June 17, 2013
Several studies have shown that certain girls, particularly African-American girls, experience puberty earlier than others, but there’s an ongoing debate about what that might mean. There are a number of reasons why some girls begin puberty earlier than others. Girls who are heavier tend to enter puberty [...]
February 8, 2013
What are you doing this month to celebrate matters of the heart? No, we're not talking about your Valentine’s Day plans; we're talking about your heart health plans. February is American Heart Month. One way to observe this special month is to learn about heart health genetics, and one place to start is [...]
September 20, 2012
by Emily Chang, Joanna Mountain and Mike Macpherson Click on the image above for a larger version of this chart, which shows that some ancestry combinations are more common than others in the 23andMe database. Given the “melting pot” nature of the United States, it is not surprising that most [...]
September 13, 2012
A study published in March in the journal PLoS ONE suggests that having more African ancestry is associated with higher risk for type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in the United States, affecting about 26 million people and more than 25% of the population over the [...]
June 19, 2012
June 19th is World Sickle Cell Awareness Day and commemorates the date in 2008 when the United Nations began recognizing this group of genetic blood disorders as a public health concern. Sickle cell disease affects millions around the globe and nearly 100,000 people in the United States. It’s relatively [...]
June 18, 2012
Editors note: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the name of Mrs. Obama's maternal great-great grandfather. The correct name is Henry Wells Shields. A story in Sunday’s New York Times about first lady Michelle Obama’s distant white relatives echoes some of what we’ve seen more and [...]
April 10, 2012
As the series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. continues its 10-week run on PBS, The Spittoon will feature posts from 23andMe’s Ancestry Ambassadors featuring their own stories about using DNA to dig into ancestry. By Shannon Christmas African American genealogy remains a challenging [...]
February 23, 2012
Although there has been a recent boom in DNA research, little is known about the connection between DNA and disease in African Americans. This is because most genetic research studies intentionally limit enrollment to a single population — usually northern Europeans — since the analysis is easier to carry [...]
February 22, 2012
Data from the 2010 census showed that about 13% of people living in the United States self-identify as African American, but from a genetic point of view, ethnicity isn't so black and white. Most African Americans have genetic ancestry tracing back to both Africa and Europe but the exact proportion can vary [...]
February 14, 2012
Sickle Cell Celebrities A number of famous individuals have suffered from sickle cell anemia including Miles Davis, perhaps the most famous jazz musician to have lived (some consider his platinum-selling album Kind of Blue to be THE jazz album), and Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins, a singer and founder of the [...]
