Is 23andMe the Best DNA Testing Company?

Which DNA test company is the best? Is it 23and Me? Andy Lee shares his 5 likes and 3 dislikes of 23andMe's genetic test results to help you decide.

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CHAPTERS

0:00 Introduction
0:54 Chromosome Painting
1:29 Neanderthal DNA
2:35 Research Involvement
4:08 Multiple Kits, One Account
5:12 Chromosome Browser
5:58 Messaging Service
7:08 Too Many Opt-ins
8:44 Lack of Tree

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✅ Let's connect:

#23andMe #dnatesting #FamilyHistoryFanatics

[spartanchuckles]

I did 23+me first, then ancestry to compare results (mainly what regions they said im fro, etc) and to see if there see what different matches I could find.

I was adopted, so these tests helped me find out a lot. Pretty much figured out who both bio parents were in about 2 days.

23+me found a half sister (was predicted as an aunt) from bio dad, of course a number of other relatives from 2 cousin to more distant. Have a 1st cousin once removed and 2nd cousin (mother + son) that ended up giving me info leading me to find bio mom.

Ancestry found a couple other close relatives (between 1st and second cousins) from both sides.

23+me, was something like 39% British/Irish, 23% German/France region (Netherlands), 20.5% Scandinavian, 17% broadly Europe . Ancestry was like 68% England/NW EUR, 17% norway, 12%Sweden, 4% Germanic.

[vesito]

I think their opt-ins are actually the better way to go. Yes, they are slow and require reading through them one by one. However, they are also informative and require a consciously made choice - as opposed to clicking automatically on a box that lets you accept all terms and conditions without reading them. One of the things that 23andMe provides that I really like, is their comprehensive explanation of the laws the company is bound by as well as the pros and cons of doing a DNA test.

[julianparks]

Thanks. Very helpful even if it was done over three years ago. 23andMe seems to be more science oriented than Ancestry. I did the National Geographic Geno Project as well. Loved it, but now it is closed.

[johnsimms]

I like their Y and mitochondria haplogroupings. I also like their health reports.

[knockshinnoch]

I'm currently waiting on my results, excited for what it reveals.

[jackwalter]

23 and Me told me I had 13% English ancestry. A few months later they changed it to Irish, then to just UK, then took it away completely and added it to my German and French ancestry. I really don't think they're reliable.

[TheCaptainAizen]

can you show me how to use the checkout? it seems like they're trying to make you pay for redundant things? I thought my checkout would be $199 I had a free $69 thing, but then my checkout was $469? can someone help me

[doriswhite]

Thank you. My elderly dad was bedridden when I sent for my kit. I was hoping he'd live long enough for me to give my results to him. Unfortunately, he passed the same day I sent my kit in (9/23/2020). I thought that was an odd coincidence.

[belisarius]

I really wish it's "donating" ie free. I say that because 23andMe MAKES MORE MONEY selling that information to pharmaceutical research. Yes they ask for your permission...but if they're making money (lots of it) from selling it, you should get reimbursed for the money you gave to them for the kit. The founder of 23andMe is married to one of Google's founders, and it works hand in hand with Google.

[marcogomez]

Once I have my results from 23andme can I sue the raw data for other services online?

[uncanny]

For me Ancestry DNA and myheritage had similar results saying that Im more English on both tests. While 23andme said the same thing I had a lower percentage. Ftdna and nat geo said I'm more Eastern European then everything else. I don't know which one is most accurate for a DNA test

[mauriceleonard]

I tested with 23andme and I deleted my dna results. Reasons why
1 No Native American
2 No Egyptian
3 No Irish
4 No English
5 No Scottish
Basically they said my dad was full African but he's not. His Grandfather was Mixed Black/White. My Grandfather took a dna test with another company and got around 50% Native American. Another reason was I didn't have a lot of close matches. All my matches we're 2nd cousins once removed and 3rd-6th Cousins. My Grandfather's Grandmother is Egyptian and she was born in Alexandria Egypt.

[robertjacksonsr]

What is the best company for African American and why should I test on more than one. I currently tested my father, mother, grandfather my wife and my self on ancestry DNA .com. I am really trying to trace my actual family members as far back as possible

[derlinclaire]

Well, the full DNA test for 23&Me does include a few Health Reports.These Health Reports are based on the genetic analysis of your Genome, specifically in regard to your genetic predispositions towards certain health conditions, and diseases.Without the Health Reports, the 23&Me DNA test is a $ 100 cheaper.But as the gentleman explained, 23&Me is basically, more a Medical Research company, than it is a Genealogical compsny, friends.So then with their full DNA test, you have Health Reports included as well, which are basically just estimated probabilities of developing certain health conditions, and diseases, based on the genetic analysis of your particular DNA, friends.

[folgore]

Genetics as a tool of genealogy hasn't really matured yet and genetic testing results, while interesting, should be taken with a grain of salt. I first submitted a sample to AncestryDNA and then later to 23 and Me. (I was attracted to the idea of finding out whether I had Neanderthal genes or not....) Initially, Ancestry DNA had me at 72% Greek-Italian (I guess based on their sample size, they put Italians, Greeks, and those in the Balkans as one group). With both parents from Sicily-Italy, that seemed reasonably close. It then said that my genetic make-up was 13% Middle Eastern and 8% Caucasian (likely Turkey). They've since changed it to 77% Italian (I guess their sample groups grew enough to differentiate), Greece and the Balkans 5%, Turkey and the Caucus was up to 15%. Middle Eastern was down to 3%. OTOH, 23 and me 95.8% European (77% Italian, 7% Balkan, and another 10% "broadly Southern European" - does not include Turkey), and only 3.9% Western Asian and North African. The only thing that surprised me was not to see much of any Northern European mixed in there. Though my family is Southern Italian, we mostly have blue eyes, medium to light complexions, and a decent percentage of blondes in the family. I would've expected to see the legacy of the Barbaric, Frankish, and Moorish invasions of Italy represented in my genetic make-up, but apparently it doesn't go that far back.

[WesOEden]

The thing that I really hated about 23 and me was it added ancestry that I don't have. Two of my ancestral countries have been traced back to the 1600s and even the 1500s, so I know about them. The third has been traced back to the 1800s. None of them have this country. Yes, it possible there was infidelity, but Ancestry is more in line with the paper genealogy. FTDNA also has an ancestral country that I have no relatives from. I don't understand how the hell this happened with two different companies, but it did.

[matthewbryant]

Good news there is now a family tree on 23 and me but they need to improve it and I herd they are trying to improve but they still need to a lot

[pathfinder]

Dear Family History Fanatics:
In September, I went with LivingDNA because of the main companies that shipped to the Czechia, they sounded best suited for my interests (accurate ethnicity reports, plus mtDNA and yDNA reports). 23andMe offered all that plus "chromosome painting" and Neanderthal ancestry reports, yet according to all my info, didn't ship their kits here. But Sunday, I asked their "Customer Care" if they would ever do so, and they displayed a vastly expanded countries-we-ship-to list, which includes "Czech Republic". So now that I know I have this option, and their Holiday sale is on until Christmas, I'm considering giving them a shot.

I know of someone who has tested with many companies. His LivingDNA ancestry report is very similar to mine (his African is 2.1% higher, his European is 2% lower, and his South Asian is 0.1% lower than my East Asian), and is his lowest African/highest European report.

MyHeritage gave him his highest African/lowest European estimate (his African is 5.6% higher, and his European is 4.2% lower, than on LivingDNA's, and his South Asian is 0%).

On his 23andMe report, his African is 1.5% higher, and his European is 1.6% lower, than on LivingDNA, and his South Asian is replaced by East Asian & Native American 0.8%, Western Asian & North African 0.1%, and Unassigned 0.6%.

According to him, 23andMe and FTDNA give the most accurate estimates. We agree that LivingDNA nearly certainly misread our Native American markers as East/South Asian. What's your take on all this? Do you think I'd get similarly varying estimates from these companies.

Also, does 23andMe's chromosome painting tell which traits any of these chromosome segments determine?

[puncheex]

Specifically about Neanderthal DNA:

In 1997 a group of researchers at the Leipzig Max Planck Institute fot Human Genetics started a project on analyzing Neanderthal DNA, without much hope of ultimate success. They wanted to get a full genome of the Neandertha, just like we had for humans. Unfortunately, DNA doesn't last too very long in the wild, but they had hopes. The team leader, a Swede named Svante Paabo, decided to pick the dangling fruit first: try to sequence mitochndrial DNA. There's a lot more of it than nuclear DNA, and its only a single circular chromosome of 16, 595 base pairs coding for 23 genes. It is inherited in all life using sexual reproduction only from the mother. The analysis was published and showed no sharing of DNA between modern humans and the Neaderthals. This was commonly interpreted that there was no sharing of any DNA. In 2006 SVante and the team started working on nuclear DNA, first trying to extract some and then building the DNA model. In May 2010 was published the papder that surprosed everyone. Not only had they succeeded in establishing the genome, but found that there was deinfite sharing in all modern humans excepting those whose ancestry never left Africa at all. This pointed a smoking gun at the middle East.

So the Neanderthals died out 30, 000 years ago. All but that part of them that is us.

[onestrangeanimal]

I was considering 23andMe but opted for the National Geographic's Geno2.0 instead. Now I kind of regret my choice.I can'r afford a new test at present, but I'd still like to take 23andMe's sometime.