Comment by cherrycherry98 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cherrycherry98 | Hacker News Reader

My spouse and I did these tests and the results have changed a fair amount over the years. Where initially there were some surprising, albeit trace, amounts of DNA detected from certain ethnic groups, the results have now normalized down to what I would expect given my family history. If I had not checked in since my initial results I very well may have considered my ancestry to be something it's not.

However, I increasingly question why I should care about my ancestry and what it says about me. I'm generations removed from those who arrived from foreign countries. I know less about what it means to be some of the ethnicities in my blood than those those that I'm not. I feel greater fellowship with others based on common interests than I do race.

Next census I'll probably write in "American" or "Human", since these stats just seem to be used to advantage or disadvantage people based on group identity, regardless of their actual individual situation.

It matters at least for your choices of diet which regulates your health.

I never used any of these tests, it freaks me out a bit to be in some database. That said, My family of origin did too and had a similar experience.

It's all a scam there are YouTube videos of identical twins taking tests from the major players.

The data science was flawed because there is no science or regulations. All these startups are winging it, it seems.

If we don't have the data science to even know what peoples' distant ancestry is, how do you know it matters for choice of diet?

Maybe your ancestry per se is not so important, but your genotypes can reveal predisposition towards vitamin deficiencies.

For example, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5801754/

> Overall, the data analyzed suggests that ethnic-specific associations are involved in the genetic determination of vitamin B12 concentrations.

Disclaimer: I am a biology dilettante

Considering most of the population doesn’t eat very healthy and rates of B12 deficiency are only ~6% I can’t imagine it would make much difference what your genetics are. Especially since many cases of deficiency will be the result of medical problems.

> I never used any of these tests, it freaks me out a bit to be in some database

Use a fake name.

You do realize that a sample of your DNA could be traced back to you pretty easily, right? If a sibling or close relative was in the database it wouldn't take much to de-anonymize you

If a sibling is in the database, it is almost immaterial whether or not you directly participate.

> However, I increasingly question why I should care about my ancestry and what it says about me.

I don’t personally care, but scholarships care, the government cares, boards care, universities care, employers care, etc and I otherwise look white but am really only half, so the few times I have been asked about it, the tests have been quite valuable.

Have you had to provide the results from a DNA test to any of those groups? I've never been asked to "prove" what I've self-reported, even though I do not look anything like what I am checking off as my ethnicity.

I haven't ever been challenged for proof, but typically provide it if anyone even questions it. Nobody demanded proof, but they questioned it, so I volunteered.

One came from a recruiter with a diversity quota who mostly cared that I would be consistent and the other was for a scholarship for people with Jamaican background.

I agree 100% with your sentiment about not caring about who your ancestors are.

I had a larger than expected percentage of African and native American ancestry but I'm not foolish enough to think it has any impact on who I am or my cultural biases.

We've all seen those moments where an American goes to a country like Ireland and tries to awkwardly connect with them on a cultural level. It's silly and embarrassing because they are dramatically less Irish than a person with zero Irish ancestry who was raised there by immigrant parents. Not unlike the fact that an African American person has vastly more in common with an American of European ancestry than they do with any person in Africa that shares their genetics.

Mine was normal except for one trace. That trace has remained, whereas the expected populations have been whittled to one area -- which is not where my family heritage is from on either side.

I have my doubts that the improved locations @ 23andMe are actually improvements.

>since these stats just seem to be used to advantage

This is the problem though. If you can get into a better college, get a scholarship or get a better job because of it, then wouldn't you take advantage of this? I think a lot of people would.

I think they're saying that it's hard to see why it matters or is interesting intrinsically (i.e., if you didn't get any advantage by claiming some heritage, why else do you care?). Personally, I still find it interesting, but I agree that it is basically just a curiousity and has no bearing in my "identity" at this point.

Exactly. We are all the resulting mutts of hundreds of thousands of years of breeding. “Race” is just the result of where your ancestors most recently lived.

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