Direct-to-consumer genetic testing for predicting sports performance and talent identification: Consensus statement
Webborn, N., Williams, A., McNamee, M., Bouchard, C., Pitsiladis, Y., et al. · 2015
grade Creviewindependentreplicatednumbers spot-checked
Sample
Consensus statement (British Journal of Sports Medicine)
Population
Youth and elite sport; talent identification practice.
Design
Expert consensus, co-signed by Bouchard (the HERITAGE principal investigator) and leading exercise geneticists.
Key findings
The guardrail against reading heritability as predictability. Genetic tests have NO role in talent identification or individualised training prescription, and no child should be genetically screened for sporting potential. Heritable does not mean genotype-predictable — corroborated by the null molecular record (GAMES: 1,520 elite endurance athletes, zero replicated variants).
Genetic confound
N/A — this is the interpretive guardrail on genetic claims.
Replication notes
Consistent with the null GWAS record for athletic performance.
DOI / URL
British Journal of Sports Medicine 49:1486-91
Effects
| Outcome | Metric | Value | Measure | Timing | Vs | Horizon | Class |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Validity of DTC genetic tests for talent identification | consensus verdict | no role; no child should be screened | mixed | n/a | none | not-applicable | health |
Cited by
- Talent and trainability — what is heritable, and what that does not licensestrong supportconf: highgc: low