First Lady of Iceland Boasts "Amazing Genetic Profile"
Written by Bart Cameron
One can understand why Dorrit Mousaieff would look into DNA testing: at present, she lives a charmed life as First Lady of Iceland, as a top jewelry designer, and as a correspondent for the trendy Tatler magazine in England. Her seemingly ageless personage regularly makes the rounds of fashion and culture magazines throughout America and Europe. The good times can’t last forever, she may have thought.
Her genes suggest she won’t have too much to worry about.
The First Lady submitted her DNA for a standard deCODEme test, and then sat down with company founder Dr. Kari Stefansson, for what would serve as an amusing primer on the benefits of the cutting edge of preventative medicine.
For the standard client, a close review of genetic markers allows for discovery of certain dangers. A marker for Alzheimer’s Disease for example, the degenerative disease resulting in dementia known to have strong correlation to genetic disposition, might lead a client to look into helpful changes of lifestyle.
Not too much of a worry for the First Lady of Iceland.
“Alzheimer’s Disease: you have a very small risk of developing this,” Dr. Stefansson told Ms. Mousaieff, in her special one-to-one review.
“Both my great grandfathers lived to a very old age, and sadly remember everything. My father is now 85, and his memory is superior to mine,” Ms. Mosouaieff quipped.
“Type 2 Diabetes: less than average risk. Rheumatoid arthritis: less than average risk. When it comes to diseases, it breaks my heart to have to tell you you’re terribly uninteresting,” a bemused Dr. Stefansson reported.
“No, no. Obesity,” the trim Ms. Mousaieff politely pointed out, anxious to find a flaw. “We have a very big chance of me being obese.”
“No. Your relative risk is 1.05, which is hardly above average. It’s almost dead center on being average. The risk in society in general is very high, but your risk of becoming obese is basically average.”
Not that Ms. Mousaieff is entirely free of risk factors. Her DNA workup suggested that she had a 28-percent greater likelihood than the average person of developing the most common form of an irregular heartbeat.
As Dr. Stefansson explained, this disease, if it appeared, would increase the possibility of stroke. With this knowledge, Dr. Stefansson was able to offer fairly straightforward, helpful advice:
“First of all, make sure you don’t develop (the disease). Don’t drink very much. High consumption of alcohol increases the risk. Large consumption of coffee does. Large amounts of stress can bring it on,” he explained.
“Stress? I give it, usually,” Ms. Mousaieff offered as a one-liner.
“She doesn’t have pain. She is a pain,” Dr. Stefansson said, finishing the joke.
The obvious indication, though, was that as Ms. Mousaieff drinks neither large amounts of alcohol nor any coffee at all, the danger of developing this particular form of heart disease seemed minimal.
Asked if she should begin a regimen of aspirin a day, Dr. Stefansson instructed the First Lady not to worry at all. “This is a very subtle increase in likelihood. On the background of this survey, I would be totally unconcerned. This is amazing.”
Dr. Stefansson continued to run down the list of genetic tendency toward disease that deCODEme reviews. On all, Ms. Mousaieff had an average or below average genetic tendency. Breast cancer, average; cellular disease, which would be more important for child-bearing, less than average risk.
For colon cancer, Ms. Mousaieff showed a very subtle increase in risk, 6.9-percent increase in risk compared to the 6-percent risk of the average person. The changes recommended to her lifestyle: none whatsoever for such a small variation.
The meeting reached its only worry point as the two examined the likelihood that Ms. Mousaieff would develop Lactose Intolerance. This test seemed to Dr. Stefansson obviously irrelevant: “You would know by now if you were intolerant.”
Ms. Mousaieff was not so sure. As she phrased it, “unless I’ve had an accident, I seldom go to the doctors.”
In this particular case, Ms. Mousaieff turned out to be unfortunate. She did, indeed, have the genetic tendency toward lactose intolerance.
“Do you think that I should not drink milk?” the otherwise genetically impervious First Lady asked.
“No. I think you should continue to drink milk. These are only pointing out the risks. You are the picture of health for a person of your age. And I steadfastly refuse that you change anything about the way in which you conduct your life.”
The review continued without incident. Upon final summary, the founder of deCODE offered the following observation to the 58-year-old First Lady: “You have one amazing genetic profile. An amazing genetic profile. This is pretty much the genetic profile you would pay for for your child.”
“In that case, alert the media,” Ms. Mousaieff quipped.