This post is in partnership with 23andme. All thoughts are honest and my own!
My 23andMe story
I was so excited to send in my box to 23andme and get my results. First they send you a vial that you put your saliva in. It takes a lot and you can’t have had anything to drink or eat in 30 minutes. It was super simple to do. Then you mail it off in the box it came in and wait. It was just that simple. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. It took me about 4 weeks to get my results. They say it takes 6-8 weeks to receive them. So that was a nice surprise to see it that early. These were my instructions.
My 23andMe reports
I filled out surveys after I sent in my dna. This helps them collect other data to use in their reports. It wasn’t hard and it was all done online.
My DNA test report told me so many things. It has a total of 70 reports in it. I learned things I didn’t know. For one we always knew we had European ancestry. But it told me I’m 67% British and Scottish. What did I know? I knew that I was French. However I’m only 9% French. I knew that I was Native American. I found out that I’m 0% Native American. Now I’ve heard all the stories about my family. That I am a grandchild of a Native American so I’m not sure how this test says I’m not Native American at all. But there it is. My aunt is going to have a lot to say about this for sure. It makes me wonder then about her ancestry or if she was adopted or a foster child. We didn’t know a lot about my dad’s side of the family because his mom was in foster care and all her siblings were too. I knew that we were French. I was shocked to see that we’re only 9% I kind of thought that would be higher.
This genetic test also told me that I have a recessive gene for Cystic Fibrosis. So since I’m done having babies we’re all fine. However this can be a concern for my kids. To me it’s something I want to look at before my babies start having babies. This genetic test is a great tool to utilize for family planning and learning about your past.
It told me things I already knew. I am lactose intolerant. I have the sticky kind of ear wax. Then it gives you this little bit of goodness that shocked us. My lineage goes back 13000 years on this planet. That’s kind of amazing right there. I guess we’re a hearty sort of people. I discovered that I have more than 315 traits of Neanderthal. That’s more traits than 94% of other users. I’m not sure what that says about me!
Here’s the different reports they give you:
Trait reports
Wellness reports
Ethnicity reports
DNA reports
Carrier reports
and finally Ancestry reports.
I learned so much about my ancestry that I’m so thankful to have done this dna testing. It was a gold mine of information. If you’re thinking about getting your ancestry test done you can’t go wrong with 23andme. Make sure you follow our sponsor on social media.
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What report would you be most excited to find out about?
I can’t get enough forensics. This is so cool. My Mom’s side of the family kept pretty good track dating back to pre-revolutionary war. It’d be interesting to see how accurate they were.
Wow, I’m completely fascinated by this! I had heard of these, but I had no idea they were so easy to get done. I also had no idea that they could tell you so much! I knew ancestry, but I had no idea they told you about things such as lactose intolerance. Brilliant.
I did one of these tests recently and I was surprised with the results as well. It said I was mainly European with Russian and Irish. It also told me that I had strong neanderthal traits as well. Something like 97% more than other users. I would have thought that meant it is rare but you are the only other person I know to take the test and it told you something similar. I received a lot of info that I didn’t know what to think of it but it was all very interesting. I would recommend a friend to do it and I would love to see more peoples results. I also thought it was kinda cool when it popped up a bunch of my “relatives” like actual people online that may be my 2nd cousins. That is crazy to me but very likely as there are many members of my family I never was told about so it was exciting to think I may find out about someone that may be a close relative.
This is such an interesting process to me. I am adopted and have never really felt the need to know more about my bio parents. I guess it is nice to have this option in the future if I felt like I needed it.
This is really interesting! I’ve heard of this before, and to be honest was quite skeptical at first. A colleague at work said she did this and found out some amazing things about her ancestry!
I so want to do this and will sometime. I am a bit nervous but my dad is adopted from Germany and we know he would really benefit from the knowledge. You hear the stories but don’t know if they are true or not.
I love your results and it’s so exciting to learn more about yourself. Isn’t it?
It was really fun to find out all that about my ancestry for sure. I’ll do it for my daughter who’s adopted from Korea one day too!
How interesting! I didn’t realize that these kinds of tests went into full detail as far as your allergies and sensitivities go. Ancestry has always intrigued me, though I don’t know a whole lot about my own ancestors. I need to look into this!
Isn’t learning about your ancestry so much fun and SO interesting?! My mom is huge on using Ancestry to find out more about her family and she recently did a DNA kit test like this. I’m dying to do one – it’s always so interesting to see where you’re from in more depth!
Finding out your DNA is so interesting and so fun! I love finding relatives and learning new things like this – it’s so much fun. I need to find more time to get into this more! What a great holiday gift to give too!
OMG I’ve been looking for something like this for years! But it seems it’s only available in the US — is that correct? I would really love to do this!
I’ve been trying to choose between this company and Ancestry for myself and my husband, so I found your post very helpful. We both “think” we know our heritage, but as you pointed out, what we think and what our dna says may surprise us. Thanks!
I was quite surprised at my results! But it as fun to find out! Arguing with my mom about a relative took family to another level. LOL
Native American ancestry will not always show up in the ethnicity report of an autosomal DNA test. If the Native American ancestor is too far back, you may not have inherited enough from that particular branch of your family tree to be detectable. Furthermore, many people who are culturally Native American have significant European ancestry. This is particularly true of Eastern tribes like Cherokee. They have been mixing with people of European ancestry for about 400 years.
that is interesting! I had no idea.