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23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

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51–60 of 118 posts

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#51
This is well and good. But what about going back from 'ancestry discovery' to 'full medical discovery' just like originally conceived?

FDA put a stupid ban on them, and then they got something approved but that was a fraction of what they were offering previously.

Just another example of how politics and bureaucracy is hampering progress.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#52

This would make me anxious. I remember reading about someone who learned from 23andMe that they had a terminal disease or something like that, and it drastically altered their life. I'd rather just live in ignorance.

I ended up learning I supposedly have a 40.1% chance of getting Alzheimer's Disease. It hid the result and asked me if I really wanted to know. I am not sure who in their right mind would not want to know (though maybe that is my Alzheimer's talking). Such a thing would drive someone crazy. I have just kept living my life the way I have been. It was scary at first. At least I know I ought to eat right etc... I think…

But there's lots you can do to reduce your risk for Alzheimers. It's good that you know! (1) Exercise (2) Take lots of curcumin. Capsules - not just curries (it's an extract from turmeric).

References: http://alzheimer.neurology.ucla.edu/Curcumin.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20182027

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#53
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other than that, all the things I've seen are marginally useful at best. Part of it is that the FDA successfully sued 23AM from showing things like health risks.

You can always export your raw data from 23andMe and plug it into third party (and I guess foreign) services that will give you some health info. Of course you should probably approach the results with some skepticism. I know someone who found out she had a gene that causes an early and very aggressive cancer and now can take pre-emptive measures that quite likely will save her life.

I didn't realize you could get the raw data. I looked a bit on their website and didn't find anything indicating you can. What format(s) will they export?

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#54

This would make me anxious. I remember reading about someone who learned from 23andMe that they had a terminal disease or something like that, and it drastically altered their life. I'd rather just live in ignorance.

I've used 23andMe, and it told me I have twice the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease when I'm older. Considering that I've lost a few family members to Alzheimer's, it worries the hell out of me. Regardless, this has triggered me to research a bit about the disease and ways of potentially reducing the risk. It does make you anxious, but when you have that knowledge, you feel the need to do something about it.

I mentioned this to another person in the thread. Worth repeating. Take lots of curcumin every day for the rest of your life. It has been shown to bind to a-beta protein and get cleared from the brain. The overproduction of a-beta causes alzheimers. India, where they consume lots of turmeric (curcumin is an extract from turmeric) has significantly lower incidence (very very low) of alzheimers. You'll be fine.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#55

For me, the most interesting thing about my 23andMe results was that my Y chromosome confirmed the family rumor that my grandfather was not actually the son of his father. If enough people join 23andMe, it's possible that I may find my actual relatives. Many people find this sort of thing creepy. I'm OK with it. And on an even-more-personal note, as a guy with long hair, it was exciting to learn that I didn't have th…

How did it confirm that? Did they have a sample of your (purported) great-grandfather too?

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#56
post #51

This is well and good. But what about going back from 'ancestry discovery' to 'full medical discovery' just like originally conceived? FDA put a stupid ban on them, and then they got something approved but that was a fraction of what they were offering previously. Just another example of how politics and bureaucracy is hampering progress.

Yeah, I was and 23andMe customer before the ban, and I loved the data it provided. In particular, I thought 23andMe did an excellent job of describing the statistics behind genetics in layperson terms (that is, it wasn't "you're going to get this disease", but "out of a 100 people, 3 people without this gene got it, but 6 people with this gene did get it", together with great illustrations and more details to explain the probability). I thought the fact that the FDA thought consumers would be confused or overwhelmed by the analysis was kind of insulting to anyone with an elementary school education.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#57
post #55

For me, the most interesting thing about my 23andMe results was that my Y chromosome confirmed the family rumor that my grandfather was not actually the son of his father. If enough people join 23andMe, it's possible that I may find my actual relatives. Many people find this sort of thing creepy. I'm OK with it. And on an even-more-personal note, as a guy with long hair, it was exciting to learn that I didn't have th…

How did it confirm that? Did they have a sample of your (purported) great-grandfather too?

My fathers-fathers-father was an immigrant from Norway (a village now in Sweden.) The family rumor was about a wealthy man named Cooper, a common English name. My Y chromosome is from Doggerland. Occam's Razor favors Mr. Cooper.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#58
post #6
post #3

I was so excited when 23andMe dropped their prices to $99 a few years ago and immediately gave myself a 'Christmas Present' and bought a 23andMe kit. I seriously thought this was the future. I was so excited to see my health information. It was really cool to see that my spit could confirm that I'm 1/2 asian and 1/2 european. Also, I found it interesting that I have more neanderthal DNA than 99% of people who took th…

Other than that, all the things I've seen are marginally useful at best. Part of it is that the FDA successfully sued 23AM from showing things like health risks.

So why not shift operations to a less restrictive country?

Make people tick a box that says "I am currently outside the United States" to receive the fancy information, if necessary.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#59

My brother-in-law's brother learned of a 28year old daughter he never knew he had because of 23andMe and met her last year.

How did that happen?

brother-in-law was signed up and he got a message saying his niece was on the service. He doesn't have any nieces. They chatted and he figured it must have been his brother and it was. Pretty crazy.

Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M

#60
post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did it confirm that? Did they have a sample of your (purported) great-grandfather too?

My fathers-fathers-father was an immigrant from Norway (a village now in Sweden.) The family rumor was about a wealthy man named Cooper, a common English name. My Y chromosome is from Doggerland. Occam's Razor favors Mr. Cooper.

Interesting, but I'm confused. I had to look up Doggerland but apparently it's been submerged for 6000 years and was in the North Sea, why couldn't your Norwegian ancestors have come from Doggerland originally?
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