I did the 23andMe DNA test. The results came back in about 3 weeks, much quicker than I expected. You spit in a little plastic container, register your test kit so they know who the spit belongs to, and send it to them in their prepaid package. So easy. All of the results they give you are online. They’ll send you an email and a link to see your results.
The results are absolutely fascinating, even for me, at 99.7% European. You get 3 different kinds of information back from them: health information, where your ancestors came from, and some traits about yourself.
The European portion of my DNA breaks down into an interesting mix of British, Irish, French, German, Scandinavian and a little Iberian.
The health information that 23andMe gives you is whether or not you are a carrier of 39 different variants that may not affect your health, but could affect the health of your family. This could be incredibly helpful if you were planning on having children.
23andMe researchers say that most people have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA in them and my results showed that I have 253 variants of the 2872 Neanderthal variants that they test for, which means I have less than 80% of their customers. They told me that I have a specific variation that has “less back hair” than other Neanderthals. I consider myself lucky.
My results also tell me that I’m likely to consume more caffeine that the average person, I’m a light sleeper, I am probably tolerant of lactose, I have freckles, straight hair, a longer ring fingers than index fingers and some details about my earwax. It's all true and now that my DNA has confirmed my love for coffee, I think I'm drinking even more of it.
You can connect to your family members on 23andMe website and view their test results. The 23andMe website is outstanding and has an unbelievable amount of information on it. I've already spent hours on it and they keep sending me more information now that I've agreed to be part of their genetic research. The more questions you answer about yourself, the more points you can accumulate towards more "insights' or information about yourself.
23andMe is in downtown Mountain View and they love it here. They’re very close to the train station and encourage their employees to take the train or bike to work. They have indoor bike parking. They recently joined the Chamber of Commerce and one of their executives will go through the next Leadership Mountain View class, which starts in September.
When I tell people that I’m from Mountain View, I always say it with a great deal of pride. And one of the reasons that I have such pride in my community is because it’s the center of technological excellence. 23andMe is a good example of why I’m honored to say I’m from Mountain View. You can sometimes find the 23andMe test kits at Target and CVS, but you can always find them here.
I love Mountain View.
.