Report categories
All helixXY reports are organized into five categories, each covering a distinct dimension of your biology. Every category contains multiple individual reports, each focused on a specific trait, tendency, or risk factor derived from your genetic variants.
Fitness
Covers traits that affect athletic performance and physical adaptation: VO2 max potential, muscle fiber type composition (fast-twitch vs. slow-twitch), recovery time between training sessions, injury susceptibility and soft tissue resilience, and genetic affinities for specific sports and exercise modalities. These reports help you train smarter by understanding how your body is built to move.
Health
Examines genetic tendencies related to metabolic rate, common vitamin and mineral deficiencies (D, B12, folate, iron), allergy and inflammatory responses, sleep patterns and chronotype, and hormonal tendencies. These reports surface predispositions that are often treatable or manageable once identified — many users discover actionable deficiencies they weren't aware of.
Nutrition
Analyzes how efficiently your body processes macronutrients (carbohydrates, fats, and proteins), identifies food sensitivities with a genetic basis (such as lactose and gluten), reveals micronutrient absorption differences, and indicates which broad dietary approaches — Mediterranean, plant-based, low-fat, high-protein — are likely to suit your metabolism best.
Diet
Focuses on weight management and metabolic tendencies: genetic predispositions toward weight gain, appetite regulation and satiety signals, carbohydrate versus fat metabolism efficiency, and how your body responds to caloric restriction. This category complements the Nutrition reports with a focus on body composition goals.
Cancer Screening
Identifies hereditary risk markers associated with several cancer types, including breast, colorectal, prostate, melanoma, and others. Reports are presented with clear context about what elevated genetic risk means — and what it doesn't mean. These results are informational only and are not a medical diagnosis. Always discuss elevated findings with a qualified healthcare provider.
How to read a report
Each individual report follows a consistent structure. Here's the anatomy of every helixXY report:
- Header: The trait name and the category it belongs to (Fitness, Health, Nutrition, Diet, or Cancer Screening), along with a brief plain-English description of what the trait measures.
- Your result: A summary of your genetic tendency for this trait — for example, "Higher than average VO2 max potential" or "Likely lactose intolerant." For quantitative traits, your result is also shown as a percentile relative to the general population.
- What the science says: A brief, referenced explanation of the biological mechanism behind this trait and the strength of the genetic evidence. Reports distinguish between strong associations (replicated in multiple large studies) and moderate or preliminary findings.
- Your genetic variants: A list of the specific SNPs from your raw data that contributed to this result, including their rsID, your genotype at that position, and the effect size each variant contributes.
- Recommended actions: Practical, evidence-based suggestions for what you can do in response to your result — whether that's adjusting training, testing specific nutrient levels, or scheduling a conversation with your doctor.
Understanding genetic risk scores
Many helixXY reports are based on polygenic scores — a calculation that combines the effects of dozens or hundreds of genetic variants to estimate your overall tendency for a given trait. Understanding what these scores do and don't mean is important.
A polygenic score is not a prediction. It describes statistical probability across populations. A high genetic risk score for a condition means you're more likely than average to develop it — not that you will. Many people with high scores never develop the condition. Many people with low scores do. Lifestyle factors, environment, and chance all play major roles alongside your genetics.
The strength of genetic associations varies significantly across traits:
- Strong associations: Certain monogenic traits — like BRCA variants for breast cancer risk, or ACTN3 for muscle fiber type — have large, well-replicated effects where your genetics are highly informative.
- Moderate associations: Most complex traits like VO2 max, metabolic rate, and food sensitivities are influenced by many variants with small individual effects. The combined polygenic score is useful but carries broader uncertainty.
- Weak associations: Some emerging findings are based on preliminary research. helixXY labels these clearly and updates them as science advances.
helixXY reports are for informational purposes only and are not a substitute for professional medical advice. If a report raises concerns — particularly in the Cancer Screening category — bring the results to a qualified healthcare provider who can evaluate them in the context of your full medical history and family background.
Not sure where to start? Open the "Getting Started" summary report first — it highlights your top 10 most actionable genetic insights across all categories, ranked by how much your results differ from the population average and how much lifestyle intervention can realistically make a difference.
How often do reports change?
Your raw genetic data never changes — it's a permanent record of your DNA. But the scientific understanding of what your variants mean is constantly evolving as new research is published. helixXY monitors new GWAS publications and updates your reports automatically whenever new evidence changes how a trait is scored or a new variant database is incorporated. You don't need to re-upload your file. See our guide on how automatic report updates work for full details.
Sharing your reports
You can share individual reports with your healthcare provider without granting access to your full account. From any report, click the Share icon to generate a secure, time-limited link to that specific report. Reports can also be exported as PDF documents from the report detail view. All sharing permissions can be reviewed and revoked at any time from your Privacy settings — giving you complete control over who sees what.