Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 71 posts

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#31

Post by moonka »

ska wrote: post #24
thamer wrote: post #17

My father had Factor V Leiden[1], a mutation that increases blood clotting. He was hospitalized multiple times in his 30s, and died suddenly at age 50. After his first blood clot he was put on anti-coagulants and took them every day of his life. There is a 50% chance to pass this mutation to your offspring, and I wanted to know whether I could be affected. I discovered that I did indeed inherit the same allele, and w…

Is this not a test you could have got done a more conventional way?

Not sure if this is why, but I know some folks who are concerned about getting such tests done at the doctor's office due to both cost, and the fact that it will go into their medical records (and thus possibly impact insurance).

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#32

Post by [deleted] »

occamschainsaw wrote: post #16

I am a South Asian. It told me I was of South Asian ancestry. Was hoping for something more specific than that. I love me some coffee (drink more than 3 cups a day), and it said I am very likely to consume less caffeine. It also told me I have a high chance of having smooth hair, but I have extremely curly hair. And I am extremely skeptical of their traits in general. Some of the traits include: "cilantro taste avers…

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#33

Post by docbrown »

occamschainsaw wrote: post #16

I am a South Asian. It told me I was of South Asian ancestry. Was hoping for something more specific than that. I love me some coffee (drink more than 3 cups a day), and it said I am very likely to consume less caffeine. It also told me I have a high chance of having smooth hair, but I have extremely curly hair. And I am extremely skeptical of their traits in general. Some of the traits include: "cilantro taste avers…

Your comment made me go back to articles on data sharing 23andme does with companies. At first I read your statement about cilantro but it seems these are just the type of questions companies are paying big money for.

>For now, though, 23andMe’s biobank is the world’s largest repository of DNA samples that also contains extensive health information, willingly provided by customers who answer survey questions like “Do you like cilantro?” and “Have you ever had cancer?” 23andMe says its customers supply it with as many as two million new facts each week.

There’s only one problem—depending on your own ethics—and that is your data is helping pharmaceutical companies develop new drugs.

The continuation from the above quote:

>These surveys are proving valuable to drug investigators. This year the company found genetic variations strongly linked to whether customers consider themselves early risers, offering a clue about how to develop drugs that modulate alertness. [1]

[1] https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601506/23andme-sells-data...

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#34

Post by CorpOverreach »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #12
23AndAllOfYou wrote: post #7

My spouse did it and the results provided by 23andMe were next to useless. It told her interesting facts like that she likely has no dimples (she has them), and other meaningless crap. However, she downloaded the raw data and ran it through Promethease[0] and it did supply some useful info about potential drug interactions, which has been useful. She supplied a fake name to them, used a gift card to pay for it online…

You violate the terms of their service when you use a fake name. If you don't want to use your real information, pay $1000 for a full sequencing. Their rates are lower because they're able to subsidize consumers with selling aggregate information to drug companies for rapid drug prototyping and development. EDIT: I am astounded by the entitlement complex exhibited in the replies to this. You don't have to agree to th…

And I care about violating their ToS why?

This is a service I'm going to use once - once I have the data from them, I no longer care about doing business with them.

What's the incentive for me to care about respecting their ToS?

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#35

Post by wild_preference »

danielfoster wrote: post #9

I highly recommend uploading your 23andme data to Promethease, which dramatically increases the amount of research matched to your genome and provides a better interface: https://promethease.com/ I discovered that I have one copy of the Delta 32 mutation. Two copies provides nearly complete immunity to AIDs, but being lucky enough to have just one copy means that it will take significantly longer to get AIDS should I…

> Knowing that I'm resistant to noroviruses also makes me more comfortable about traveling.

This seems like one of the major downsides of these services. I think you would've been better off in life if you, say, did the traveling you wanted to do instead of let some genetic markers drive your apprehensions.

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#36

Post by lamename »

occamschainsaw wrote: post #16

I am a South Asian. It told me I was of South Asian ancestry. Was hoping for something more specific than that. I love me some coffee (drink more than 3 cups a day), and it said I am very likely to consume less caffeine. It also told me I have a high chance of having smooth hair, but I have extremely curly hair. And I am extremely skeptical of their traits in general. Some of the traits include: "cilantro taste avers…

I can't speak to most of the things you list, but there is at least some evidence for genetic influence on cilantro preference (via olfactory receptors).

https://www.nature.com/news/soapy-taste-of-coriander-linked-...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3589946/

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#37

Post by octorian »

I'm very curious to do one of these tests myself, but I'm also terrified of being in some large database that could be abused to my detriment someday. This fear might be unfounded, but I'm not really sure.

The whole thought of being targeted because someone found my DNA circumstantially near the scene of a crime, or discriminated against because I'm predisposed to some sort of medical condition, gives me pause. This might be senseless paranoia, or there might already be enough data from random family members taking tests, but you never know.

Re: Ask HN: What did you find in your DNA using 23andme?

#40

Post by cbm-vic-20 »

matt-attack wrote: post #30
toomuchtodo wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You violate the terms of their service when you use a fake name. If you don't want to use your real information, pay $1000 for a full sequencing. Their rates are lower because they're able to subsidize consumers with selling aggregate information to drug companies for rapid drug prototyping and development. EDIT: I am astounded by the entitlement complex exhibited in the replies to this. You don't have to agree to th…

> You violate the terms of their service when you use a fake name. Is that really so horrible? There's no compelling reason they should even be asking for a name, other than to provide cross-references to law-enforcement.

I'm sure insurance companies would also be interested in matching names to genetic data.
Post reply on HN