Friday, February 26th
2021 DNA Testing Kit Reviews
23 and Me
- Cost: From $99 to $199
23andMe is one of the only DNA testing services that offers one-stop shopping for both health and ancestry information, giving customers insights into their family background, inherited traits, and possible health predispositions.
All it takes is a simple saliva sample, and 23andMe does the rest. They generate more than 90 reports, depending on whether you choose just the ancestry test or both health and ancestry. Results come via email in as little as 2-4 weeks.
Depending on what you're looking for, 23andME offers 2 types of services:
Ancestry Service
- Over 40 reports with information that includes Ancestry Composition, Maternal/Paternal Lineage, and Neanderthal components
- Coverage includes more than 150 regions worldwide
- Trace ancestry back 1,000 years or more
- Find long-lost relatives - connect with people who share DNA with you
Health and Ancestry Service
- Ancestry: The same reports as in their Ancestry-only package. This includes over 40 reports with information that includes Ancestry Composition, Maternal/Paternal Lineage, and Neanderthal components
- Health Predisposition: More than 10 reports that show your genetic risks for conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes, Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Celiac Disease, and Parkinson's
- Physical Traits: More than 30 traits that describe your tendencies, such as taste preferences, likelihood of adult hair loss, and more
- Wellness: Muscle Composition, Alcohol Flush Reaction, and Lactose Intolerance are included in more than 5 reports that can help you make better-informed decisions about health habits
- Carrier Status: More than 40 reports help determine if you're a carrier for genetic conditions like Hereditary Hearing Loss, Cystic Fibrosis, and Sickle Cell Anemia
If you are hoping to connect not just with your ancestral background but also with living relatives, 23andMe has a strong database with over 5 million people worldwide. You may find relatives that you never knew about! 23andMe will even tell you how you are likely related (third cousins, fifth cousins, and so on). 23andMe is committed to maintaining your privacy, so your results are only shared and viewable if you give your explicit consent. You can also opt to provide your results for research purposes, but there's no requirement to do so.
The regular price for the Ancestry testing is $99, while the Health & Ancestry kit is $199. We found frequent promotions, especially around holidays like Mother's Day, Christmas, and New Year's. These sales included discounts of up to $20 per kit, buy-two-get-one-free, and buy-two-and-save-20%. Shipping is typically $9.95 per kit.
Whether you're looking for insights into your ancestry, your medical conditions, or a connection with your roots and living relatives, 23andMe is the most comprehensive, affordable service currently available. They earn our top ranking among companies offering DNA Testing.
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Who Has the Best DNA Tests?
It seems like everywhere you look these days, there are companies offering DNA Testing. The largest consumers of these DNA tests are people who want to connect with their heritage and/or living relatives, or who are hoping to gain insights into medical conditions and inherited medical predispositions that might affect their health.
Other reasons why people might want a DNA Test include establishing paternity of a child, identifying inherited traits, and detection of infidelity. But no matter the reason, one thing's for sure: DNA Testing has exploded in popularity as its reliability and usefulness continues to grow.
DNA Testing Kit FAQ
Continued from above...
It's important to point out that, as a consumer industry, these DNA tests and the results that come from them are still an emerging science. This is especially true when it comes to testing for ancestry, where one's results are best considered a probability estimate and not an absolute conclusion. For example, you could have a DNA test done today that shows your heritage as 60% British Isles and 40% Eastern Europe, but re-running the same test in five years could show a slightly different balance as more people are tested and the estimates become more accurate.
Similarly, testing done to determine DNA traits and predispositions for medical conditions should be taken as one piece of the puzzle, not a foregone conclusion. Most experts recommend discussing these results with your doctor or a geneticist before making any drastic changes or coming to any written-in-stone conclusions regarding your future health.
On the other hand, DNA testing has been highly accurate when determining parentage. False positives are rare: if your test shows that Person X is the father of a particular child, those results are very likely to stand up in court.
There are many different companies offering DNA testing today, so it's important to know which ones offer the service you need before you purchase a home test kit. As you consider which company to use, you should keep in mind the following criteria:
- Focus. Does the company offer DNA tests primarily for genealogy purposes, health testing, or paternity? Can you get a comprehensive test for multiple purposes (like ancestry and health background)?
- Price. DNA testing fluctuates in price, with fees ranging from less than $50 to well over $500. Because these services have become more popular recently, you may be able to find promotions and discounts at certain times of the year.
- Results. Have people used this service and been satisfied with the information received? If you're using a DNA test to explore your family history, how well does the company connect people with living relatives? (In other words, how big is their database of users who want to share their information with blood relations?)
- Reputation. Does the company have a good track record for accurate testing and protection of privacy?
TopConsumerReviews.com has reviewed and ranked the best DNA Testing companies available today. We hope these reviews help you find the DNA information you're looking for!
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