How Accurate Are DNA Tests?

Commercial DNA tests have been a huge trend lately. However, my dad's family already has a detailed record of their ancestry. If a DNA test is truly accurate, he says it will classify me as heavily African and partly Asian. I took the 23andMe and Helix DNA tests to determine whether they'd confirm my dad's account and if so, to see which test would be more accurate.

Following is a transcript of the video:

Manny: Commercial DNA tests have been a huge trend lately. They were some of the most popular holiday gifts last year. Which makes sense, there's so much excitement in learning more about yourself. Some tests can shed light on health risks you might have, but the main ones tell you the composition of your ancestry.

Habtay Ocbazghi: It looks like DNA is helpful to trace your origin, but for me, I already know my origins.

Manny: That's my dad, he's very proud of me because I'm doing great things in life.

Clip: Manny: Chicken number one kills chicken number two in this competition.H

abtay: I was born in Eritrea. Eritrea is located in Northeast Africa.

Manny: His family kept a detailed record of their ancestors so that they would never forget where they came from.

Habtay: Up to the sixth generation, I know even where they are buried and where they used to have their farm lands. Some people crossed from Asia and people stayed in Africa. They lived together during war, during peace, and they intermarried.

Manny: I wonder though, could this be more accurate than a DNA test?

Habtay: I'm not that familiar with DNA but if it tells the origins of humans, your DNA will classify you as heavily African and partly Asian.

Manny: Let's find out! I ordered two DNA tests - the Helix test from National Geographic and 23andMe. Unboxing the tests was kind of exciting. They were neat and they had simple instructions. Generating enough spit was a challenge and I'm so sorry you have to watch this. A few weeks later...

Let's start with National Geographic's Helix test. The results classify me as East African. It says that 62% of my DNA can be traced to the continent of Africa and 36% can be traced to Asia. This is in line with what my dad predicted, but I'm a little skeptical that my Asian ancestry is so prominent.

Helix also noted that 2% of my DNA could be traced back to Europe. Specifically, the West Mediterranean. This region does include Italy, which did occupy parts of the Horn of Africa in the 1800's. Which could explain part of that 2%.

One thing that struck me about the Helix test was its description of East Africa. It tells me that my ancestry is associated with the birthplace of humankind, as well as the departure point for human migration out of Africa. This made me feel like a key part of human history. If only this ancestral journey didn't lead to a man who spends hours making SpongeBob memes.

Now let's look at the 23andMe test. 94.6% Eritrean, Ethiopian. 2.4% Sudanese and 0.3% Broadly South Asian. This test puts much more emphasis on my African ancestry and a lot less on my Asian ancestry. There was also no mention of any European ancestry. This makes a lot more sense to me, but I wonder how two separate DNA tests can produce such different results.

Robin Smith: So we take your DNA and compare you to reference data sets from around the world.

Manny: Robin Smith is 23andMe's Group Product Manager. To find out your ancestry, DNA tests compare your DNA with DNA from people around the world. And depending on the company, these reference data sets can vary.

Smith: Seeing your results here, it looks like Ethiopian and Eritrean so that's a group for which, you know, maybe a few years ago we wouldn't have had much of a data set but now because of our size we got a lot of data from that region so we're able to provide very good granularity there.

Manny: Some regions of the world aren't as represented as others in these reference data sets, leading to some disappointingly vague results for some customers. Thankfully my DNA tests were pretty accurate, but at the end of the day, they just confirmed what my dad already knew.

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#DNA #Ancestry #INSIDER

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How Accurate Are DNA Tests?

[finalbox]

*I can predict with 99.99 percent accuracy that all your ancestors were humans.*

[neverredfern]

I did both tests and I absolutely DESPISED the helix test. The information was so vague and broad that it just didn't make sense. My closest matches were centuries off the mark, the sample size is too small to be reliable or accurate. With helix the website was frustrating and full of ads to pay for additional services. Also, your generic info is not available like 23 and me, unless you pay about $500us extra, so no using the results to do further results. 23 and me was very close to known results, history, much more detailed information provided, fun and easier to navigate the website and the DNA info was available for other services too at no extra charge. 23 and me is WAY BETTER!

[NetiNeti-gmbz]

Short Answer: Inaccurate but provides some data

[joedoe]

Well 23 and me is better for government identification I know that. Haha

[Adinajacobs]

I WAS LOOKING FOR A VIDEO LIKE THIS!! Thank youuuu

[tomasz]

0:20 i was 100% sure he was born in Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea or Djibouti (his facial features)

[tramdang]

“That’s my dad. He’s very proud of me of doing very good things in life”

Bits into a kfc chicken

[hungvu]

Personally, I love where I was from, my ancestor from Northern Vietnam 300 years ago. Thus, even I was born in the South, but my accent never change.

[sarallj]

Omg I’m also Eritrean and I found this very interesting

[samuelaman]

BABA Habtay OG. Man love you and the rest of your fam. Keep doing big things.

[shaunmattice]

Yeah, I would say they can be pretty useful. I took the Ancestry DNA test.

Growing up, I already knew I would have both Irish and Scottish (35%- my Great Grandfather's family were Scottish while my 4th great grandfather was from Ireland)

Now, before I took the test I did some family research where I learnt that my family from my Dad's side (my last name) immigrated from Germany in the 1700's. While on my Mom's side, on her Father's side, it's basically all French.

Now when I got back my test, it said 62 percent England or western Europe. Of course at first I thought it met the French from my Grandfather. But that's what confused me was that his family came to Canada in 1600's. So I figured if none of the German stood out considering my family from my Dad's side been here almost as long. So I couldn't figure how one could of showed but not the other.

This was when I learnt after from more research that my second great grandmother was English (she met my second great grandfather in the first world war while posted overseas). My grandmother confirmed this, something I never knew going on 30 this year.

This probably why the dna test are useful considering I might never learnt this.

[mauriceleonard]

They only pair you with those who took their test. It's like testing with myheritage and seeing your native American but not seeing it on 23andme. They need to update there reference panels and test other native American tribes like Comanche, Kiowa, Navajo and much more other tribes.

[madmulla]

Somalis teach their kids their lineage going back at least 30 generations back...i guess it’s an East African thing keeping track of our grand grand grand grand fathers names

[eastside_king]

Ok. So basically they compare and then just guess.

[akshara]

I can't believe that your father is not 100% south asian. He looks like typical brown dad, he speaks like a brown dad

[aacmove]

Save your money and listen to your parents when they talk about their childhoods.

[iAmMadeOfSoup]

I feel like the ones that have big percents are definitely accurate. I don’t think I’m 0.4% African.

[lewamgidey]

Before I saw the video I knew you are Habesha. That why I Click the video.

[musakam]

The second result is right, the present-day so call middle East was once dominated or occupied by black-type looking East African. They were mixed with Asian migration into that area, so most middle eastern have that DNA. In ancient Egyptian time, the area was once part of Africa

[sumrandumguy]

50% 🇩🇪
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100% 🇨🇦