DNA tool can assess disease risk by predicting a person's height

The research analysed complete genetic makeup of nearly 500,000 adults in UK using machine learning

Scientists say they have developed a new DNA tool that uses machine learning to accurately predict 

people's height and assess their risk for serious illnesses such as heart disease and cancer.

The tool, or algorithm, builds predictors for human traits such as height, bone density and even the level of education a person might achieve, purely based on one's genome, according to the research published in the journal Genetics.

"While we have validated this tool for these three outcomes, we can now apply this method to predict other complex traits related to health risks such as heart disease, diabetes and breast cancer," said