23 and Me

The Good


23andMe kits were half off on Amazon Prime Day, so I grabbed 2 for my family.  I've been wanting to do it out of burning curiosity for a long time... after all, I'm a geneticist at heart (and education), and my only outlet for this in the last decade has been breeding dwarf shrimp!  It only took about 3 weeks for the results to come in, not 6 as expected.

All of the physical traits (eye color, hair color/curliness, finger/toe length, not being a deep sleeper, etc) ended up being true.  Well, except for weight, it says I am predisposed to weigh slightly less than average.  Heh heh.  Maybe I'll use that as extra motivation, after all, it's my destiny?

The ancestry results were pretty cool... there were a few surprises, and the ratios were different than I was expecting.  The biggest surprise was being mostly Irish, because after some talks with older family I'd been expecting German and Scandinavian to dominate.  Thinking back, I DID tell my husband on our honeymoon in Ireland that it felt like coming home!   ;)



The Weird


There were some really amusing/interesting mutations in that report, once I plugged it into Promethease.  A lot of stuff that I had no idea had been researched.

Here are a few!

1.  Mosquito bite reaction is the biggest.
2.  If I had HIV, I'd only have 60% of the normal viral load.  This is my least-used superpower.
3.  Highest amount of fast-twitch muscle fibers, so sprinting could be my cup of tea.  HAHA.
4.  My intra-cranial space is supposed to give me an extra 2tsp of brain.
5.  I need to wear deodorant because of the oil I produce.  (let's be honest, this was obvious)
6.  Several genes for bigger boobies.  Thanks, mom! 
7.  I have more Neanderthal genes than 87% of 23andMe customers, and one of these genes is for less back hair.  This may be my proudest moment. 

Woohoo!

The Vague


Most of the mutations are something negative like "1.2 times the risk of X" or positive like "0.8 times the risk of Y."  When the original risk for the general population is 10% or lower, that doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot.  There can be a cumulative affect though, so there's some stuff I'm going to pay attention to, and a lot of stuff I'm going to be grateful for.  And it's good motivation to live a healthier lifestyle! 

I'm not going to list the ones that give me greater/lower risks, since it falls into the category of too much medical info, not really something that one should put on a public blog. 



The Ugly Beautiful


So what to do with all this info?  

I'm currently going through all those SNPs in the 23andMe test and devising a regimen to try for a few months, something that mitigates some risk as I age and takes care of the obvious vitamin deficiencies. 

I already knew about some of the vitamin deficiencies because of blood tests, but I had thought they were short-lived and have only been half-heartedly/temporarily supplementing (out of a fear of over-supplementing whilst trying to be fertile), and then getting annoyed that they're not fixed. 

There will certainly be another post about the plan later!  You guys know how much I love plans.