Britons will be invited to pay $1,000 (£510) for the privilege of sending a sample of their saliva to California so that they can learn which diseases they're likely to contract when they get older.

A US company which lets customers explore their own DNA by providing them with a genetic profile based on an analysis of more than half a million points on their genome is opening for business in the UK.

The profile - which is accessed online - identifies similarities between the customer's genes and those associated with about a dozen diseases and conditions, including breast cancer, Crohn's disease, and lactose intolerance. In turn, the company hopes, subscribers will be able to take 'preventive action' in relation to their health.

23andMe, which launched in the US late last year, is one of a number of firms aiming to capitalise on the new market for personalised healthcare, where companies aim to provide tailored, genetic information to customers.

DeCode Genetics, an Icelandic firm, provides a similar service for $985 (£500), and Navigenics, another Californian company, is due to enter the market early this year.

"23andMe can help you trace the inheritance of different traits in your family, from food preferences to sleep habits," the company's website says. "Find out which grandparent to thank for your athletic talent, or blame for your lactose intolerance."

The company has been closely watched since launching in the US in November because of its co-founders, Anne Wojcicki, is married to the co-founder of Google, Sergey Brin. Google announced in May that it had invested $3.9 million in 23andMe.

Genetics experts have criticised the service, saying that for the vast majority of customers it will "scarcely be of any use at all," and that 80 per cent of the information relevant to a determination about a customer's life expectancy, say, could be ascertained in a doctor's appointment.

They said that genes indicating a predisposition to many inherited diseases varied hugely across populations, and that just because a person knew they were predisposed to a condition did not mean they could expect better treatment.

"Genetics has principally been a diagnostic tool, not a form of treatment," Steve Jones, a professor of genetics at University College London, said when 23andMe launched. "These DNA-based services are for the most part making the obvious expensive."

Dr Fred Kavalier, a spokesman for the British Society for Human Genetics, said: "Genetics is an extremely complicated field, and we simply don't have sufficient information to be able to predict people's risk of develping disease based on a reading of their genetic profile."

23andMe maintains that while its service is "neither a medical diagnostic nor a substitute for medical advice," it can help customers "confront the bewildering array of health news reported in the mass media and help you decide where you may want to focus your attention."

The company's service has three components - Genome Labs, which lets customers pick through the 'raw catalogue' of their 23 pairs of chromosomes; Gene Journals, which lets them match their genome with current research into inherited conditions; and Ancestry, where there can share profiles with family members and trace the origin of particular traits.

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