23andMe personal genetic testing

razztazz said:
Quote:
Neanderthals sang opera, British archaeologist Steven Mithen, originator of the theory that music was used as a form of pre-linguistic communication by these pre-historic people, told EFE.
“The musicality of the Neanderthals can be identified more with opera than with rap because in addition to music, these hominids also used dance and body language as forms of communication,” said Mithen, author of “The Singing Neanderthals”.
“Rap is associated with a particular type of music based on words and phrases, something the Neanderthals lacked,” Mithen said.


Interesting! So, maybe that why I listen to opera...?
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Hmmm. I recall my dad suggesting Rock N Roll was Neanderthal.:LOL: YMMV
 
I heard of this site (23 and me) several years ago and a friend recommended it, but by the time I looked into it (I didn't really have the money at the time to pay a lot for it too) I thought they were no longer issuing health related information such as genetic predispositions or whatever it was that they had. They are still doing medical information then? I'm surprised.
 
If you are looking at/for specific markers because of genetic concerns I found SNPedia.com to be useful. If you figure out the specific marker (rsxxxxx) then you can look it up on SNPedia, and while logged onto 23andMe, click on the link on the right side of the SNPedia page for that marker.... It takes you to the 23 and me raw data results.

With 23andMe I was able to reassure myself about cancer markers (I'm clean, despite having 3 of my 4 immediate family members die of cancer.) I was able to see that my family has issues with the MTHFR gene - and added bio-available b vitamins to help with that. And was able to rule out a couple of other concerns.

My husband and I had our tests done before the FDA clamped down on the medical data - my kids had the tests after the fact - but I've been able (with some work) extract the exact same data.
 
Thanks for that info Rodi. I am waiting on my results because I strongly suspect I have the mthfr gene.
 
I decided I didn't care about the health info so sent my kit into Ancestry.com about 3 weeks ago. They said it would take 6 to 8 weeks to get the results.
 
I haven't thought about doing the genetic test, but my doctor did the health genetic test on me this year. She went to being a concierge doctor last year and it was one of the perks of the service. After having a mom who died from Alzheimer's, I was pleased to find out that I have the lowest combination of gene type for predisposition towards the disease. Not to say its a guarantee that I wouldn't get it, but my chances are lower than I thought, which is a relief.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
 
Ally said:
I haven't thought about doing the genetic test, but my doctor did the health genetic test on me this year. She went to being a concierge doctor last year and it was one of the perks of the service. After having a mom who died from Alzheimer's, I was pleased to find out that I have the lowest combination of gene type for predisposition towards the disease. Not to say its a guarantee that I wouldn't get it, but my chances are lower than I thought, which is a relief.


Sent from my iPad using Early Retirement Forum
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I'm glad your testing showed good results. I wonder if your mom's would have shown a combination of gene type that predisposed her to Alzheimers--can the tests conclude that your parents had "good" genes, i.e., do our results mean our parents had similar combinations?? I don't know anything about genetic testing other than what DD and her DH went through before having children, but her DH's revealed some genetic combination that had to come through his mother, so wondered if that meant we could extrapolate what our parents' genetic issues were based on our results.
 
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My kit is on the coffee table, waiting for me to spit... :p

I just want to see if I'm part caveman.
 
I got my results from Ancestry.com today. Wil have to spend some time studying them.
 
I'm wondering if the genetics test would help reveal things about our ancestry via our father's mother, who is a genealogical "blank spot" to us. Would anyone care to speculate? The following is all we know about her.

She died young, from a disease that is easily cureable today. We have no pictures of her; Dad was only 5 when she died, and couldn't even remember what she looked like. I know her maiden name, but can't find her family (not knowing any of her family's names; plus her maiden name is an uncommon last name for the Northeast, although commoner out West). There is one mention of her in the 1910 census. She claimed to be 25, which would give her a birthdate of 1885.

Anyway, family legend is that she was of German and French descent, but the census says her parents were born in New York. Supposedly she had an "Alsatian" surname, but it sounds Scandinavian to me.

Just wondering what, if anything, genetics testing could reveal about her.
 
Nodak said:
I got my results from Ancestry.com today. Wil have to spend some time studying them.
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I did the Ancestry DNA test a while back and found it fairly interesting.

The matching with others in ancestry.com looks useful. They showed my closest match is a second cousin who I know. So it was a useful confirmation that they seem to know what they are doing. I'll probably track down some of the further out "cousins" at some point.

Their ethnicity matching is kinda weak, IMHO. It's so general. Apparently they use "Irish" as a stand in for "celtic". "Western European" is apparently "germanic". And what's "Great Britain" suppose to mean since "english" is a pretty broad mixture of celtic and germanic in varying percentages (and maybe throw in a little roman for fun!).

They are something most people can identify with I guess. But I'd rather be able to dive in deeper. I know it's complicated, but that's what's interesting to me.

And it would have been fun to uncover some unknown component - WOW! I've got some Tibetan ancestry I never knew about. But no, I'm a run of the mill celtic/germanic WASP.

Finally, you can download the genetic data they produced and feed it into other places (like https://www.promethease.com/) to look at other things like disease markers.

Well worth $99 if you have it burning whole in your pocket.
 
This may be of interest here.
MIT researchers have just discovered a new mechanism re/ obesity - a genetic "metabolic master switch" controlling thermogenesis. Check for T - C variant @ rs 1421085.
From the MIT press release -

The strongest association with obesity resides in a gene region known as “FTO,” which has been the focus of intense scrutiny since its discovery in 2007. However, previous studies have failed to find a mechanism to explain how genetic differences in the region lead to obesity.
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Follow-up experiments showed that IRX3 and IRX5 act as master controllers of a process known as thermogenesis, whereby adipocytes dissipate energy as heat, instead of storing it as fat. Thermogenesis can be triggered by exercise, diet, or exposure to cold, and occurs both in mitochondria-rich brown adipocytes that are developmentally related to muscle, and in beige adipocytes that are instead related to energy-storing white adipocyte
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https://news.mit.edu/2015/pathway-controls-metabolism-underlying-obesity-0819

From the New England Journal of Medicine -

These results indicate that the rs1421085 T-to-C single-nucleotide alteration underlies the association between FTO and obesity by disrupting ARID5B-mediated repression of IRX3 and IRX5. This disruption leads to a developmental shift from browning to whitening programs and loss of mitochondrial thermogenesis (Figure 5D).
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In summary, our work elucidates a mechanistic basis for the strongest genetic association with obesity. Our results indicate that the SNV rs1421085 underlies the genetic association between the FTO locus and obesity
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Full paper -

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1502214#t=articleResults
 
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Today marks a great milestone in the history of personal genetics. I am thrilled to let you know that 23andMe is now the first and only genetic service available directly to you that includes reports that meet FDA standards.

After nearly two years of work with the FDA, extensive user comprehension testing and a complete redesign, 23andMe is launching an entirely new experience that includes carrier status, wellness, trait and ancestry reports. We have also developed new and improved tools to share and compare your genetics with friends and family - and for those of you participating in research, we will provide new insights to explore.

When will you get to see your new experience? Soon - we promise! You will receive an email when your new experience is ready. We want to ensure each customer has a seamless transition which is why we have set our goal to provide you with the new experience by the end of the year.

We are committed to bringing you a world class service that provides you with ongoing updates. The genetics revolution is here and we are excited to enable customers like you to keep learning about your DNA. Today is only the beginning.

If you have questions or want to start learning about the new experience, we put together a new FAQ page. Additionally, we have updated our Privacy Statement and Terms of Service to support the new features, which I encourage you to read.

Together, we have achieved another great milestone in the personal genetics revolution. It is the first step in many more to come!

Anne Wojcicki
CEO, 23andMe
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I got this letter the other day. Maybe this means us late comers will get our genetic health info after all.
 
Was this a letter or an email? I did the full monty genetic thing a few years ago before they had their license pulled but I haven't received anything updating their new status or any new or information.
 
The CEO was interviewed about a week ago at CBS This Morning. Looks like this second time around (after getting warned by the FDA), the company is working closer with the FDA for approvals.

 
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Interesting update. My husband and I beat the FDA imposed embargo on genetic health information being given in an easy form... my kids only got ancestral data - and the raw data.

(Fortunately, you could get specific genetic data from the raw data if you knew the specific SNPs to look at. Which is why we had genetic testing done on them.)
 
razztazz said:
Was this a letter or an email? I did the full monty genetic thing a few years ago before they had their license pulled but I haven't received anything updating their new status or any new or information.
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razztazz,

I did the 23andme test just before they got shut down by the FDA on the health risks portion.l I received the same email (that the OP posted) a few days ago.

omni
 
omni550 said:
razztazz,

I did the 23andme test just before they got shut down by the FDA on the health risks portion.l I received the same email (that the OP posted) a few days ago.

omni
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Thanks for the feedback.
 
Got the same email, but signed on just AFTER they were slammed by the FDA and started giving out way less detailed reports. Hoping they provide the more informative reports to those of us who wanted them to continue and paid the same money for a much reduced report.
 
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