Live data from Hacker News

23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

thecut.com

21–30 of 91 posts

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#21
post #14

You share (about) 1/128 of your genes with a third cousin. The chance of any (particular) recessive trait being passed on from both parents as a result of the inbreeding is a whopping 1 in 65,536.

it says in the article that their second kid was autistic.

The root cause of which is -- at least as far as I'm aware -- currently unknown to medical science.

It could be a recessive trait (1 in 65536 doesn't mean "impossible")... but it could also be one of a near-infinite number of other possibilities.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#22

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

Allow me to offer a different perspective: I've used 23andme and it was one of the best decisions ever. Not so much for the Ancestry part, which was also interesting and explained my above-average cold tolerance, but for the health stuff. Granted, being from Europe they don't directly offer health services, but you can get the raw data and upload it to various sites for interpretation -- ranging from really accessibl…

Since you are from Europe, shouldn't you be able to use GDPR on them?

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to offer a different perspective: I've used 23andme and it was one of the best decisions ever. Not so much for the Ancestry part, which was also interesting and explained my above-average cold tolerance, but for the health stuff. Granted, being from Europe they don't directly offer health services, but you can get the raw data and upload it to various sites for interpretation -- ranging from really accessibl…

What sites did you use ? I used promethease site, but it was way too much information, and the filters felt complicated. Is there any other site that makes a better job filtering what is more important for you specifically ? Any recommendation ?

Here's a list of sites I've tried: https://www.reddit.com/r/23andme/comments/9l50k5/a_list_of_t...

They're all pretty interesting, but the most impactul (read: actionable reports), for me, was: https://www.xcode.life/

[No affiliation, I didn't even get a discount :(]

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to offer a different perspective: I've used 23andme and it was one of the best decisions ever. Not so much for the Ancestry part, which was also interesting and explained my above-average cold tolerance, but for the health stuff. Granted, being from Europe they don't directly offer health services, but you can get the raw data and upload it to various sites for interpretation -- ranging from really accessibl…

Since you are from Europe, shouldn't you be able to use GDPR on them?

Good idea, I hadn't thought of that.

Looks like they even have a nice page about it: https://www.23andme.com/gdpr/

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#25

This is not a big deal. In fact likely better fertility for them: a 2008 deCODE study results show that couples related at the level of third cousins have the greatest number of offspring, with the greatest reproductive success observed for couples related at the level of third and fourth cousins. [1] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18258915?ordinalpos=1&it...

I would be enormously surprised if genetic factors were the primary driver in this. I would think cultural norms and socio-economic factors would be the greatest predictors of the number of offsprings.

I could easily envision that those same factors could contribute to a rise in intermarriages between 3rd and 4th cousins. For example, in small communities like "hill people" in the Appalachians, or the Hasidic community in NY.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#26

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

You don't have to provide them with your real name.

Also, I work in genomics and am a 23andme customer/product (although I was the latter before I the former became true).

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#27
post #14

You share (about) 1/128 of your genes with a third cousin. The chance of any (particular) recessive trait being passed on from both parents as a result of the inbreeding is a whopping 1 in 65,536.

it says in the article that their second kid was autistic.

I guess there’s a chance those facts are related.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#28

Two thoughts came rushing to my mind after reading this. Disclaimer: I have not researched the scientific background of these thoughts. They are mere thoughts. It made me uncomfortable to read about the autistic child at the end of the story. Was Autism more probable because of the closer genetic relationship of parents? I was raised in southern India, and some of our families have a fascinating astrological traditio…

Nearly every culture has taboos on incest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incest comments "sexual relations with a first-degree relative (such as a parent or sibling) are almost universally forbidden".

If you were Christian you would point to Leviticus 18:6-18 for the Biblical definition of incest. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Leviticus+18%3A... .

As the Wikipedia page I linked to further states: "cultural anthropologists have noted that inbreeding avoidance cannot form the sole basis for the incest taboo because the boundaries of the incest prohibition vary widely between cultures, and not necessarily in ways that maximize the avoidance of inbreeding."

The further refinement of your question might be, how do the unique aspects of the astrological tradition affect inbreeding?

In order to test your hypothesis you would need to define gotras. I will quote from the Wikipedia page you linked to:

> the definition of gotra as descending from eight sages and then branching out to several families was thrown out by the Bombay High Court. The court called the idea of Brahmin families descending from an unbroken line of common ancestors as indicated by the names of their respective gotras "impossible to accept." The court consulted relevant Hindu texts and stressed the need for Hindu society and law to keep up with the times, emphasising that notions of good social behaviour and the general ideology of the Hindu society had changed. The court also said that the mass of material in the Hindu texts is so vast and so full of contradictions that it is a near-impossible task to reduce it to order and coherence.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#30

Two thoughts came rushing to my mind after reading this. Disclaimer: I have not researched the scientific background of these thoughts. They are mere thoughts. It made me uncomfortable to read about the autistic child at the end of the story. Was Autism more probable because of the closer genetic relationship of parents? I was raised in southern India, and some of our families have a fascinating astrological traditio…

Sadly not all societies/cultures have a taboo against incest:

"Couples who are getting married should be forced to have a DNA test first to ensure they are not cousins amid growing concern about incest within Pakistani communities, Britain's first Asian peer has claimed."

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11723308/Fi...

[EDIT] Additional link from the BBC today: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-46558932

Post reply on HN