Ancestry DNA Testing Kits - Anyone Used Them?

[Dos_Box]

I'm just getting a few ideas for unusual pressies together and wondered if anyone had any experiance of them?

Basically, they do is test to see what percentage of your DNA is european, asian, african etc. and sounds like something that is both unusual and informative for a gift.

They are about £100 but would be money well spent I think.

[LincolnE]

Not my cup of tea, I'm afraid. The might be alright, but I've heard many a horror story about these Ancestry sites and the like being scams to make money.

[Andrew_C]

I bought my wife one for her b'day. From National Geographic, and your sample gets integrated into the research project. Waiting now for the final checking so don't know what you get back in detail.

 

I want to know where her oddly "webbed" feet come from.

[Danp]

Might buy one for my dad for fathers day, could raise some eyebrows....

[plexer]

I bought my wife one for her b'day. From National Geographic, and your sample gets integrated into the research project. Waiting now for the final checking so don't know what you get back in detail.

 

I want to know where her oddly "webbed" feet come from.

 

That'll be the Norfolk in her.

 

Ben

[SiliconAlley_Sam]

Really interesting idea!

[Arthur]

@Dos_Box. This article might be of interest?

 

I had my DNA analyzed, and all I got was this lousy story « Ars Technica

[cobra427col]

Might buy one for my dad for fathers day, could raise some eyebrows....

 

I was thinking - buying these as gifts could cause a few awkward moments....

[SiliconAlley_Sam]

Always joked with one of my friends that she probably belongs to the postman because she looks so little like her folks and her siblings. Hmmmmm.

[plexer]

I was thinking - buying these as gifts could cause a few awkward moments....

 

It's not a paternity test so no reason it should do.

 

Ben

[AMLinington]

I'm not sure they're really a 'gift' as they're more aimed at determining whether or not you might develop cancer or something. I wouldn't want to know tbh. I'd rather live my life and take each condition and problem as it comes. A 25% chance of developing late onset Alzheimers is still a 75% chance of NOT and this might be affected by whether or not you live long enough or whether your 0.2% increased chance of developing pancreatic cancer might get in first to finish you off. Sounds a bit Daily Fail-ish to me but to each their own and all that. I wouldn't want to get one as a gift though.

[elsiegee40]

My husband did one a few years back. It traced his roots back Bosnia Herzegovina, but the closest relations on the database at the time were in the states and were connected many, many generations back.

[Bananas]

I'm not sure they're really a 'gift' as they're more aimed at determining whether or not you might develop cancer or something. I wouldn't want to know tbh. I'd rather live my life and take each condition and problem as it comes. A 25% chance of developing late onset Alzheimers is still a 75% chance of NOT and this might be affected by whether or not you live long enough or whether your 0.2% increased chance of developing pancreatic cancer might get in first to finish you off. Sounds a bit Daily Fail-ish to me but to each their own and all that. I wouldn't want to get one as a gift though.

 

Depends on what tests you're buying, I think the ones being discussed are more aimed at unpicking which bits of your dna come from which bit of the world. It's more a genetic heritage test than a diagnostic test.

[elsiegee40]

Depends on what tests you're buying, I think the ones being discussed are more aimed at unpicking which bits of your dna come from which bit of the world. It's more a genetic heritage test than a diagnostic test.

 

That's the kind that I was thinking of

[Dos_Box]

That's the kind that I was thinking of

 

Yup, I did say on my first post that it was to trace ancestry, not the very expensive, circa £1000, genetics testing you can have done to check your chances of developing a whole range of unfortunate ailments.

[Andrew_C]

Hold the phone! Results back yesterday.

 

Results pretty unexciting. Obviously, as a woman, no paternal information, but her mother's side spread through the near east, and Europe in what might be called the classic route. 2.2% Neanderthal might explain the feet...

 

The results are presented as a web site with lots of information, but it would be nice to have had some printable pages too.

[AMLinington]

Depends on what tests you're buying, I think the ones being discussed are more aimed at unpicking which bits of your dna come from which bit of the world. It's more a genetic heritage test than a diagnostic test.

 

That's the kind that I was thinking of

 

Yup, I did say on my first post that it was to trace ancestry, not the very expensive, circa £1000, genetics testing you can have done to check your chances of developing a whole range of unfortunate ailments.

 

Yeah I read back and saw that, although genetic tests generally done with only a saliva sample aren't exactly accurate given the bacteria, food etc that is in our mouths at any given time. A pinprick blood sample might be more accurate perhaps?

 

Hold the phone! Results back yesterday.

 

Results pretty unexciting. Obviously, as a woman, no paternal information, but her mother's side spread through the near east, and Europe in what might be called the classic route. 2.2% Neanderthal might explain the feet...

 

The results are presented as a web site with lots of information, but it would be nice to have had some printable pages too.

 

Go back far enough and we ALL come from Africa and we ALL have 'bits' of other human species in us. Not sure it's exactly revolutionary. Personally I'm far more interested in tracing the actual people in my history. I'd love to trace my lineage back to the 15th and 16th centuries and see what my ancestors were doing during the reign of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I.