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Summary
In this episode, I discuss genetic testing for sports and athletic performance. I describe the history of sports genomics and the search for genes that determine strength, endurance, and other performance markers. I explain how to interpret genetic test results, including how many genes determine a trait, the relative influence of a single gene, and the likelihood that a genetic variant produces noticeable performance effects.
I discuss the ethical issues and current limitations of using genetic testing for athletic talent identification. I explain whether your genetic profile can help optimize personalized training, exercise, and nutrition programs to further accelerate performance. I also discuss gene doping, gene editing, gene therapy, and the future of sports genomics.
If listeners have done or are considering genetic testing for personal or client use, this episode will provide a framework for the validity, accuracy, and reliability of current genetic testing and how to interpret their results.
Sponsors
Articles
- Myostatin Mutation Associated with Gross Muscle Hypertrophy in a Child (The New England Journal of Medicine)
- Genes and Athletic Performance: The 2023 Update (Genes)
- Chapter Seven – Genomic predictors of physical activity and athletic performance (Advances in Genetics)
- The HERITAGE Family Study: A Review of the Effects of Exercise Training on Cardiometabolic Health, with Insights into Molecular Transducers (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
- Human gene for physical performance (Nature)
- The Human Gene Map for Performance and Health-Related Fitness Phenotypes: The 2006-2007 Update (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
- Regulation of Muscle Fiber Type and Running Endurance by PPARδ (PLoS Biology)
- ACTN3 Genotype Is Associated with Human Elite Athletic Performance (The American Journal of Human Genetics)
- Genes and Weightlifting Performance (Genes)
- Limited potential of genetic predisposition scores to predict muscle mass and strength performance in Flemish Caucasians between 19 and 73 years of age (Physiological Genomics)
- Causal associations between cardiorespiratory fitness and type 2 diabetes (Nature Communications)
- Using synthetic datasets to better understand and explain health outcomes associated with common single nucleotide polymorphisms (bioRxiv)
- Rare genetic variants impact muscle strength (Nature Communications)
Other Resources
- All of Us Research Program (National Institutes of Health)
- Athlete Biological Passport (World Anti-Doping Agency)
- The Human Genome Project (National Institutes of Health)
- 1000 Genomes
- Precision Medicine Initiative
- Athlome Project Consortium
- Football Gene Project
- ELITE Study
Perform Episodes Mentioned
People Mentioned
- Eero Mäntyranta: Finnish Cross-Country Skier
- Ildus Ahmetov: Sports Genomics Scientist, Liverpool John Moores University
- Claude Bouchard: Professor of Human Genomics, Louisiana State University
- Craig Pickering: Sprinter, Bobsledder; University of Central Lancashire