Genofit Research Study

If you live in Dublin, you should take part in this study: https://genofit.ie/

This aims to be one of the largest studies ever conducted in Ireland and is examining the role of genetics, lifestyle factors and fitness in our overall health. Their initial goal is to get 40,000 people to take part and based on the availability in their clinics (or lack thereof), I think they are not far off their target. 40,000 people is not a limit, the more the better.

I have never seen or taken part in a study that was as well designed and executed as this one. After discussing this study with my nutrition classmates a few weekends ago, I signed up at genofit.ie and booked a slot.

You complete an online health and lifestyle questionnaire on an iPad, you give a small blood sample and you do a short fitness test on a gym bike. Nothing to be afraid of here, even though I was fairly sweating it on the bike!

The really cool thing about this, asides from contributing to the study itself, is that they give you are really cool handout with all your results explained to take away with you. As you can see from the first two measurements, I still have a bit of work to do on this body!

There are 10 measurements taken here and they include:

Body Mass Index (BMI)
Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR)
Blood pressure levels
Blood sugar levels
Physical work capacity (15 minutes on the gym bike called the ergometer)
Lean mass (total body weight less fat and bone) – measured via DEXA scan
Hand grip test (Muscle strength)
Total body fat % – measured via DEXA scan
Visceral fat (Android, abs area + Gynoid, hips, upper thighs, buttocks area, ratio)
Bone mineral density (BMD) – really important one. This is the amount of mineral matter such as calcium and vitamin D per square centimetre in your bones. This one is hard to change so thankfully I got a decent score on this one.

Conclusion

From this study, I learned that I need to increase my lean mass while decreasing my total body fat and visceral fat. These two are like each end of see-saw, improving one will help balance out the other.

Here’s a quick overview clip to show you what’s involved. Go sign up.