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Direct-to-consumer tests may help predict risks to your future health. But are they worth the cost and trouble?

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Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic test kits are a popular way to identify a person's ancestral history, but the technology may also reveal whether someone is at risk for specific diseases and conditions, like Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, and even cancer.

"More and more people want to explore their own medical data, and a DTC genetic test is one way to begin to understand some aspects of your future health," says Dr. Robert Green, a medical geneticist at the Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital and director of the Genomes2People Research Program. "Yet it is important to realize that DTC testing is not the same as genetic testing in a medical context, and is not a comprehensive examination of your DNA."

Ask the doctors

Q. I heard that there is a new medication that you can take for the flu. Is this a vaccine?

A. In October 2018, for the first time in 20 years, the FDA approved a new medication to treat the flu. Baloxavir marboxil, sold as Xofluza, is not a vaccine, but rather an antiviral drug that can help your body fight off influenza more quickly. Antivirals work by stopping viruses from reproducing, lessening both the severity of your symptoms and their duration. Xofluza joins two antiviral drugs commonly prescribed for flu, oseltamivir (Tamiflu) and zanamivir inhaler (Relenza). (A third flu drug � peramivir, trade name Rapivab � is administered as an intravenous infusion.)

Occasionally these heart rhythm disruptions signal a more serious condition.

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Lately you've felt like a flipping fish is stuck inside your chest. You feel fine otherwise, but there it is again � flip, flop. It's gone as fast as it appears. But you're starting to worry: is it a sign of a serious heart problem?

Chances are what you're feeling is a condition called heart palpitations, which are usually harmless blips in the heart rhythm, explains Dr. Peter Zimetbaum, a professor of cardiovascular medicine at Harvard Medical School. Only occasionally are these rhythm disturbances the sign of a more serious heart problem that should be checked out.

Research we're watching

A long-used vaccine is showing promise in helping to restore near-normal blood sugar levels in people with advanced type 1 diabetes. Researchers from Harvard Medical School injected adults who had type 1 diabetes with two doses of the bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, which is traditionally used to prevent tuberculosis.

Participants in the study, all of whom had type 1 diabetes for many years, all showed significant improvements in their average blood sugar levels after the vaccination. The improvements lasted for the next five years. Researchers said that it appears the vaccine affected a metabolic mechanism that increases consumption of glucose by cells.

In the journals

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An observational study has shown an association between eating vegetable nitrates, found in green leafy vegetables and beets, and a lower risk of developing an early stage of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the leading cause of permanent vision loss among Americans ages 60 and older. The results were published online Oct. 17, 2018, by the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

Researchers studied the eating habits of more than 2,000 adults ages 49 and older over a 15-year period and compared them with diagnoses of AMD among the group. They found that people who ate 100 to 142 milligrams (mg) of vegetable nitrates each day had a 35% lower risk of developing early AMD than people who ate less than 69 mg of vegetable nitrates daily.

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In the journals

It is often assumed that appendicitis means automatic surgery to relieve the pain and avoid complications. Yet, a study published online Sept. 25, 2018, by JAMA found that many people with uncomplicated acute appendicitis may be safely treated with antibiotics and avoid an appendectomy.

About 70% to 80% of acute appendicitis cases are uncomplicated, which means the appendix hasn't ruptured or formed an abscess. In the study, researchers had 530 people with uncomplicated acute appendicitis either undergo an appendectomy or receive 10 days of antibiotic therapy. After five years, 61% of the antibiotic group had no recurrences of appendicitis and no appendectomies.

Certain eye conditions offer clues to your chances of developing dementia.

It's long been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but can they also provide a view of your brain's future? Researchers increasingly say yes. Studies have identified links between common eye conditions and Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

One study, published in the July 2018 issue of Alzheimer's & Dementia, appeared to validate past findings that linked three eye diseases � glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy � to an increased risk of Alzheimer's disease.

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Ask the doctors

Q. I had a nosebleed the other night. I've heard that this can be more common in the winter. Is this true?

A. Yes, you could be more likely to get a nosebleed in the winter because the heated indoor air may dry out your nasal passages and make the tiny blood vessels inside them more fragile. Nosebleeds occur when these tiny vessels rupture. Sometimes the bleeding happens at the back of the nose, called a posterior bleed. Or it may develop at the front of the nose � an anterior bleed.