deCODE You

Knowing your risk for Chronic Kidney Disease through a deCODEme DNA scan can increase your awareness and empower you to take preventive steps to protect your kidneys.

Chronic Kidney Disease has been added to the deCODEme Complete Scan. Chronic Kidney Disease involves the gradual loss of kidney function over time that can ultimately lead to kidney failure. It typically develops as a result of other common diseases, primarily diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity, but not everyone has the same risk of developing Chronic Kidney Disease. Research suggests that this disease has a strong familial component.

In the U.S., an estimated 26 million adults have Chronic Kidney Disease, but most of them do not know it. The kidneys have such a remarkable ability to compensate for problems in their function, that there may be no symptoms of Chronic Kidney Disease until it has progressed considerably.

Recently, scientists identified a common genetic variant (rs4293393-T), associated with increased risk of Chronic Kidney Disease. deCODEme has incorporated these results into the complete genetic scan, which analyzes your DNA and provides you with a personalized risk assessment for Chronic Kidney Disease and about many other diseases, including diabetes, obesity and kidney stones.

Chronic Kidney Disease is a growing problem in the U.S. and in other western parts of the world, Knowing your risk for Chronic Kidney Disease can increase your awareness and empower you to take preventive steps to protect your kidneys.

deCODE scientists have discovered new genetic variants influencing BMI, weight and risk of obesity

As we all know to well, for decades the scales have been tipping in favor of obesity. The epidemic of obesity in many industrialized countries has been driven by many factors, including easy access to fast food, an increasingly sedentary lifestyle, insufficient daily physical activity. All of this while our genomes have evolved on a background of scarcity, often putting a premium on the ability of the body to turn food into fat and store energy for leaner times. A paper published today by deCODE scientists and academic colleagues from the US and Europe provide a significant advance in our knowledge of the underlying genetics and biology of obesity, providing new information for understanding and addressing obesity and perhaps nudging the scales the other way.
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