A few years ago, I was your typical office-worker: stressed out, uneven energy, overweight, and inconsistent complexion. Now I'm just your typical 28-year old urban hunter-gatherer on a quest to be healthy, and having a few adventures along the way. See my full bio.
So a month ago I spit a bunch of saliva into a test tube and mailed it off to 23andMe to test my genome. I just got my results back. Here is a comprehensive list of the interesting results:
That's it. My genome is fairly boring. I mean, even the hemochromatosis turned out to be innocuous when I drilled down into the data, and saw that my variant is mild, and puts me at "no increased risk for iron overload". I suppose that no news is good news.
The potential of genetic testing is similar to the potential of genetic engineering. The most promising applications of genetic engineering are to reverse individual genetic mutations that cause rare and devastating diseases. It's much, much harder to engineer positive traits because there are lots of genes responsible, the environment influences gene expression, and there are going to be more negative side effects to any given genetic change. For the same reasons, most 23andMe reports are going to be boring.
Besides, I don't even believe all the results. My eating is so substantially different than all the people who are taking part in these genetic studies, that I just don't believe some of the numbers. Take obesity. Based purely on my genome, I have a 57% chance of becoming obese between the ages of 13 and 59, versus 63.9% overall. SHIT! I looked at stats on my sugar consumption, and found that the conclusions were based on one study of 587 Canadians who filled out a food questionnaire. Furthermore, I don't need to know that my eye color is "likely brown" when I can look in the mirror and see that they're green-yellow-brown. I have an intimate and long-standing knowledge of my earwax type. I've known that alcohol doesn't make my face flush since freshman year in high school. Anything they can tell you with certainty is almost always something that you already know. This is not useful information.
I will say that I enjoyed seeing some pictures of my maternal and paternal lineage in Europe, but honestly, I already knew I came from Europe. And look, it's fun to see all this information right when it comes in. But I just don't obsess about measurements in the way that, say, a Tim Ferriss does. I keep an eye on the most important markers, if I have a specific health problem then I try to fix it, and beyond that I just go with flow. So if you have a couple hundred bucks, it's kind of fun and I wouldn't recommend against it. And the service should improve over time. But keep in mind the best outcome is a boring outcome.
When it comes to your genome, no news is good news.
Comments
I was also disappointed in
I was also disappointed in the banality of the 23andMe results. But they are good in some ways. For example, I am increased risk of diabetes. I could have told you this from my family history, but honestly I was crossing my fingers that somehow it was all behavior-related or that I didn't inherit the offending genes.
John, you continue to rock!
John, you continue to rock! It seems like all the cool kids are into 23andme genetic testing, but your comments cut to the chase. There is very little actionable information in your genome. There is far more in your exposome, and it's way more hackable and within your control. I gave a talk about using the exposome (which includes environmental variables, toxins, food, emotions, etc.) to modify your own genome. It includes a slide titled "Why Genetic Engineering is for Masochists." Worth watching. :)http://www.bulletproofexecutive.com/new-video-dave-aspreys-the-upgraded-self-top
I was just thinking about
I was just thinking about doing this too. I'm not so curious about disease likelihood, actually that knowledge sort of scares me, but I am very curious about paleogenomics and where my ancestors wandered in from.
I spit about a month ago as
I spit about a month ago as well. Hopefully my results will be just as boring.
I got my report from 23andme
I got my report from 23andme a few months ago. I am a carrier for hemochromatosis as well (must be fairly common among northern europeans - I wonder what the environmental pressure was for that variant to survive in the gene pool?). I also found out , more significantly, that I have a 33% higher chance of blood clotting because I have a Leiden V blood clotting factor, which is kind of nice to know if I ever have surgery. I'm also going to avoid hormones that raise the risk of clotting like the plague. Other than that, pretty boring like yours. What was more of a relief though was that I did not have any of the BRCA breast cancer related genes, which was somewhat comforting because my mother died of breast cancer, albeit at age 70, which doesn't really carry any genetic risks. Still, nice to know. I am a biology geek though, so I check back in often for updates. It was also fun to know my mother's family is from the H1a line which is very old and goes back to a migration from the Iberian peninsula up through europe into the northern British isles and Finland, which may explain my family's tendency toward olive skin and darker hair despite our Scottish and British roots. Mine also said I did not have the alcohol flush reaction, which is wrong if I am drinking wine. Apparently there are several variants of that one so I guess I must have another somewhere that does cause the flushing. I thought it was fun. I think it is interesting that the government is trying to stop companies like this from providing this service. One of the reasons I had it done now.
"I wonder what the
"I wonder what the environmental pressure was for that variant to survive in the gene pool?"I know there are all sorts of ideas and theories (and here I do not mean a synonym for "hypothesis" but the actual scientific term) about how evolution works, but with my admittedly sparse background in whatever hard science exists on the subject, I don't think natural selection works that way. I think variants survive when they don't kill the carriers of those variants before reproduction occurs. So it's more like there was a *lack* of sufficient environmental pressure *against* the variant trait for the carrier to have been able to survive long enough to make babies.Although I can imagine where it might carry an advantage. There are mountains in Europe, and people living in those mountains. Increased iron levels in the blood would mean a greater ability to absorb oxygen from the air, which is an advantage at high altitudes.And the condition is going to be less disadvantageous to women of reproductive age thanks to menstruation--I know we don't lose liquid blood during that process, but the uterine lining's full of blood vessels and obviously they contain some blood still, or, well, not to be gross but it'd be a different color. So that's at least some iron that needs replacing, so we wouldn't be bothered as much by having a bit more iron than usual.Guys may have more of a problem. Two solutions: one, cut back some on iron intake; two, if you're in good health, donate blood every now and again. It's needed anyway, especially if you're type O negative.I want to get that genetic profile done. It sounds fun. :) Most people don't think about all the possible ways they could vary from someone else--I didn't know there were genes that governed flushing from alcohol consumption. I don't care much about genes for diseases, though. I think they're overrated. Most women who get breast cancer, for instance, even when they're younger, are not carrying any breast cancer genes. They're simply eating in unhealthy ways. It's kind of like the way a person's genome is blamed for type 2 diabetes. The reality is a LOT more complex than that.
You are maybe assuming all
You are maybe assuming all variants (or mutations) of a gene are harmful? It is possible, though not common, for a mutation to result in a positive characteristic (or in no discernible change in phenotype at all). The heterozygous gene for sickle cell anemia comes to mind. If someone is heterozygous for the trait, he/she has some resistance to malaria, which is important to his/her survival in areas where malaria is prevalent, and therefore the allele perpetuates. If an individual is homozygous recessive (two sickle cell alleles), sickle cell results - definitely not advantageous and without medical care, the afflicted will often die well before reproductive age. If homozygous dominant (no sickle cell alleles) and the organism lives in a Plasmodium parasite-carrying-mosquito-infested area, your chances of surviving to reproductive age are also not likely. So, in this case, the environmental pressure of mosquitoes carrying malaria perpetuate the sickle cell allele in the gene pool. Cool stuff, huh? Your examples of the advantages of carrying the hemachromatosis alleles are probably spot on. I think we are both right - there may be an environmental pressure for the genetic variant to survive (it provides some sort of advantage to the organism which improves or at least doesn't affect its reproduction) or there may be a lack of environmental pressure for that variant to go away (again, it doesn't affect reproduction or survival of offspring). My variant of hematochromatosis is the same as John's - no build-up of iron. However, pre-paleo, if I took a multivitamin with iron, I felt sick, and that would get worse over several days until I finally stopped taking them. Only happened with the iron containing pills. Maybe connected, maybe not. I've never had iron levels above or below normal when tested, so I won't be spending any time worrying about it.
Hemochromatosis: a Neolithic
Hemochromatosis: a Neolithic adaptation to cereal grain diets http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.allvoices.com%2Fs%2Fevent-8813726%2FaHR0cDovL3MvZXZlbnQtNDgwMjE2NS9hSFIwY0RvdkwzZDNkeTV1WTJKcExtNXNiUzV1YVdndVoyOTJMM0IxWW0xbFpDOHhOelk0T1RnM09RPT0%3D&h=858a4interesting possiblility
Interesting! Unfortunately,
Interesting! Unfortunately, it didn't work so well for me - I am completely gluten intolerant - migraines, joint aches, mouth ulcers, etc. I doubt if too many of my ancestors had access to grains since most apparently moved north during very cold times. ;)