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If you’re one of my email newsletter subscribers, then you probably know about the Christmas gift I bought for myself last year. It was a 23andMe Health + Ancestry kit. I promised my readers that I would write a follow-up post about my experience, and I’m excited to share this journey with you today.
Why did I choose to do this?
The primary reason I purchased the 23andMe kit was that my dad lived with dementia for several years. As a result, I wanted to know if I inherited the genes for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease.
Now, this part is essential to understand. If you inherit a gene for a medical condition, it’s not necessarily a guarantee you will develop the condition. On the flip side, if you don’t inherit the gene, this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll never develop the condition.
As an example, there are several types of dementia. My dad never had extensive diagnostic testing done, so we don’t know for sure if his dementia resulted from Alzheimer’s disease. And even if it was, researchers aren’t entirely sure what causes Alzheimer’s disease. It probably involves environmental and lifestyle factors besides genetics.
How does the process work?
The process for doing the 23andMe test is relatively easy. You begin by sending for a test kit.
When the test kit arrives in the mail, you spit into a test tube and mail the tube back to 23andMe. You also answer a variety of online questions.
The instructions said it would take about six weeks to receive my results by email. In reality, the report arrived in about two weeks.
There are two parts to the report. One involves health and the other addresses ancestry. Both include an amazing array of information. I still haven’t worked my way through all of it, even after four months!
Some information I received is quite complex. Today I’ll try to summarize the parts that I found most interesting, and I’ll try to explain it as simply as possible.
My 23andMe Health Report
My original 23andMe health report showed whether I was at genetic health risk for nine different medical conditions. These included Parkinson’s disease, late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, hereditary thrombophilia, G6PD deficiency, celiac disease, BRCA1 & BRCA2, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency, and age-related macular degeneration.
It’s important to know that the health report does not diagnose disease. Rather, it shows how your genetics might influence your risk of developing certain diseases.
It thrilled me to see from the report that I don’t have a genetic predisposition for any of the conditions I listed above. However, the report contained one surprise. I learned that I carry a genetic variation for a condition called hereditary hemochromatosis.
Hemochromatosis is a condition in which too much iron builds up in the body. I’m not aware of any relatives with this condition. Fortunately, it usually takes more than one variant gene before a person develops hemochromatosis. Since I only have one of these genes, it’s unlikely I will ever have this problem.
The report also looks at what they call “carrier status” for 44 different health conditions. This means that these conditions wouldn’t affect me but could be passed on to future generations. I was grateful to see that I’m not a carrier for any of those 44 conditions.
One thing I especially appreciate about the 23andMe program is that as further research leads to discoveries, I receive email updates. This comes at no extra cost, and you need not submit additional samples. For example, since my original report came out, they added an additional three conditions to the reports: familial hypercholesterolemia, hereditary amyloidosis, and type 2 diabetes.
Through 23andMe, we also have the opportunity to participate in research studies by answering additional questions. This is completely voluntary. I’m choosing to take part in most of these studies as I’m hopeful it will help other people.
My 23andMe Ancestry Report
Okay, that was a lot of complex information. Now here’s the fun part of 23andMe.
Because of where my grandparents were born, I’ve always known that I’m primarily of Norwegian and Swedish descent. However, I discovered from the 23andMe report that I also have a bit of Finnish ancestry.
The ancestry report also includes a list of other people who have done the DNA testing, and it turns out that we’re related. I think it’s important to point out that you need not share your ancestry results with anyone else if you wish to keep it private. The 23andMe website includes a message center if you want to get in touch with these relatives.
Some relatives on my list are far removed, such as 6th cousins. The closest relative in my report was a 2nd cousin whom I had met, but we haven’t seen each other in almost 30 years. It was fun to reconnect and catch up on family news.
Because of my report, I’m now in touch with two previously unknown relatives in Norway. They’ve been able to share lots of information about my heritage because of the extensive family records traditionally kept by Norwegians. We’ve also exchanged family news and photographs, and I’m enjoying these new relationships so much.
I rarely see 23andMe kits offered at reduced prices. Fortunately, the other day I came upon an ad for the complete 23andMe Health+Ancestry kit on Amazon. As of this writing, the kit is 15% off the regular price. Amazon prices change frequently, and I don’t know how long this deal will last. So, I encourage you to act quickly if you want to take advantage of this discount. Simply click on the image below:
Health and Ancestry
In case you’re not interested in the health portion of the DNA kit, the good news is that you can purchase the ancestry kit separately. I think this would make a terrific gift for a parent or grandparent interested in learning more about their heritage! You can also find this kit on Amazon:
Ancestry Only
A Final Word
Before you order the 23andMe kit, I think it’s important to consider how you’ll respond to any unexpected results. You’ve probably heard about people who discovered siblings they didn’t even know existed. Or people who learned that the man they thought was their dad isn’t their biological father.
Also, consider how you might handle the knowledge that you carry a gene that increases your risk for breast cancer. Or what if you learn that you carry a variant that could be passed along to your future children?
In my case, there were no big surprises. I’m thoroughly enjoying this journey of discovering more about myself and my heritage. I hope you will, too!
Have you ever had your DNA analyzed? I would love to know what you thought about the experience. Please let me know in the comment section.
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