Muscular Strength - Learn About Your Genetic Traits

Could your DNA reveal your Muscular Strength?

Anybody hit the gym lately?

One easy way to measure your overall muscular strength is through hand grip strength tests (which measure how strong your grip is). But, you may ask, why should we care about this seemingly trivial measure (apart from bragging rights)? It turns out that your hand grip strength can actually help predict your risk of disability as you age, your risk of fracture, nutrition, and even your risk of cardiovascular disease events. To improve your muscular strength, exercise and nutrition are clearly important factors, but evidence has suggested that this trait is 56% heritable.

Looking into this further through a genome-wide association study, investigators found 64 gene loci that were associated with grip strength in not only one, but two groups of individuals (each group consisting of over 100,000 people). Since the study was replicated in another large group, the results are especially promising. The investigators also found that higher grip strength is associated with greater fitness, higher levels of self-reported health, and even cognitive well-being. Read more about the study here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29691431

Find out on Genomelink if your genes are helping you keep your muscles strong!