A few days after ordering, my box arrived! It was colorful and so inviting that I couldn't wait to open it up.
The test came with instructions, a tube for me to spit in and a special, sealed bag to enclose the tube in when I was done. Spit is one of the most non-invasive ways to collect DNA.
Spitting into a tube wasn't as easy as I expected (my apologies to my coworkers who had to hear me do this for about five minutes). 23andMe needs this much spit just in case the first assay, or analysis procedure, fails, 23andMe Vice President of Business Development, Life Sciences Emily Drabant Conley told Business Insider. That way, they have enough to run it a second time.
Before I shipped it in, I had to register my test online. I also got to decide if I wanted to have my genes used to research and develop treatments for diseases. In the spirit of science, I decided to consent and sign the form, along with about 80% of 23andMe users.
The kit came as its own return shipping. All I had to do was pop it in my nearest mailbox and it was on its way! The box is conveniently labeled "exempt human specimen," which is a creepy-sounding way of letting shippers know my package doesn't contain anything infectious.
After 7 weeks, my results arrived via email. In total, I had 62 reports waiting for me based on my 23 pairs of chromosomes from mom and dad. The reports covered everything from family history to physical traits and genetic variants related to diseases that I could pass down to my kids.
Of course, I had to look at my ancestry breakdown. To no one's surprise, I am very Northwestern European. Drabant Conley said this information comes from over 30 reference populations, or the genetics of people who have lived in a geographic area for multiple generations, and from other 23andMe users whose grandparents all came from the same place. My DNA is then compared to those populations to see if there are matching bits.
The new test could also tell me more about my health and wellness. I found out I'm not pre-disposed to having "sprinter/power type" muscles because I don't have 2 copies of a special muscle protein that's been connected to Olympic sprinters. But, Drabant Conley said, this result is not intended to be used as a diagnostic test — had I been a good sprinter (I'm not), this would just reinforce why I'm so good.
23andMe ran into trouble with the FDA two years ago when they said the company's tests could be interpreted as medical advice. So I wasn't surprised to see this test's "limitations" laid out clearly. The new tests meet the standards of both the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments and the FDA.
As an avid latte drinker, I was surprised to see that I drink less caffeine than the average person. 23andMe told me that, like the sprinting wellness trait, this result would just show me that I'm predisposed to drink less caffeine on average. Environmental factors, such as working in a fast-paced newsroom, also play a role in my caffeine habits.
It was incredible to see all the different things the test could tell based on a sample of spit. The science of determining features based on a DNA sample is getting more advanced in recent years, but much of it is still limited. When it came to my results for appearance, though, pretty much everything the test showed me was spot-on.
...such as finding out that I'm 96% likely to have "little or no unibrow" (true; I don't have one). The other traits the test looked at, including eye color and hair texture, are linked to specific variants on genes — many of which have only recently been identified.
But other results surprised me, like this one saying I have a 99% chance of not having red hair. My sister and a cousin are red-heads and I was born with reddish-blonde hair, so I assumed it ran in the family. Carmela Thompson, a genetic counselor with Genetic Discovery SF, told me I should take these results (along with some of the wellness tests) with a grain of salt. "Take the genes for hair color complex," she said. "I wouldn’t say conclusively that it doesn't mean there is a chance your children won’t have red hair."
My sister Greta (right) and I: Proof that there's red hair in my family.