Are they accurate in your opinion ?
Me and family are indian, however my sister just did a test and got Indian/Scandinavian and even Irish/Scottish or welsh.
If we assume the data generated is accurate, then the second question that arises is on the interpretation. And this is where it gets murky.
So the answer is both âyesâ and âmaybe notâ.
And also:
For deeper family roots, these tests do not really tell you where your ancestors came from. They say where DNA like yours can be found on Earth today.
I wouldnât be worried about how accurately they are I would be more worried about who owns the data.
Also alot of it is based off population genetics which are not well understood.
âWhen asking strangers on the internet to Google stuff on your behalf, are the results accurate?â is the real question.
Im asking what other peoples opinions are, nothing wrong with that.
I didnât say there is anything wrong with it.
Well your telling me to use google instead of posting here, so yes you are
No I wasnât.
I was wondering how you/anybody authenticate(s) what people tell you theyâve found out.
Go back and reâread what I actually wrote Simmy.
IF for example someone has a scottish great grandad or whatever, if the dna result shows it,then its accurate
Not necessarily. If that Scottish ancestor has Chinese heritage, but was born in Scotland, it would be inaccurate.
I did a Genetics and Genomics degree as my second degree(MSc)⌠so maybe I donât know anything about genetic testing.
Thereâs always a battle between expertise and internet wisdom
Yeah plus people have different interests.
Iâm less concerned about the accuracy and more who owns the data. As I think thatâs the bigger issue.
Even if these tests were 100% accurate (and they are demonstrably not, as evidenced by this case: https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/dna-ancestry-kits-twins-marketplace-1.4980976), I struggle to understand what anyone hopes to learn from them.
As others have stated, these tests only compare your sample to others in their database, and then give you a statement that basically says âyour DNA is similar to x% of people in this region, and y% in that regionâ. It doesnât tell you anything about your own family history.
And if it did, how many generations do you want to go back to find out your makeup? If it determines (through some magic algorithm) that your great-grandmother was born in one country, but moved to another before giving birth to your grandmother, does your DNA match the first or the second country?
So my opinion is that youâre better off sticking the money in a pot
I did the 23andMe one, and found out that Iâm genetically what I thought, medically pretty boring but I did connect with a 2nd cousin in Canada and weâre meeting up next month when he and his wife come to London.
So it was pretty nice to get that.
There pretty much pointless, wouldnât waste your money on one, even if it is on sale
Does 23and me do health with DNA results?
I did 23andMe; got in touch with cousins in Canada that I didnât know about, eventually met them when they came to Paris and Iâll go over to see them as soon as we are able to.
I personally donât see that as a waste.
Itâs great that worked for you, but there are a lot of ways to meet people that are more reliable and cheaper.
I know for me and I suspect for most people, a call to their parents, Nan, aunts/uncles etc or something, followed up with some dedicated facebooking, would yield better results than a DNA test if meeting distant relatives is your goal.
It wasnât my goal; but it provided a lot of interesting results about myself and my background. Sure; I could get it with some effort but thatâs the same as a lot of things.
The kit cost me ÂŁ50 or something; I still log in to this day and have used it to look at my past, and have used some of the health aspects alongside my doctor.
Clearly you wouldnât buy one; but thatâs not to say itâs a waste at all.