How Testing Workers' Genes Could Make Office Wellness Programs Work

Aprillia Jeffries is a model success story for her company's efforts at improving the health of its staff. Jeffries, who works at Aetna, has lost 50 pounds and dropped eight dress sizes in the last two and a half years through a program at Aetna run by Newtopia, a company that provides wellness services. She has access to one-on-one coaching and a personalized diet and exercise regimen, but Jeffries, 46, credits her stellar results to a DNA test offered as part of the program.

"I had tried so many other things that were not so successful for me: Weight Watchers, exercise, making myself a promise that I'm going to eat right," she said. A mental switch finally flipped when Jeffries's DNA test indicated she had some genetic predisposition to being overweight. "It wasn't all me that was the problem," she said.