Excellent, accurate, insightful...
I bought the kit because my son is adopted and then I thought, what the hell, I'll do my own because I'd like to know how our DNA compares. I was fascinated by our ethnic compositions and was quite pleased to find that we are both 40% Italian and have similar percentages of other shared heritage.
AND because my sister got her results right after me, I also found out that she is in fact my HALF SISTER and that the man who I had known as my father for 44 years is not my father and that my mother had an affair way back when. My siblings are my half-siblings and I may never know who my father is (thanks Mom). Better to know the truth about yourself than to live in darkness. Now begins the journey of finding the missing pieces to my personal puzzle.
The testing is fairly simple: You receive a test vial (log in and register it on their website) and provide saliva up to the control line. Make sure you don't eat or drink for 30 to 45 minutes before providing your saliva sample. It is best not to brush teeth beforehand since it will wash away valuable DNA and you want to ensure your sample has enough to process. Yes I had a few failed kits in my life and that set us back months of getting results on those kits. Anyway it’s fairly simple to provide the saliva samples. Simple enough I had my 5 1/2 year old done and she was the easiest one to process. Then you place the kit back into included return envelope and wait for about 6 to 8 weeks for it to process. All while keeping tabs of the process online as each step finishes.
I have tested both of my parents, my two children, two paternal aunts, my daughter's paternal grandmother as well as myself and two cousins whom I tested to confirm our relationship. If you test at least one parent, you can easily sort matches that are shared with that parent to determine which matches are maternal and paternal. Since both my parents have tested mine literally shows who matches me from each side and my children can sort their matches based on me being tested too.
My paternal grandfather died in 1995 and took with him the secret of his past. He had ran away as a young boy and changed his name so we knew him only by the name he had taken. My family always yearned to know more about my grandfather's past but he had endured some sort of trauma or something and for whatever reason chose to never speak of it again. So we grew up only knowing half my father's ancestry - that of his mother.
After my grandfather died, I set out on a mission to try to figure out more about his identity. I sent off for birth and school records but hit one dead-end after another trying to prove he was who he said he was. I spent hours going over census data on Ancestry's website, writing to courthouses across the country. The evidence pointed to the conclusion that he was not who he said he was. I had nothing really solid to go by. Until 17 years into chasing cold trails, I discovered ancestry type DNA testing. I figured it wouldn't hurt to order my dad a kit and see where that would take us. If I could just find one close enough match then maybe it would give us a good lead on figuring out my grandfather's real surname.
After waiting for what seemed like months (it was actually only about 6 weeks) my dad's DNA was online (on 23andme’s secure site) and accessible along with all his many matches - which were basically cousins at various degrees of distance. It was one cousin (a predicted second cousin) in particular that gave me access to their family tree and actually dove in with me searching for clues that would lead us to my grandfather.
Just 6 months into researching my father's DNA, I found my grandfather's family and figured out who he really was. I wanted to ensure that my information was correct and so I contacted the daughters to the man I believed to be my grandfather's brother and offered to test them both. Their test results confirmed they were indeed our 1st cousins. I have since been in contact with close and distant family via this newly discovered paternal side and even obtained a copy of my grandfather's family surname book. His absence was even recorded in the book! I solved an 83+ year mystery and gained a family I longed my entire life to know about. I cannot be more thankful that these tests are available and that it gives us such ability to solve things that seem impossible.
Granted this all sounds way easier than it was and in all honesty it took planning and sorting and meticulous record-keeping to rule out my father's maternal matches. I literally mapped my father's DNA and researched every match labeling in an Excel document, which chromosome location that relative fit and what surnames fit within those matches. It’s given me new found respect and interest in knowing about each and every ancestor that left their mark within our DNA. It’s time-consuming, rewarding and addicting. I can say that with all honesty as I now manage 15+ kits on various DNA websites. I tested myself and both parents on 23andme as well as AncestryDNA and Dad was also tested on FTDNA but I met my most useful matches on 23andme. It was on 23andme that I found the best ability to pour over chromosomes - researching every detail I could.
Oddly between 23andme and Ancestry their tests show a discrepancy in ethnicity estimates. One shows that my dad has a tiny trace of Native American (23andme) yet AncestryDNA does not show any trace whatsoever of Native American. My son has confirmed Native American and was only tested on 23andme and his percentage came back at nearly exact what is on his BIA blood quantum card. So I lean in feeling more comfortable with 23andme’s ethnicity estimates.
IMPORTANT TO NOTE: You can take your raw data (once your DNA is processed) and download it from any of these DNA testing sites and upload them to GEDmatch for free. That site allows you to cross compare matches on there from all the DNA sites. As long as others have their data on their too you can look at those matches and even see where the match is on individual chromosomes, etc. It’s a great tool to utilize along with your DNA testing sites.
FINAL THOUGHT: If you are looking to solve a mystery, 23andme is great. If you are looking to just fill in a family tree and you have a paid Ancestry membership or you are willing to pay for it, I would also suggest AncestryDNA. AncestryDNA gives you immediate access to your matches’ trees and you can in turn build on your own tree with the information. But if you are NOT a paid member to Ancestry, their AncestryDNA features are limited. I personally think its poor business practice for Ancestry to force people who already fork over money for the DNA kits to further pay to utilize services that should be totally included within the purchase of the kit. With 23andme, there are no additional hidden usage fees.
Whichever one you choose, be prepared to discover a new you.
I am thrilled with my 23 and me experience. I received my kit within several days of ordering. I registered it on 5/17, it was rec'd and inspected 5/23, DNA extraction on 6/7, DNA analysis on 6/10, quality review on 6/10, initial raw data on 6/10, and reports were generated and available on 6/13 - just under 4 weeks total. I don't know why so many other people are having issues. The outcome is mostly what I expected. I am largely British/Irish and French/German with a few other things mixed in. I was always told we had a smattering of Native American, and that's what it showed. The reports are easy to read and download.
My biggest surprise came when I looked up DNA relatives and found that I had a niece - which is weird because my brother (my only sibling) and I never had kids. Can open, worms everywhere!! Ha!! You do need to make sure you're okay with what you might find. Not sure my brother will be, so I haven't mentioned it yet! Overall, I am very, very glad I did this.
UPDATE: I have connected with my newly discovered niece and through her, found out I have ANOTHER niece on another ancestry database, this time through an unknown half-sibling via my father!! 3 months ago I had no nieces and now I have 2....PLUS a half-sib!! This is the best thing I've done!
My doctor recommended 23andme's DNA test for access to raw data related to genetic methylation mutations. 23andme's customer service confirmed what many reviews stated - that their new chip had recently removed some methylation related SNP's, but there were some still being tested. While other DNA kits might have been more comprehensive, my doctor was comfortable interpreting 23andme's raw data, so I purchased it. I spit into the plastic vial, sent my kit out on the 9th, and got my results on the 17th.
For me, there was no need to purchase the health kit, as the less expensive ancestry kit allowed for download of the same raw data, which was then loaded into genetic genie, promethease, knowyourgentics, geneticlifehacks, and other DNA analysis sites. The SNP's in my methylation profile included a variety of COMT, VDR, MTHFR, MTRR, and SHMT1 SNP's. See attached photo for details on what methylation data points were and weren't geneotyped.
From the raw data, I gained insight into whether I should be taking folate or methylfolate, and what kinds of B12 are best absorbed by someone with my profile. I also learned that I am at higher risk for certain illnesses, but this didn't lead to any more preventive measures than I've already been taking. As for the ancestry portion, I found that it is somewhat limited, but I was glad to see you can restrict the sharing of your data to some degree. The more people take this test, the more robust the data will likely be.
Is 23&Me ancestry service worth paying for? For me, definitely YES. I wanted to know my ethnic breakdown and bought a test kit online.
When it arrived, it was in a box with a sleeve around it that looks exactly like in the picture. I took the plastic wrap off, then the sleeve, and opened the box. Inside, there is a card with instructions for registering your kit and a place to write down your sample number (which is on the side of the spit test vial), a plastic biohazard bag for putting your completed sample in, and a plastic case with pieces of the spit sample tube that require simple assembly. Keep the box after you have opened it. You'll use it to return your sample. The sleeve on the box was for hiding the prepaid postage back to the lab.
After you go online to the 23&Me website, and register your kit, you're ready to take the sample. Assembling the vial is easy. A spit cup screws onto the top of the tube, and you literally "spit in the vial". You can't eat or drink or smoke for 30 minutes before you collect your sample. If you do this wrong, you could end up with an invalid test result. The tube might look shockingly large at first, but if you look at the side of it there is a measure mark, and you can see where there is a cut off point inside the tube shaped kind of like a little upside down pyramid. Roughly a fourth of the tube is what actually collects your spit, the rest is simply space for handling the vial.
Important: Be aware there is a little cap of solution attached to the spit cup. Don't snap that down until after you've spit in the tube! Once you have your saliva up to the measure line, snap that cap of solution down so it mixes with your sample. Then you can take the spit cup off the vial, and put on the secure screwcap to seal the vial closed. The kit comes with a sample bag to seal your tube in, then you put it back into the box that the kit came in and seal it. There is pre-paid postage on the box already, so you can ship it from home without having to go to the post office. Wait times for kit processing vary. Mine took approximately 2 months for the results to come in. You can monitor your kit's arrival and status on the 23&Me website, which tells you what stage of the testing process your kit is currently going through.
I had the ancestry report done by 23 & Me, and I'm going to go back later and upgrade my report through the site, which is $100-$120ish extra depending on whether a sale is going on, to upgrade to the health report. By the way, when you upgrde your kit to include the health background services, there is no need to buy an additional kit. You can simply upgrade through the 23&Me site.
Most of my results were expected, however, there was one surprise result, which was exciting to see. I received my maternal haplogroup, and also a chart that shows how far back in time (up to 8 or 9 generations, I forget) when my ancestor with that ethnicity lived.
For people specifically looking for the possibility of Native American DNA, I'm including this part of the review for you. If your ancestor goes back further than 8 generations, I've been told by fellow dna geneology buffs that those results can "wash out" of your results. This has apparently happened to me. My great x5 grandfather was born on the reservation and is on the Dawes Rolls. His mother was 100% Peoria Indian. His mixed status is documented through census records. I didn't get any results for the Americas, Native American, or East Asian DNA through 23&Me, which would be an indicator that I'm part Native American. However, my results did show I am 10% broadly South Asian.
I was curious if the South Asian result could somehow be misconstrued as Native American, and was told by dna buffs outside of 23&Me to download my raw dna data from the 23&Me site and take it over to GEDmatch. That is one of the bonus awesome things you can do with your DNA from 23&Me. You can download your raw genetic data in a file, and take it to other sites, like GEDmatch, and upload it there for an analysis using various databases.
One of the things I noticed at 23&Me is that their South Asian dna, and my maternal haplogroup T1a1, both have very small sample sets in their database. I'm not sure what to make of this. Will these numbers change as more people take the test? Obviously. So, what will that do for testing results? There is nothing on the site to tell users how to fully interpret this information table, and whether or not more input into this database could potentially alter test results. That's the reason I'm leaving four stars instead of five. The interpretation tools on the site could be better in this regard. I've searched high and low for information on maternal haplogroup T1a1, but there really isn't that much information about it to be found on google. Certainly not enough to satisfy my curiosity. I felt like 23&Me should've had more detail on the site about specific haplogroups, after all, that is one of the primary features we're paying for. But let's get back to the Native American test results....
After taking my raw dna and putting it through the world map filters in GEDmatch, I got a hit for 6% Native American DNA, which would be expected given how many generations in distance I am from my 100% Peoria ancestor. What's equally interesting, it turned out that the Native American marker was completely separate from my South Asian dna, which grew to 23% in the World22 and World9 databases. It was also able to take the South Asian portion of my dna and define it as Baloch. That small detail gives me a lot of information to go on when I go searching my family tree again. To sum it up, I encourage anyone interesting in, or looking for, Native American ancestry to take their 23&Me ancestry test results and run their dna through other databases for a broader picture.
Since my results came back, I've bought kits for both my parents, and we are going to link them all through the 23&Me site, another great feature they have. There is a report area that allows you to see potential relatives as well. The only downside to that is if the other person has their information hidden (which most of my relative results do), it's hard to make use of it, although you can attempt to contact that person and ask to share information with them. I haven't been brave enough yet to approach anyone and ask to share their dna data. C'est la vie. Overall 23&Me ancestry service is a fun little tool for discovering your ethnicity and learning more about your ancestors. I'm very pleased with all the information I've learned from the site.
Feature Product
- Easy-to-use at-home kit, no membership required. Personalized ancestry reports based on your DNA ready in about 6-8 weeks.
- Now with 1,000+ geographic regions - the most comprehensive genetic ancestry breakdown on the market.
- Learn even more than your ancestral regions - discover your ancient ancestry and trace their migration with just one DNA test
- First consumer DNA test to offer a breakdown of your ancestry with results becoming more refined as our database continues to grow
- Subject to 23andMe's Terms of Service at 23andme.com/tos and Privacy Statement at 23andme.com/privacy
Description
How it works? Provide your saliva sample from home. Mail it back to our lab in the same kit it came in- the postage is prepaid.
You will get access to the following Reports and Tools:
1) Ancestry Composition - See how your DNA breaks out across our 1,000+ geographic regions worldwide -- the most comprehensive genetic ancestry breakdown on the market.
2) DNA Relatives - Opt-in to connect with people who share DNA with you - and message them.
3) Haplogroups - Trace parts of your ancestry to specific groups of individuals from over a thousand years ago.
4) Share & Compare - Explore genetic similarities and differences between you and your relatives.
5) Neanderthal Ancestry - Discover if you inherited some Neanderthal DNA.
My husband and I submitted dna to 23andMe. We received results fairly quickly and found more information than expected. It was organized in a user-friendly format.I did not intend to write a review of 22andMe but after using another sevice, thought I should.
My husband wanted to submit to a different service in hopes of finding a half-sibling or 1st cousin. He does not know who his father was and his closest relatives on 23andMe were 2nd cousins. We were told Ancestry had a larger database of users so he ordered a kit and submitted.
Ancestry.com confirmed his dna percentages almost exactly so no complaint. Their response time was also good. Their problem is the cumbersome layout of information and that they give you far less. For instance 23andMe gives haplogroups. No such info was given on Ancestry. Ancestry pushes for further services on their website which is offputting as well.
I can only speak for these two dna options, but of the two, 23andMe is by far the best.
(He did not find a closer relative and still has no idea who his father was. Of course, that's no fault of Ancestry.)
Offers some different test than Ancestry.com DNA. After getting my reports and seeing other people who used Ancestry DNA, I would say, go for Ancestry.com - they have a larger online database, have been around longer, and have more specific population testing, where some of 23andMe are more general. I would recommend this test if you want to know specific Haplogroups (Specific lineages from Y chromosome and mother's mitochondrial DNA from your parents. Only males can see their father's haplogroup because females do not have a Y chromosome.) Your general DNA report will come with percentages from tested areas, but will not tell you which is from a specific parent. You can download your "raw genotype data" and upload it to other sites such as FTDNA and Geni which will use their own algorithms to interpret your ancestral genes and have interactive communities to further trace your family tree.
Many of the negative reviews come from unrealistic expectations...aside from those who DNA could not be extracted ( i would prob be disappointed too)
People tend to only review something when they are angry, or to the moon happy, very rarely the in- between "just satisfied" group. So the string of negative reviews on here do not give an accurate representation of the majority of peoples test results, these are just the individuals who were so mad that they actually took the time to review. I'm here to counter it.
My husband and i both did a kit, ours worked flawlessly. My grandparents had already tested theirs with other companies, so i already knew half of my results- which matched theirs, even though completely different brands. I felt 23 and me offered more comprehensive results, which they do.
My husband, on the other hand, his was semi-life changing. He does not know conclusively who his father is so we were hoping to gain some insight, we haven't gotten anywhere with that as more parent testing is needed,
but we do know his ethnicity now. Husband looks very Native (american indian/ mexican decent). There was rumor his father is American Indian. The test comes back....subsaharan African!! Turns out it didn't even come from his fathers side. Nothing that we thought. He was shocked!
Test took average time, 6-8 weeks. I assume it takes longer during peak holiday seasons. Mine came in a few days before my husbands.
Overall we are happy and here to buy a test for his mother
Ordered the kit for ancestry. Took about 3 weeks to get results. The down side is that they also are able to get medical data from the sample, BUT it is an extra $125 to get that info. Didn't see that coming
If you want a more in depth look at your recent ancestry, this is most definitely the company to go with now. I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up my results after some time and noticed they had updated. Not only do they now pinpoint with accuracy my known places/regions of recent ancestral heritage, they also were bold enough to present bits and pieces of my more distant ancestry which Ancestry.Com did not do. I received 9 regions in total with 23&Me, all of which made sense given my known recent ancestry, while Ancestry.Com only presented two broad regions on their recent update (when I used to have 9). Also, the many tools they have, such as the recent timeline feature, and the ancestry painting feature make the process of knowing your ancestry so much more interesting.
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