than a dozen different genes, suggesting that some sort of lab error had taken place. The accuracy of their testing has come under question before: a reporter from Gizmodo submitted a DNA sample from her dog, and got back training advice and analysis (but no recognition that it was dog DNA).