Back when I visited Hoboken, New Jersey (probably the rare few times you’ll hear me say “visit” and “New Jersey” in the same line), I had also sent my saliva sample to get my DNA tested for the sake of discovery and curiosity. I received an email from 23andme.com (if you buy the package on DNA day, you’ll get a substantial discount) that my results were in and I perused the result and thought, I already knew most of the findings because A. I visit and consult my doctor almost religiously and B. I talk to my mother all the time. The part that excited me about the results were the blood group and ancestry, the latter to which I must wait.
When people hear me say I got my DNA tested, they think I’m crazy or masochistic. Who wants to know what’ll make them die? I ask, who thinks they’ll live forever?
Getting your DNA results is either half glass full or half glass empty philosophy. If you want to read the negative results and mope and cry, so be it. If you want to read about your legacy and all the interesting traits that make you You, then I applaud you.
My results were as expected, high probability for obesity (I am short, the doctor is constantly telling me to lose weight), diabetes type 2 (don’t we all have this risk if we eat poorly), ovarian cancer (my mother had a hysterectomy to prevent that), etc. All boring stuff. I will die eventually and my doctor carefully monitors my blood annually, if I’m ever worried about the inevitable.
The interesting parts are non-ABO blood type, basically I’m a combination of AB Rh+. My blood group is M42, a blood line that is 60,000 years old, coming from South Asia by way of East Africa, most likely by boat. I share the same group as Australian Aborigines and a vast majority of Mongolians.
From my DNA type, if I were European, I would have red hair and blue eyes. That’s just amazing! It says that I have thinner hair than average Asian but if anyone has seen my hair, it’s like a nest. No alcohol face flush, I can taste bitter food, likely to have brown eyes, curly hair, lactose intolerant, little freckling, iris crypt and furrows, Photic sneeze reflex (I’ll sneeze like crazy if I move from a dark room to a bright room). I have 2.8% Neanderthal and as NOVA revealed, they are intelligent species. Because I am a female (duh!), I have no Y chromosome and therefore cannot have my paternal line determined. I may have to convince my brother to try it out.
Neanderthal Percentage
I’m looking to receiving the ancestry results, which will take a few more weeks.
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing 23andme. 23andme is not sequencing your DNA, only comparing the results with other people in your group. Don’t expect to use it to cure cancer. It’s self learning and not accurate to a tee. The more people give, the more it learns. It won’t alter your health insurance but I have heard at it alters life insurance, which I find a “fake” money that you never see anyways. To be honest, I think anything with the word insurance is a scam, but that’s a different topic. Many data for Asians under 30 are missing so its hard to compare if you fall into that category.