I came out of the Alamo drafthouse last night around 9:30 and walked to my car when I heard the familiar whistle of my Gmail account. Something had come in. Wireless signals inside the movie house are terrible and this email had just now caught up with me. To my surprise it was an email from 23andme.com.
My results were in.
Back in late October I had heard about this service that was offering low-cost genetic testing. After a couple of weeks of vacillating I finally decided to try it. They sent me a testing kit by mail. I had to fill up a small tube full of saliva and I mailed it back. I had begun to give up hope of hearing back from these folks and I certainly didn’t expect it on a Saturday night. I rushed home and logged in and spent the next 2 hours reviewing the results.
I should add a little background here. 23andme provides several different types of genetic tests. They can test for inherited diseases, traits, genetic ancestry, probable blood type. Just all sorts of things that your DNA can reveal about you. For somewhat debatable reasons the FDA claims that this type of genetic testing of your health risks is “dangerous to the public”. I feel that this has more to do with vested interests in the health industry not wanting people to take charge of their own health but that’s a subject for another blog.
They threatened to drag the company into court if they did not stop providing this service. As a consequence of this 23andme no longer does health screenings by genetic testing. They only provide testing for ancestry now. I bought my testing kit just before the FDA restraining order came into effect so I still get my health screening.
So onto what you guys are looking for, the results. So obviously we are going into the health risks first. I will say up front that I am not going to post my entire health report online. Firstly it’s private and I don’t feel like I want to share it all. Secondly the results do not tell me that I have a certain condition, they only give me the probability that I may develop a condition. I see it not as a definitive test but as something to be on the lookout for. Lastly, it’s pretty dull.
The results are not too surprising to me given my family history. I have a slightly higher risk for heart disease and diabetes. Nothing new to me. What was surprising was that I am at a higher risk for celiac disease. To me this just reinforces my belief that I need to exercise more and watch my diet closer, specially as I become older.
higher risk for Asthma. I did have some childhood asthma
slightly higher risk for Alopecia. dodged that bullet.
Two things that worried me were actually lower risks. Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. Now, you can certainly develop Parkinson’s from environmental factors and the test makes it clear that this does not mean I won’t develop these but it does mean that I am at less of a risk for these.
Lower risk of Melanoma. I am darker skinned after all but I’m not going to lay out in the sun all day long.
Lower risk of multiple sclerosis.
Lower risk of colorectal cancer. That doesn’t mean I can go out and party though. Of course there’s many other results.
Onto traits. One of the more interesting results is something that I have suspected for a while. My body is less responsive to exercise than the average person. This means I derive less benefit from the same workout that others are doing. I need to increase my workout to get the same benefit.
Based on my genetics my muscle response is more similar to a sprinter than a long distance runner. So while I can do long distance races I would probably do better in the short track events. So much for my 2016 Olympics marathon aspirations.
Male pattern baldness? typical odds. I would have thought higher odds.
Longevity? Higher than normal odds of living to 100 years. True, specially in my father’s side.
Freckling. typical
eye color. tends to brown
hair. tends to curlier
food tendency. more towards sweet foods. Need to watch that.
Blood type, A+
Dozens of other traits here.
Moving onto ancestry.
I was somewhat disappointed that I only carry 2.6% neanderthal ancestry. Actually slightly lower than the average 2.7%
In molecular evolution, a haplogroup is a group of similar haplotype that share a common ancestor having the same single nucleotide polymorphism mutation in all haplotypes.
On my mother’s side I come from the B2b sub group, a subset of the B4’5 haplogroup, This is an older group that originated in Asia about 50,000 years ago and migrated across the Pacific to the west coast of the Americas.
On my father’s side I come from the J2b2* subgroup, a subset of the J2 haplogroup. This group originated in Anatolia and the Caucasus mountains around 18,000 years ago.
My complete ancestry composition is not ready yet so I don’t have all that ready to review but it’s not that consequential to me. I’m here already after all.
So what does it all mean? Mainly that I am a pretty average American suburbanite. Not specially gifted in any significant way but then again not too burdened either. I need to keep a close eye on my health and become more regimented in my lifestyle choices but odds are that I will live a fairly full and long life.
Was it a worthwhile exercise? I think so. If nothing else it opens up my eyes to what’s going on inside of me and gives me a better handle of what I can do to improve my life.
Recent Comments