Researchers from Cambridge University looked at seven common "modest risk" gene variants which increase the likelihood of developing breast cancer.

They concluded that although testing for the genes was of limited use as a clinical tool, it offered a way of broadly separating women at high and low risk.

This could be used to improve national breast cancer screening programmes, making them more streamlined and cost effective.

The tests, used in conjunction with family history information, would enable risk profiles to be drawn up that could decide which sections of the population should be eligible for screening.

Researcher Dr Paul Pharoah, from the university's Department of Oncology and Public Health, said: "We are a few years away from a new and powerful range of genetic tests for breast cancer.

"We believe genetic testing has the potential to enable doctors to identify a woman at an increased risk of breast cancer who would benefit from mammography at an early age or women who may benefit from regular MRI scanning as well."

The NHS Breast Cancer Screening Programme provides free mammography checks for all women aged 50 to 70 every three years. Research suggests that the programme saves 1,400 lives a year in England.

Women are currently only given genetic tests for breast cancer if they have a very strong family history of the disease. The primary genes involved are BRCA1, BRCA2, PTEN and TP53, but they occur only rarely in the general population.

A number of other gene variants linked to breast cancer are more common, but individually only have a tiny impact on risk. When their effects are added together, however, they become more significant.