The Many Dangers and Pitfalls Of Home Ancestry DNA Tests
Isn’t
it tempting to be able to build your genealogical tree and learn about
your health and dietary needs by simply spitting in a test tube? Little
to no effort needed, you don’t even have to leave your home. Various
private genealogical DNA companies have been offering and advertising
these exact exciting services, at relatively low prices, too.
2. Give dietary advice
There is at least one company offering clients a custom supplement subscription and a diet and exercise plan based on your DNA to target different concerns, such as skin health and weight loss. In a 2018 study, these seemingly custom dietary plans were proven to be ineffective and unable to yield any weight loss benefits during a year-long trial. Like the case with medications, a fitness plan needs to tailored by taking into account many factors.
3. Tell you how susceptible you are to a certain illness
Many companies notify their clients that they are more likely to develop a specific condition because they have a certain gene in their DNA. In reality, though, genetics is more complicated than that, and not all people who have genes associated with an illness will ever develop that illness, or vice versa, some people who don’t have that gene will develop the same illness. This makes the predictive capacity of such tests extremely low.
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But
are they safe? Are they even effective? Growing controversy and
concerns are raised regarding these companies, with more and more people
deeming them imprecise, vastly under regulated, and capable of exposing
your identity to third parties.
So,
are these tests worth it or are they a scam? Decide for yourself after
reading about the shortcomings and dangers of at-home ancestry testing.
What Information Can Ancestry Tests Provide To You, and What Can't They?
Nowadays,
genealogical DNA tests come in various forms, with some promising to
decode your ancestry and others being able to build a custom diet plan
or even tell you what medications to take. And while the promises of
these companies are grand and exciting, they nearly never manage to live
up to them.
Here are the things that no private company can do in a legitimate way, no matter how convincing they may sound:
1. Prescribe or adjust medications
Recently, the FDA issued a warning letter to
a company that claimed they can predict a person’s response to a
specific medication through genetic testing without proving to be
effective.
When prescribing this or that
medication, a doctor is guided by several factors, among which are blood
and other test results, age, other or previous health conditions, and
even things like your activity level or diet. Though genetic makeup can
be one of the many considerations in choosing a therapeutic strategy, it
alone cannot possibly paint the complete picture.2. Give dietary advice
There is at least one company offering clients a custom supplement subscription and a diet and exercise plan based on your DNA to target different concerns, such as skin health and weight loss. In a 2018 study, these seemingly custom dietary plans were proven to be ineffective and unable to yield any weight loss benefits during a year-long trial. Like the case with medications, a fitness plan needs to tailored by taking into account many factors.
3. Tell you how susceptible you are to a certain illness
Many companies notify their clients that they are more likely to develop a specific condition because they have a certain gene in their DNA. In reality, though, genetics is more complicated than that, and not all people who have genes associated with an illness will ever develop that illness, or vice versa, some people who don’t have that gene will develop the same illness. This makes the predictive capacity of such tests extremely low.
What about ancestral predictions?
If
a genetic company cannot improve your health and well-being, can it at
least tell you where your ancestors are from? Well, kind of. Apart from
the anecdotal stories about twins or even the same person getting
different results not only across, but within the same company, the very
claims of specific companies cast a shadow on their own reputations.
To illustrate these inconsistencies, let’s consider the story of Sigrid Johnson,
whose ethnicity and origins were vastly misattributed across the 4
genetic ancestry platforms she tried. And while most of the tests she
took agreed that Sigrid was part African and part South European, the
percentages of these ancestries varied greatly, and one company, left over 30% of her genes unassigned.
Not only did one of these tests miss her African ancestry altogether, her results changed with time, with platforms such as Ancestry DNA and changing their mind about whether or not Sigrid had any ancestors from
the Caucasus and if her Italian ancestry percentage was 0 or 50%.
Like
Sigrid, many people find that their ancestry test results are not only
inconsistent across platforms, but also change as the company updates
their database, which means that you could be labeled as 50% East Asian
today and 0% percent tomorrow.
Also,
keep in mind that some of the companies use so-called confidence
levels, which are ranges of the company’s certainty about your ancestry.
In Sigrid’s case, for example, the company Ancestry DNA was
0-58% percent certain that she was African, which, needless to say,
doesn’t exclude the possibility that she has no African descent at all. I
am 0-58% percent certain that this kind of business strategy isn't
deceitful to the customer.
What Information Can Ancestry Companies Keep or Share With Third Parties?
Now,
it’s up for you to decide if you want to spend your hard-earned cash to
view your approximate ancestry map, but what is really alarming is the
quantity of your personal genetic information the genetic company can
use. Genetic companies are private, so they don’t usually hand over
their data to governmental agencies and other companies, plus they also
have some minimal encryption system that protects confidentiality, but
it is usually easy to trace back the client.
There
were a few reported cases, however, that a genetic test company handed
over the data about one of its clients to aid a criminal investigation.
The first cases was published when the so-called Golden State Killer, was arrested. His identity was
revealed by comparing the DNA from the crime scene not to his own, but
to his cousin’s DNA, who happened to take a home ancestry test.
Whether
or not you agree that the genetic company did the right thing, it
remains a fact that they can use their DNA database to identify people.
This means that you’re handing over your personal and unique biological
data to a company that could use it for anything, much like you’re
sharing your location when you’re using a navigator on your phone.
In
fact, when you take the test, you give permission to the company to use
and share your DNA, which is unique and is your property. As you can
probably see, this is problematic both legally and morally, but the
genetic ancestry industry is practically unregulated, so this is just
how it is at the moment.
Are
you ready to give the genetic company permission to use and resell
information about your DNA in return to a cheap and largely imprecise
ancestry estimate? It’s up to you.
THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE
HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.
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Labels: customised, decode, diet plan, DNA test, genealogical tree, genetic makeup, illness, medication, susceptible
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