23andMe Health + Ancestry Service: Personal Genetic DNA Test Including Health Predispositions, Carrier Status, Wellness, and Trait Reports (Before you buy see Important Test Info below)

I spent a bit of time researching the various options for DNA testing before deciding that 23andMe would likely be the most detailed. The results took just under 7 weeks to arrive. What happens, for UK customers at least, is you send your saliva sample to a facility in Milton Keynes (using the prepaid return box) they then hung onto it for a few weeks in my case, presumably so they can package up and send a bunch of them in one go to the main lab which is in Los Angeles. A FedEx tracking link appeared in the Android app after week 4, which allowed me to track the sample to LA (up until this point, I was a little worried it had been lost in the post). About 7-8 days later, I received the notification that my sample had arrived at the lab. It took a further maybe 10 days to process and review, then the results appeared in the app. The data provided is *extremely* detailed. My DNA was actually traced back to being predominantly from the correct ancestral hometown (the town I was born in). The "DNA Relatives" section had filled in a family tree, correctly, with some cousins who'd also apparently done 23andMe tests in the past. I discovered I'm just under 2% Neanderthal (explains a lot...) and the detail on some of the traits is incredible (e.g. "you have two variants associated with having a worse sense of direction". and "you have one variant associated with being less likely to have a fear of heights"). The health info also correctly identified the fact I'm at increased risk of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (both my mother and grandmother suffered from this) and various other details I won't bore you with. It's also reassuring that it correctly identifies hair colour, eye colour, skin tone, etc. I was a little bit dubious about this entire process before getting the results, and wasn't sure how much I'd learn but I have to say I'm extremely pleasantly surprised by the quantity and the quality of the data provided. You can even download the raw data for your entire genetic profile from the website (about 5.6MB) and perform your own search against particular genetic markers that may not have been covered by the standard reports they provide. I'd highly recommend this to anyone.

Expensive

Within 2 days of getting results I was finding out about the 'lost' family - I knew nothing except for my grandfathers name. Now know I have hundreds of relatives nearby and many more worldwide to contact and maybe learn more about. One has already furnished me with a wealth of information. Now, this works best if you have done your research and know your family tree. It can't tell you how you're related to most people and can only suggest how closely related you are. I had already spent years working on my family tree (through Ancestry) so had a great deal of info (as I said, nothing on my grandfathers side though). And it of course works best if your ancestry is white simply because more white Europeans have taken the test. HOWEVER, you have lifetime access so results will change over time and become more refined. In the last week, 3 more people have now been flagged up as my relatives... So if you take it and don't get what you're immediately looking for, don't be disheartened. This includes the region's your ancestors are from. It is a rough guess and different tests will give different results, as can using the same test with different family members. Again, it helps to know your family tree. Some branches of my tree go back over 1000 years and the results I obtained here match the paperwork and records I have. But %'s are likely to change over time, and some new regions may appear whilst others disappear as the database grows and is refined. That's normal! As for the health component - take it at your peril. For me, for the diseases tested, I have no chance of developing them. I don't know how I would have felt discovering I had both variants (alleles) needed to cause age-related blindness for example. It did show I have more Neandertal DNA than average - again relating to what I already knew (I'm a biologist), that I have more genes that contribute to me being overweight (sigh) etc. The results are refined by you answering about 300 multiple choice questions. I recommend answering them AFTER you have your results rather than whilst waiting for them. I have found this really useful. Not everybody will. Remember, you may not be who you think you are (I now have a cousin who's daddy wasn't his daddy! Shown up by this test) and you may discover you have a risk of developing an illness... Not everybody is happy with such knowledge. But if you're ok with whatever knowledge this saddles you with - go for it and I hope you gain as much enjoyment from it as I have!

This is the best of the gene test companies you can do. It gives the most information and I trust the results of this more than others. However, you can download the Raw data from any of these companies and submit to other websites for free and get an absolutely ginormous amount of health data. The other thing to remember is that some companies use swabs and some you have to spit. If you use 23andme you have to spit, which may be more difficult for small children. I've had my results and my families results for several years and the ethnicities that it's shown has changed dramatically each time they've done updates. This is to the point it's a bit embarrassing telling people about the changes because it makes the whole thing look a little untrustworthy. I also compared my results to another major gene testing brand and it came up with significant ethnicities that 23andme said I had 0% of. We are obviously in the early stages of all this stuff and whatever results you get should be with a huge pinch of salt. Another thing to remember is that it only goes back a few generations. If you think that you are descended from Vikings that raided the British isles it won't be able to pick up any of that because all those Viking genes will be seen as British genes and just show up as British. 23andme also doesn't differentiate between the countries of Great Britain, wearas other companies do. Some of the stuff 23andme states is a complete joke. The neanderthal ancestry is close to being completely made up, neanderthal DNA has supposedly been sequenced, but even if you believe that to be true, how many neanderthal genomes can you believe they have sequenced? To take at most a few genomes from a group and then use that as the basis for all the genomes of that group seems a bit scetchy. If they took 5 genomes from homo sapiens that wouldn't be considered a sufficient range of genomes to represent the whole population. Who knows if Neanderthals were actually just homosapiens that looked a bit different anyway. You could easily think a corgi and husky were different species if you didn't know better. 23andme is playing a bit of pseudoscience. When they try and do their graphs for Y chromosome spreading and over what time frame it's all too theoretical and based on biased assumptions. I've done a lot of reading about this sort of stuff and 23andme seem to have been a bit lazy mixed with too keen to try and present data for something that isn't fully known about and could easily be completely and utterly untrue. This is annoying because they write everything as matter of fact, proven and fully accepted knowledge. The danger with this is that people will read it and think it's scientific fact and put it on Wikipedia, force others to accept it etc. Anyway this turned from being a review to a bit of a rant so I'll stop now

Box says Genome kit when it arrived so not as described on Amazon. I emailed 23 & me and it is an oversight. Anyway, easy to follow instructions, took to post office and they sent it off (to America) posted prepaid on initial purchase. I sent it mid January 2019, it took about 7 weeks to get my results (login online) and is interesting. I have made a doctor appointment to discuss a finding and if confirmed the kit has done what no doctor has done before, it has found the cause of a lifelong health issue (docs keep saying is idiopathic - meaning they haven't got a clue). I am intrigued and hopeful. The ancestry stuff is fascinating and had a multitude of health stuff tested. Worth a go if you can afford the cost.

Easy to use and dispelled a family myth my great grandfather was Italian, but actually French. Things go downhill from there... All such companies take a long time over processing and their security claims are suspect. This is because to go beyond random people as relatives across the world you have to give away yet more personal information. With all the extras the cost is steep and despite the headline description, no health information is given without paying extra. They claim yearly updates are due to 'improved technology' but after 20 years its stretching belief there are so many changes. It's fishy that 95% of my DNA is English or Irish, yet no specific areas of those countries are given. The 5% French is given as a localised area despite it being 4 generations back. Like they're scared of mentioning areas of England. If you are from the UK don't expect a result you are Saxon or Norman, it doesn't go back that far. I got only 1 interesting piece of information from giving away my DNA. Your mileage may vary.

Really detailed. Got it for a partner (an ex now lol) - who enjoyed getting to know where he was from as we both had suspicions based on his interests. He wasn’t what we thought he may be mixed with but he had some other roots he was completely unaware of. He was a bit scared of the health section as he didn’t want to know what he was susceptible to have. He also received lots of emails about people he might be related to which he found fascinating especially as an only child. I think it’s such a great experience getting to know yourself in this way! He isn’t black but based on my research - I would check what records they use if you are. Historically there are some inaccuracies as we all know so it’s worth checking with them so you’re as close as possible in terms of DNA

I spent a lot of time researching this as a gift (and bought one for myself), you want to make sure that the person using this is aware of the implications of knowing about a potential genetic disease. If they may worry about this then the non health version might be the one to get, but personally we liked the full details The Ancestry part gave results which confirmed what we knew about where our families came from in a lot of detail, but also added interesting additional detail. The family tree is a bit limited unless you have a lot of people in your family you had done this (though importantly it continues to update so all of this will surely increase over time) We really enjoyed the traits and some of the sillier ones (was I more likely to dislike a certain taste and how did that compare with the other people genetically) We've noticed fairly regular updates which was a pleasant surprise. A gift for those who you have no idea what to buy for them...but get one also for yourself as you'll be missing out otherwise!

Un test completo e accurato, con un sito (in inglese) zeppo di informazioni di supporto. Il problema è che il laboratorio è negli USA, mentre il terminale di raccolta è in UK: tra Brexit e COVID il giro che ha dovuto subire il pacchetto è stato 3 volte più lungo del lavoro di analisi (2 mesi in tutto).