Each year at this time 23andMe puts together a list of the most interesting genetic findings of 2013. We’re doing that again but with a twist.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/top10ten-266x300.jpg" alt="top10ten" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-10750" width="266" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/top10ten-266x300.jpg 266w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/top10ten.jpg 306w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 266px) 100vw, 266px" />
We want to include in our list a few things that aren’t findings or discoveries, but clearly, these stories have had a huge impact on the field of genetics. The fact that these stories made such a big splash beyond the world of science and health reporting illustrates how important genetics has become for everyone.
As far as research goes, in the last year, we’ve seen the continued rapid pace of discovery in genetic sciences. These new findings have included research into the biology of disease, mental illness and new insights into our understanding of human evolution. Researchers here at 23andMe are also a part of this push to understand not just the human story, but the biology of disease and the role genetics plays in our lives.
So let’s take a quick look back at the last year and 23andMe’s list of the Top Ten Genetic Stories of 2013.
<h6> THE ANGELINA EFFECT<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Angelina-image-196x300.jpg" alt="46th New York Film Festival &quot;Changeling&quot; Premiere - Inside Arrivals" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20131" width="173" height="265" /></h6>
Angelina Jolie’s<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/opinion/my-medical-choice.html"> revelation</a> that she underwent a double prophylactic mastectomy after learning she had a mutation in the BRCA1 gene, brought genetic screening into sharp focus for everyone. In making her difficult choice, she took into consideration her family history – her mother died of ovarian cancer (also associated with BRCA1 gene mutation) and her aunt also had breast cancer   – her ancestry and her age. Going public with her story also offered comfort to many women facing similar choices.
<h6>EWWW</h6>
It probably wasn’t what Walt Whitman<a href="http://www.daypoems.net/plainpoems/1900.html"> meant</a>, but indeed we all “contain multitudes.” Our bodies are host to literally trillions of microorganisms that make up the “human microbiome,” and those organisms play a very important but not fully understood role in our health. There is also a link between the make-up of that microbiome and the genetic variation of our immune systems, which is another thing we haven’t yet fully figured out. But even without fully understanding how these all interrelate, doctors have started to use these important microorganisms to treat illnesses. Early in the year, the New England Journal of Medicine published a study that followed 16 patients who were treated for a severe gut infection with a<a href="https://www.nature.com/news/faecal-transplants-succeed-in-clinical-trial-1.12227"> fecal transplant.</a> While it might be something you’d rather not talk about over dinner, the treatment of the Clostridium difficile infection worked in 15 of the 16 patients.
<h6>FIVE MENTAL ILLNESSES SHARE A COMMON GENETIC LINK</h6>
A<a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2962129-1/fulltext"> study published in early 2013</a> found that five very distinct psychiatric disorders share an association with some variants in genes that control signaling in the brain. The large study looked at schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Although these are very different conditions, the findings may help researchers better understand the underpinnings of these very different illnesses. Two of the four variants involve calcium channels, integral for signaling within the brain.
<h6 dir="ltr">NOTHING TO SNEEZE AT<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/allergy.jpg" alt="allergy" class="alignright size-full wp-image-6151" width="198" height="176" /></h6>
There’s an ongoing debate about the interplay between genetics and the environment in why there has been an apparent increase in the rate of allergies. There are many theories offered to explain this including the “<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2841828/">hygiene hypothesis</a>,” which suggests that an increasingly sanitized environment inhibits the development of the immune system.  Another theory is that increased exposure to chemicals and pollutants are the culprits. The rate of <a href="http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749%2805%2901314-X/abstract">allergies</a> has more than<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db10.htm#howdoes"> doubled over the last decade</a>.   While this increase is pointing to environmental factors, genetics is an important component.
A study done by 23andMe scientists and researchers at the University of Bristol’s<a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/"> Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC)</a> in the UK found <a href="https://mediacenter.23andme.com/press-releases/allergies_2013">new genetic associations for asthma and allergies</a>. It was the largest genome-wide association study ever conducted on common allergies with data from more than 53,000 people. The study showed that there are also common genetic variants underlying allergies to cats, pollen and dust mites
<h6>HUMAN GENES CAN’T BE PATENTED</h6>
Not long after Angelina’s revelation, the Supreme Court unanimously decided to bar the patenting of human genes. The case involved Myriad Genetics, which has long held patents for breast and ovarian cancer screening. What’s not so clear from the Supreme Court’s decision is what sort of impact this decision will have on research and innovation. While several companies almost immediately jumped into BRCA testing, legal challenges by Myriad to   stop those efforts quickly followed, leaving more doubt about how this will all play out.
<h6>THE WAY BACK<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/neanderthal.jpg" alt="neanderthal" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18144" width="150" height="270" /></h6>
Scientists extracted DNA from a 400,000-year-old thigh bone found buried in a Spanish cave, known as<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12788.html"> Sima de Los Huesos, or Pit of Bones.</a>  Apart from the big deal of extracting genetic material from a really, really old bone – the oldest human DNA recovered yet – the find also gives us more information about human evolution, namely that it’s not as linear as some have thought. The DNA in the bone resembled that of ancient humans known as Denisovan.
Because of the time frame and the location, many had thought the bones would be from Neanderthals. The Denisovan DNA was a bit of a head-scratcher. Previous finds placed Denisovans in Siberia and only at about 80,000 years ago. Clearly, this adds more nuances to the story of human evolution. We can also add more pieces to that understanding after another DNA find this year. DNA from the 24,000-year-old skeletal remains of a boy buried near Lake Baikal in Siberia, has also altered researchers&#8217; view of the migration patterns of early Europeans.
The DNA matched not just with Western Europeans but with Native Americans. This suggests that the earliest people to settle the Americas were<a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/342/6157/409.full"> a mix of both populations.</a> While previous research has suggested that Native Americans descended from people who migrated from Siberia, this overlap with early Europeans is new. It also suggests that during the last Ice Age, people from Europe had migrated farther east than previously thought.
<h6>ALZHEIMER’S SEQUENCE DATA – CHAPTER ONE</h6>
The more information we can collect from people with the disease, the better we can understand them. Researchers working on Alzheimer’s disease got a huge boost in their efforts this year after the first batch of genetic data was<a href="http://www.nih.gov/news/health/dec2013/nhgri-02.htm"> made available</a> as part of the<a href="https://www.niagads.org/adsp/"> Alzheimer&#8217;s Disease Sequencing Project</a>. The project, conducted by the National Institutes of Health, makes available full genome sequence data on 410 people with Alzheimer’s. The hope is that by offering this information to a wide range of researchers, it will open up the possibility of new discoveries.
<h6>SHARING DATA<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/atcg-200x200.jpg" alt="DNA code analysis" class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-3837" width="200" height="200" /></h6>
Hundreds of institutions worldwide are currently doing clinical and genetic research. If you could share that data and standardize how it is reported, you could make it that much more useful. That’s exactly what more than 70 medical, research and advocacy organizations did this year, the National Institutes of Health among them. They all agreed to set up a system<a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/news/globalalliance"> to share genetic and clinical information</a>. By creating a database of genetic variation and health information, it would offer researchers, and doctors, a powerful resource for discovery.
Illustrating the power of shared data, using data from the Electronic Medical Records Genomics Network<a href="https://www.genome.gov/27540473"> (eMERGE</a>) for short – researchers have identified dozens of new variants linked to diseases ranging from skin cancer to anemia. The eMERGE data set allowed researchers to search by gene variant to find associated conditions. As the database grows it will allow researchers to discover connections between seemingly unrelated diseases and genetic variants.
The power of big datasets that include not just genetic information but also phenotypic information, is part of what 23andMe is all about. This year 23andMe researchers leverage our database and certain phenotypes to  functionally classify different genetic associations. our researchers presented some of our findings on this at the ASHG conference this year in Boston. Their findings show that on occasion, a single genetic variant will be associated with multiple different phenotypes. So for example, in autoimmune diseases, a single SNP influences multiple different diseases. Sometimes these shared associations are more surprising, such as the genetic association shared by both<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/health-traits/23andmes-latest-publication-shines-light-on-male-pattern-baldness-and-unexpected-associations-with-disease/"> Parkinson’s disease and baldness</a>. We’ve also found correlations between breast cancer and breast size, body mass index and food choice, and hair color and skin cancer.
<h6>MY, WHAT LONG TELOMERES YOU HAVE</h6>
Several papers this year indicate that genetic variants in telomere genes (such as TERT, TERC, POT1, etc.) not only influence the length of telomeres, which in turn is a good indicator of longevity, but those variants are also associated with certain cancers. Researchers in several different Genome-Wide Association Studies have found links to cancers such as multiple myeloma,<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23535731"> breast and ovarian cancer</a>, testicular cancer,<a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=retrieve&#038;list_uids=23143601&#038;dopt=citation"> lung cancer,</a> and chronic<a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v45/n5/full/ng.2584.html"> lymphocytic leukemia</a>.
<h6>23ANDME AND THE FDA</h6>
It’s not the kind of news we like, but there’s no way for us to do a roundup of the year&#8217;s big stories without mentioning that the FDA in December ordered 23andMe to stop offering new consumers access to their health-related genetic tests, while the company moves through the FDA’s regulatory review process. 23andMe remains committed to being a pioneer in the genetics revolution and has made its work with the FDA its top priority.
Making it all work will be good not just for the FDA and 23andMe, but for the future of the direct-to-consumer genetic testing industry. Individuals who want to understand their genetics will win too – that’s everyone’s goal. Here’s to 2014.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

This Year’s Top Ten Genetic Findings of 2013

Megan Runge has dark curly hair and the kind of smile that invites you in.
Perfect for a curious college student with a summer job scooping gelato at the beach in Florida.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-20027" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1-225x300.jpg" alt="Megan Photo 1" width="225" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1-225x300.jpg 225w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1-768x1024.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1-660x880.jpg 660w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1-885x1180.jpg 885w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Megan-Photo-1.jpg 1452w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px" />
It was that same openness and curiosity that drew her to 23andMe. An adoptee, Megan didn’t know anything about her biological parents or her family history.
“I wanted to know about ME,” she said about her decision to get tested.
<h6>Using 23andMe</h6>
Megan has the kind of features that offers a hint of mystery, and for years she’d get questions about her background; questions she couldn’t answer.
Then she tested with 23andMe.
“I counted down the days until the results came in and when they did I almost cried,” said Megan. “After 19 years of not knowing anything, and then just from spitting in a tube, I have a pile of information all about me.”
<h6>Learning More</h6>
All of it was new to her. She spent hours poring over her results fascinated by both the important and seemingly trivial details.
“I learned a lot of information … which was very valuable because I really don&#8217;t know anything about my biological background,” she said.
But for Megan it was looking at her genetic ancestry that most surprised her.
“When I was younger everyone just assumed I was Hispanic,” Megan said smiling. “I assumed I had some sort of mixed ancestry, but I never knew.”
<h6>Mixed Ancestry</h6>
Now she knows that she is part Irish, part Scandinavian and part African. And she has some Native American ancestry as well.
“I thought it was so cool,” she said.
When she first got her results she was fascinated.
&#8220;I remember when I first got it I looked at it every day, multiple times a day,&#8221; Megan said. &#8220;I still look at it from time-to-time just to, I don&#8217;t know, just to see it.&#8221;
23andMe provides genetic testing services for informational purposes; your results may or may not help you to search for or identify relatives or family members.

This Is About Me

In the New Year, 23andMe will give out a gift for kids and promote literacy at the same time. We deliver 500 copies of our illustrated board book You Share Genes With Me to<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-20111" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/you-share-genes-with-me.jpg" alt="you-share-genes-with-me" width="222" height="221" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/you-share-genes-with-me.jpg 222w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/you-share-genes-with-me-150x150.jpg 150w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px" />
<h2>Books for Kids</h2>
Books for Kids is a non-profit organization based in New York City. Its mission is to promote literacy among children. They focus a lot on low-income and at-risk preschool-aged children. Books for Kids creates libraries, donates books, and implements literacy programs to develop the critical early foundation and skills young children need to succeed. The organization focuses, in particular, on low-income preschool-aged children who live in homes where there are fewer than five books. The foundation wants to ensure those families have books to engage, entertain, and educate children.
The organization focuses, in particular, on low-income preschool-aged children who live in homes with fewer than five books. The foundation wants to ensure that those families have books that can engage, entertain, and educate children.
<h2>You Share Genes with Me</h2>
23andMe wants that, too, and the foundation’s commitment aligns with our broader education mission.
“It&#8217;s always been our mission to improve genetic literacy for everyone regardless of age,” said Esther Kim, Pharm. D., who heads up 23andMe’s education efforts.
In addition to the gift to Books for Kids, 23andMe also offers free books to the first 500 elementary school teachers who <a href="https://www.23andme.com/yousharegeneswithme/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">register</a>. Each teacher will get two copies of the book for their classrooms. We hope the book will help bring a greater diversity of learning levels into our academic program, which has historically focused more on high school, undergrad, and medical school programs.
<div id="attachment_20114" style="width: 271px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-20114" class="wp-image-20114 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-261x300.jpg" alt="" width="261" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-261x300.jpg 261w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-768x883.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-891x1024.jpg 891w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-765x880.jpg 765w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21-1026x1180.jpg 1026w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/book_flyer-copy21.jpg 1275w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 261px) 100vw, 261px" />A look inside the book You Share Genes With Me.</div>
“We are excited to reach out to communities we typically don&#8217;t have access to through our normal distribution channels,” said Esther. “ We hope this book can plant in children’s minds a seed of curiosity for genetics and science and help them to realize how genes connect us to all living things.”
<h2>Genetics 101</h2>
We’ve done that with our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/gen101/genes/">Genetics 101 series</a>, our work with several educational institutions, and our partnership with Udacity to produce an online genetics class. We were also involved in helping put together a genetics exhibit with the Smithsonian earlier this year. The children’s book, a sweet picture book showing kids how much DNA they share with other living things, came together, partly from all that work.
The book, illustrated by Arianna Killoran, offers a whimsical look at genetics. It’s meant to provide kids with an introduction to science by emphasizing how much DNA we share with other species and each other. Humans are about 99.5 percent similar genetically, but that little difference makes us all unique. The book discusses how humans share DNA with other species, like zebrafish, mice, and chimpanzees. While the book is not currently available for sale online, it can be purchased at the gift shops of the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and at The Exploratorium in San Francisco.

23andMe’s Science Book For Kids

Our favorite ancient cousins, the Neanderthals, are in the news again.
Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-421 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/neanderthaler2-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/neanderthaler2-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/neanderthaler2.jpg 400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<h6>Quality</h6>
Breathtaking in its quality her genome tells us a little about her,   but more importantly it gives us a better understanding of human evolution.
By comparing her data with other sequence data, researchers have been able to show that there was intermixing not just between modern humans and Neanderthals, but between Neanderthals, Denisovans (another ancient human), modern humans and perhaps other as yet unknown groups of ancient humans.
Using the sequence and comparing it to other Neanderthal, Denisovan and modern human genomes, the researchers – which included scientists from UC Berkeley, MIT, Harvard, the University of Washington and the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing – were able to illustrate how genes flowed between these populations.
<h6>The Period of Intermixing</h6>
While there was interbreeding between Neanderthals, Denisovans and modern humans, there is still a distinct genetic difference between them.
As Carl Zimmer<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/19/science/toe-fossil-provides-complete-neanderthal-genome.html?pagewanted=2&amp;ref=science"> reported</a> in The New York Times, they “did not become one big genetic blur.”
After the periods of intermixing Denisovan and Neanderthals gradually disappeared, but their DNA remains in most modern humans.
The genome sequence – which is of a quality comparable to that of a sequence one could get from a modern human – offered researchers other insights including that ancient woman’s parents were likely related – perhaps half-siblings – and that her ancestors also likely inbred.
The findings lend support for a more nuanced story of human evolution.
<h6>Much to Learn</h6>
Earlier this year researchers extracted DNA from a 400,000 year-old thigh bone found buried in a Spanish cave, known as<a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12788.html"> Sima de los Huesos, or Pit of Bones.</a>
Apart from the big deal of extracting genetic material from a really, really old bone – the oldest human DNA recovered yet – the find surprised researchers.
The age of the bone, and its location, lead them to believe they would find Neanderthal DNA. It turned out to be Denisovan. Previous finds placed the Denisovans farther east and only back as far as 80,000 years.
Clearly there is still much to learn about how all these pieces fit together with our own evolutionary history.
&#8211; <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/our-neanderthal-cousins/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our Neanderthal Cousins</a>
&#8211; <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/more-fun-with-neanderthals/">More Fun with Neanderthals</a>
&#8211;<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/new-evidence-suggests-interbreeding-between-humans-and-neanderthals/"> New Evidence Suggests Humans and Neanderthal Interbreeding</a>
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<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-14049" title="neanderthal icon" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/neanderthal-icon-96x150.jpg" alt="" width="50" height="77" />
Got Neanderthal DNA?
23andMe customers can <a href="https://www.23andme.com/you/labs/neanderthal/">find their inner Neanderthal</a> or at least how much Neanderthal DNA they have. Not yet a customer? <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store">Visit our store</a>!
</div>

Neanderthals Genome Sheds Light On Human Evolution

By Bertram Koelsch
Do you know the bacteria H. pylori? Well, H. pylori may already know you.
<div id="attachment_19894" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19894" class="size-medium wp-image-19894" alt="H. pylori" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-300x206.jpg" width="300" height="206" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-300x206.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-768x528.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-1024x704.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-880x605.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori-1180x811.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/H.-pylori.jpg 1495w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />H. pylori, a bacterium that lives in the mucus of the stomach and tolerates acid. Electron micrograph courtesy of Manuel Amieva, Stanford University.</div>
H. pylori can be found in the stomach of 30-40 percent of people in the US and 70 percent or more of people in developing regions. Indeed, humans have a long-standing and intimate relationship with these bacteria. Researchers believe Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori for short) and humans have been living together for more than <a href="http://www.jci.org/articles/view/38605">50,000 years</a>!

While most people will go their entire lives without knowing they carry these bacteria, about 15 percent  of those harboring H. pylori will develop stomach problems. Thanks to <a href="http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2005/illpres/index.html">Nobel Prize</a>-winning research in the 1980s, H. pylori is now known to be <a href="http://jama.jamanetwork.com/data/Journals/JAMA/4432/jpg0917_1374_1374.pdf">linked to</a> serious stomach diseases including gastritis, peptic ulcers and stomach cancer.

When it does cause problems, treatment for H. pylori includes the use of a combination of  antibiotics and drugs called proton pump inhibitors (PPIs). Common PPIs include Prilosec ® and Prevacid ®. PPIs reduce the stomach&#8217;s acidity, which lures H. pylori out from their hiding places in the stomach&#8217;s lining. Once in the stomach cavity, these bacteria can be effectively eradicated with antibiotics. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=19166419">Clinical research</a> over the past decade has shown that people who have certain genetic mutations metabolize or break down PPIs more slowly. These people are exposed to higher levels of the PPI drugs, allowing for better stomach acid reduction and improved H. pylori treatment success.

The effectiveness of PPIs at blocking stomach acid production depends on their drug levels in the blood. An enzyme in the liver named <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?cmd=Search&#038;term=23646118" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CYP2C19 influences how quickly PPIs are metabolized</a> or broken down so that they can be cleared from the body. People with the &#8220;extensive metabolizer&#8221; genotype rapidly metabolize PPIs. On the other hand, people with the &#8220;poor metabolizer&#8221; genotype metabolize PPIs more slowly. These &#8220;poor metabolizers&#8221; have a higher success rate for treating H. pylori, since slower PPI metabolism leads to lower stomach acid levels for longer periods of time.

Bertram Koelsch

A Gut Bug, Genetics and Treating Serious Stomach Diseases

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-20032" alt="Eczema Infographic" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Eczema-Infographic.jpg" width="684" height="446" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Eczema-Infographic.jpg 684w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Eczema-Infographic-300x196.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 684px) 100vw, 684px" />For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, click <a href="http://curetogether.com/eczema/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.
By Alex Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
People living with Eczema have reported that some of the most effective treatments for their skin include medications like Clobetisol, Trimacinolone, Elocon, and Fluocinonide. This is according to a new study by CureTogether, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
Participants in the study also said they found that simple interventions like avoiding allergens, avoiding sweating or temperature changes, moisturizing often, and reducing stress were also effective. They also said dietary changes help. Conversely, some common treatments such as antihistamines, coconut oil, and not washing hair every day were among the least effective, according to the study.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Effective Treatments for Eczema As Rated By Patients 
1. Clobetisol 
2. Triamcinolone 
3. Steroid injection 
4. Elocon 
5. Fluocinonide 
6. Avoid problem foods 
7. Avoid allergens 
8. Corticosteroid cream 
9. Moisturize frequently 
10. Reduce stress</div>
<h6>More than Just Cosmetic</h6>
According to the National Institutes of Health, Eczema affects 15 million Americans and 10% of young adults worldwide.
It can be embarrassing to experience cosmetically but also impacts people’s quality of life. Finding accurate recommendations on treatments that work well can be challenging, so CureTogether asked people living with Eczema to rate the effectiveness of 32 different patient-reported treatments.
<h6>Asking Patients</h6>
Where did this data come from?
This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on Eczema, in which 1,109 people living with the condition shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the Eczema study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether research findings. CureTogether’s research findings are different than those made by 23andMe, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response.
But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether present its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in Eczema. Thank you!

Alexandra Carmichael

What Patients Say Works for Eczema

By Anne Wojcicki
After discussion with officials from the Food and Drug Administration today, 23andMe will comply with the FDA’s directive and stop offering new consumers access to health-related genetic tests while the company moves forward with the agency’s regulatory review <img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />processes.
23andMe has been giving consumers access to health information for six years and is committed to finding the right regulatory path for our customers.  I am highly disappointed that we have reached this point and will work hard to make sure consumers have direct access to health information in the near future.  Our goal is to work cooperatively with the FDA to provide that opportunity.
We also want to make clear that we stand behind the data we have generated for customers. Our lab partner adheres to strict quality standards that are part of the <a href="https://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/IVDRegulatoryAssistance/ucm124105.htm">Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988</a> – known as CLIA. These are the same standards used in the majority of other health and disease-related tests. We decided several years ago to comply with CLIA guidelines to be consistent with other types of laboratory testing and to assure customers about the quality of data.
As we work with the FDA to get clearance, there will be some significant changes to the site.  Customers who purchased kits on or after the FDA’s warning letter of November 22nd will not have access to health-related results. Those customers will have access to ancestry-related genetic information and their raw data without 23andMe’s interpretation of that data. They may receive health-related results in the future, depending on FDA marketing authorization.
Customers who purchased kits before November 22, 2013 will continue to have access to all the reports they’ve always had.
This is clearly a much different service than in the past, so we are offering customers who purchased kits on or after November 22, 2013 a full refund if they wish. Those customers will get an email from 23andMe with details on the refund policy. Eligible customers who do not receive an email are encouraged to check their spam email folders for the email with their personalized instructions or contact our Customer Care Team.
Research is and will continue to be a significant priority for the company.  The 500,000+ customers we have today have given us more than 250 million survey data points.  You, our customer, have powered an incredibly important crowd-sourced research database that I believe can have a significant impact on the pace of discoveries and cures. We will continue our Parkinson’s, sarcoma, MPN and African American research projects and plan to launch more communities in 2014.
23andMe will also continue educational efforts to consumers, physicians and other health providers as we believe genetics will be an increasingly important part of all of our lives.
Finally, I want to say thank you to our customers for your support and your stories.  Many of you have written in about how 23andMe has changed your life.  It is rewarding for me and all the employees at 23andMe to serve our customers.  I am committed to 23andMe and committed to being a pioneer in the genetics revolution.

Anne Wojcicki

23andMe’s Updates Regarding FDA’s Review

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-19829 size-medium" alt="Crohn's Infographic" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Crohns-Infographic-300x201.jpg" width="300" height="201" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Crohns-Infographic-300x201.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Crohns-Infographic.jpg 682w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
By Alex Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
For Crohn’s Disease, medical interventions seem to be surprisingly effective.
This is in contrast to some of our other patient-reported treatment infographics, in which lifestyle changes are often deemed more effective than drugs or traditional medicine.
<h6>Self Report</h6>
CureTogether – a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments – surveyed 275 people who self-identify as having Crohn&#8217;s Disease. They reported that interventions such as Low-Dose Naltrexone (LDN), steroids, cannabis, and dietary changes helped them feel better.
Crohn&#8217;s Disease is a kind of inflammatory bowel disease that affects the gastrointestinal tract and can involve intense abdominal pain, persistent diarrhea, and rectal bleeding.
<h6>Prescriptions</h6>
Participants in the study said they found that prescription medications like Humira and Remicade, surgery, stress reduction, and diets that avoid fiber and wheat were among the most effective treatments. The survey also found that some common treatments such as the drug Pentassa and a high-fiber diet actually made the symptoms of Crohn&#8217;s Disease worse.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Most Effective Rated Treatments for Patients with Crohn&#8217;s Disease 
1. Low-Dose Naltrexone 
2. Surgery 
3. Steroids 
4. Cannabis 
5. Specific Carbohydrate Diet 
6. Remicade 
7. Humira 
8. Gluten-free diet 
9. Paleo diet 
10. Stress reduction</div>
The Crohn&#8217;s and Colitis Foundation America estimates that over 700,000 Americans live with Crohn&#8217;s Disease, with genetics and environment both playing a part in the frequency of this disease. The condition can be extremely painful and is not incredibly well understood, and finding accurate recommendations on treatments that work well can be challenging, so
<h6>Top Ten Rated Treatments</h6>
CureTogether asked people who experience Crohn&#8217;s Disease to rate the effectiveness of 42 different patient-reported treatments.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/Crohns-Disease/">Crohn&#8217;s Disease</a>, in which 275 people shared information about their symptoms and what treatments worked best for them. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the Crohn&#8217;s Disease study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/">those made by 23andMe</a>, which look at genetic associations with illness, traits and drug response. But as we continue our work with the CureTogether community, 23andMe hopes to incorporate more of this kind of self-reported information into our own research. CureTogether presents its findings just as they are – patient-reported data – to stimulate discussion and generate new insights for further research.
Please tweet, blog, or pass this along to anyone who can benefit or is interested in Crohn&#8217;s Disease. Thank you!

What Patients Say Works for Crohn’s Disease

23andMe was started in 2007 with the belief that consumers have the right to get access to their genetic information and that information can help them live healthier lives.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6586" alt="23andMe_Logo_blog" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/23andMe_Logo_blog.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
It is absolutely critical that our consumers get high quality genetic data that they can trust.  We have worked extensively with our lab partner to make sure that the results we return are accurate.  We stand behind the data that we return to customers – but we recognize that the FDA needs to be convinced of the quality of our data as well.
In 2008 we began our dialogue with the FDA. The relationship with the FDA remains critically important to 23andMe.
In July 2012 23andMe submitted its first application for FDA clearance and followed on with another submission at the end of August. We received feedback on those submissions and acknowledge that we are behind schedule with our responses.
This is new territory for both 23andMe and the FDA. This makes the regulatory process with the FDA important because the work we are doing with the agency will help lay the groundwork for what other companies in this new industry do in the future. It will also provide important reassurance to the public that the process and science behind the service meet the rigorous standards required by those entrusted with the public’s safety.
I am committed to making sure that 23andMe is a trusted consumer product. I believe that genetic information can lead to healthier lives &#8212; a goal that all of us share.
We will provide updates as they become available.

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