<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-full wp-image-17847" title="Insomnia Graphic" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Insomnia-Graphic.jpg" alt="" width="715" height="462" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Insomnia-Graphic.jpg 715w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Insomnia-Graphic-300x194.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px" /> 
For the live-updated, fully-labelled, interactive version of this infographic, <a href="http://curetogether.com/insomnia/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">click here</a>.
Some of the most popular treatments for Insomnia are not necessarily the most effective, according to a new study by CureTogether, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
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People in the study said they found that some sleep drugs and some treatments without drugs – including a dark room and exercise – were the most effective. Conversely some popular treatments such as watching TV and listening to music, were among the least effective, according to the study. Insomnia affects millions of Americans. Finding treatments that work well can be a challenge, so CureTogether asked people suffering from insomnia to rate the effectiveness of different treatments.
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<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">Rated Most Effective by People with Insomnia 
1. Xanax 
2. No light/dark room 
3. Ativan 
4. Imovane 
5. Valium 
6. Ambien 
7. Sexual activity 
8. Exercise 
9. Restoril 
10. Klonopin</div>
CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 7,422 people with Insomnia, who rated the effectiveness of 93 different treatments. Among the most helpful treatments were Xanax, Ativan, and Valium. Also highly effective for those in the study were sexual activity and eliminating caffeine. Those people in the study also said St. John’s wort and valerian – both derived from plants – &nbsp;were not as effective.
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Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/insomnia" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Insomnia</a>, in which people suffering from 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 Insomnia treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the Insomnia study.
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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 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 Insomnia. Thank you!

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

What Works for Insomnia

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-17819" title="mediterranean diet" alt="" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mediterranean-diet-200x300.jpg" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mediterranean-diet-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/mediterranean-diet.jpg 283w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />
Your diet has a huge impact on your health, particularly influencing your risk for things like heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.
Your genetics equally contributes to your risk for heart disease the same as your diet, your environment and overall lifestyle does.
Understanding your risks can help you take the right actions to stay as healthy as you can. With heart disease, the simplest ways to reduce your risk is with diet and exercise. A recent<a href="http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa1200303?query=featured_home?=article"> Spanish study</a> published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that changing what you eat may go a long way at protecting you from heart disease. The study suggests a Mediterranean diet – which is rich in vegetables, fruit, legumes, fish, olive oil and nuts – can significantly reduce the risk of death from heart attack or stroke in people at highest risk.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
How Your Body Responds 

A Mediterranean diet could ward off heart disease, but how does it effect whether you gain or lose weight?
Your genetics can influence how your body metabolizes and uses food. This   explains a bit about why some people have a much easier time losing weight than others.
</div>
The study gives hope. The researchers looked at more than 7,000 Spaniards who were overweight, smoked or had other conditions that put them at them at higher risk for heart disease. The participants ranged in age from 55 to about 80. Researchers at the University of Barcelona separated the participants into three groups, one on a Mediterranean diet, another group that were on a Mediterranean diet that included additional extra virgin olive oil, nuts, fish, vegetables, fruit and wine. And a third group that was simply advised to stay on a low-fat diet.
About five years into the work, the benefits of the Mediterranean diet were so strong – groups on the Mediterranean diets were 30 percent less likely to have a heart attack or stroke – that the researchers stopped the study early.
While there are some caveats to the study, it strongly suggests a simple change in what you eat – independent of whether you lose weight or exercise – could significantly reduce your risk for heart disease. This is particularly good news for people who want to lower their risk but are having a hard time losing weight.
While the benefits for this high-risk, elderly population of Spaniards seems pretty clear, what is less clear is whether changing to a Mediterranean diet would offer the same benefits for everyone. Because the study specifically looked at people who were at high risk for heart disease, it’s unclear if diet alone can reduce heart disease risk in the general population, too. Unfortunately the study also didn’t look at how people with different genetics might respond to the diet changes. We know genetics has a strong influence on your risk for heart disease, but we don’t know if people with different genetics would respond differently to this diet.
Whether the benefits could apply to people who are at low risk is not yet known, but it probably couldn’t hurt to reduce the amount of sweets, saturated fats and processed foods in favor of a diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables. The fact that the diet also includes a drink of wine with each meal is a nice bonus as well.

Heart Disease, Genetics and the Mediterranean Diet

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-17799 size-full" title="CureTogether PTSD Graphic" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CureTogether-PTSD-Graphic.jpg" alt="" width="739" height="463" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CureTogether-PTSD-Graphic.jpg 739w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/CureTogether-PTSD-Graphic-300x188.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 739px) 100vw, 739px" />For the interactive version <a href="http://curetogether.com/ptsd/ig/treatment-effectiveness-vs-popularity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">click here</a>.
By Alexandra Carmichael, Co-Founder of CureTogether
Some of the most popular treatments for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder are not necessarily the most effective, according to a new study by <a href="http://curetogether.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CureTogether</a>, a free resource owned by 23andMe that allows people to share information about their health and treatments.
People in the study said they found some treatments without drugs – including art therapy and exercise – were the most effective. Conversely some popular treatments such as the use of antidepressants, were among the least effective, according to the study.
PTSD is an anxiety disorder that is often associated with combat veterans, but the disorder can occur in anyone who has experienced or seen a traumatic event. Finding the right treatment can be particularly difficult, so CureTogether asked people suffering from PTSD to rate the effectiveness of different treatments.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"> Rated Most Effective by People with PTSD 
1. Cognitive Behavior Therapy 
2. Avoid certain places 
3. Avoid certain noises 
4. Art therapy 
5. Exercise 
6. Use clear shower curtain 
7. Psychotherapy 
8. Medical marijuana 
9. Anti-anxiety medication 
10. Daily routine</div>
CureTogether’s study compiled responses from 531 people with PTSD, who rated the effectiveness of 31 different treatments.
Among the most helpful treatments were Cognitive Behavior Therapy, avoiding places and noises that trigger symptoms, art therapy, and exercise. Also highly effective for those in the study were having a daily routine and participating in support groups. Also on the list was the use of a clear shower curtain, which addresses the fear some have of hidden threats. In contrast people in the study said anti-depressants and Exposure Therapy were not as effective.
Where did this data come from? This is the result of a four-year CureTogether study on <a href="http://curetogether.com/ptsd/symptoms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder</a>. We’d like to thank those who participated. And just as they shared their experience with PTSD treatments, we’re freely and openly sharing the results of the PTSD study.
This is part of a regular series of CureTogether <a href="http://curetogether.com/blog/category/research-findings/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research findings</a>. CureTogether’s research findings are different than <a href="https://www.23andme.com/about/factoids/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">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 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 PTSD. Thank you!
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 200px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;"></div>

Alexandra Carmichael

What Works for PTSD

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-9055 size-full" title="sarcoma image" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1.jpg" alt="" width="315" height="257" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1.jpg 315w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/sarcoma-image1-300x245.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 315px) 100vw, 315px" />
Late last year researchers with support from the<a href="http://www.chordomafoundation.org/latest-updates/breaking-news-genetic-risk-factor-for-chordoma-identified/"> Chordoma Foundation</a> identified a genetic marker associated with that rare form of bone cancer.
The Chordoma Foundation has also partnered with 23andMe to raise awareness about our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/sarcoma/">Sarcoma Research Initiative</a> aimed at better understanding genetic associations with this disease.
The<a href="https://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v44/n11/full/ng.2419.html"> original study</a> led by scientists at University College London showed that a marker called rs2305089 is linked to higher risk for chordoma. Researchers at 23andMe were able to quickly replicate the finding.
The original study included 40 individuals with chordoma and another 358 people without the disease. In its replication study, 23andMe was able to quickly gather data from 22 people with chordoma and 220 without it. The data from the two studies together suggest that the T version of rs2305089 is associated with between two and six times higher odds of chordoma.
More than 50 percent of people with European ancestry have at least one T at rs2305089. At the same time, fewer than one in 1,000,000 people develop chordoma in the general population. This means that although this genetic variant increases a person’s odds of chordoma, very few with the variant will actually develop it.
The discovery offers important insight for scientists studying this rare cancer, which affects mostly people of European ancestry. It is also another example of how 23andMe’s unique research platform can contribute to research on rare disease.
Ed: (April 16, 2013) This post was updated to include information about the incidence of chordoma.

Genetics and a rare bone cancer

Would You Want to Know?

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-6586" title="23andMe_Logo_blog" alt="" 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" />
You may not have thought about your genome lately, but one day you will and so will your doctor.
In an <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/13/know-your-genome-personal-genetics">opinion piece</a> published in the Guardian, Anne Wojcicki, our CEO and co-founder, offered some thoughts about why knowing your own genetic information will become increasingly important for your health.
We’ve already seen how the technology has rapidly advanced offering consumers affordable access to actionable information about their genetics.
Just as with other kinds of health information – your blood pressure, your family medical history and the details of your diet – the information from your genetics can help you and your doctor make the right decisions for your health. As Anne says in her Guardian piece, 23andMe was started in part to empower people and involve them in their own health care. Access to genetic information also helps open the way for more personalized treatments. By aggregating that information and involving people in research, scientists can more quickly gain understanding of the genetic components of disease and speed develop treatments, new drugs and diagnostics.

Getting to Know Your Genome

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-421 size-medium" title="Neanderthal" 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" />
There’s much to recommend in Carl Zimmer’s profile of David Reich in Discovery Magazine.  Not least of which are details on our favorite extinct human cousins, Neanderthals.
Neanderthals are the rock stars of the piece. Zimmer also gives them their due, as well as a good primer on human evolution, and ancient migration out of Africa. He also explains  what all that ancient DNA might mean for modern humans.
There are few things as fascinating to the folks here at 23andMe. At the forefront is the idea that the DNA of Neanderthals – who vanished about 30,000 years ago – lives on in us. And it bolsters the theory that Neanderthals and humans interbred between 37,000 and 86,000 years ago. This was about the time when modern humans began to migrate from Africa to Europe.
23andMe’s popular <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/deep/">Neanderthal feature</a> was developed by scientists Eric Durand and Mike Macpherson. It can tell you how much Neanderthal DNA you have.
In Zimmer’s piece Reich suggests that there may also be DNA from other extinct human subspecies in our genes, such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v468/n7327/abs/nature09710.html">Denisova</a>, another of our early human cousins. The remnants of that ancient DNA &#8212; which pieces, how much of it, and who carries it today &#8212; contain insights not just about human evolution and migration, but about health and traits in modern humans.
If you haven’t already, check out Zimmer&#8217;s story or read more about what we&#8217;ve written about Neanderthals and humans:
&#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/find-your-inner-neanderthal"> Find Your Inner Neanderthal</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>!
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Our Neanderthal Cousins

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-8468" title="Flour wheat celiac" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/iStock_000014686955XSmall-300x199.jpg" alt="" height="199" width="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/iStock_000014686955XSmall-300x199.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/iStock_000014686955XSmall.jpg 425w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />

Editor&#8217;s note: This post has been altered to reflect 23andMe&#8217;s new product offering.


By Amick B.

Like other autoimmune diseases, <a href="http://www.23andme.com/topics/health-predispositions/celiac-disease/">celiac disease</a> has a strong genetic component, but new research shows that environmental factors, including an exposure to a variety of microbes in our water and in dust, may also play an important role.
A recent<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/opinion/sunday/what-really-causes-celiac-disease.html?pagewanted=all&#038;_r=0"> New York Times article</a> reported that the amount of bacteria in the gut affects whether the immune system treats glut
en as food or as a deadly invader.  Research also showed that breast-feeding, which increases this important group of intestinal bacteria — called bifidobacteria — may protect against the disease.
This finding is related to other<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/news/is-autoimmunity-a-result-of-genetic-adaptation-to-pathogens/"> recent research that suggests</a> versions of SNPs associated with increased risk for autoimmune diseases may come from immune defenses originally evolved to protect people from infectious organisms.  This means that the very same genetic adaptations that protected our ancestors from harmful pathogens may now have undesirable consequences in our “cleaner” modern societies where those pathogens are no longer common. 
For people with celiac disease, the simple act of eating food with gluten – a protein found in wheat and other grains – triggers an immune response that mistakenly attacks their digestive system. The disease strikes people who inherit certain versions of a protein called HLA-DQ, one of the proteins the immune system cells use to mark foreign proteins for attack.
The versions of HLA-DQ that are associated with celiac disease bind to gluten as if it were a threat; this mistaken immune response damages the villi lining the small intestine, undermining the absorption of nutrients and ultimately causing symptoms ranging from stomach aches and diarrhea to iron deficiency.
While 30-to-40 percent of all people have the versions of HLA-DQ that increase the risk for celiac disease, only about one percent of the U.S. population, or about two million people, actually gets the disease. While genetic proclivity makes us susceptible, some kind of other immunological trigger is required to kick the disease into gear.
Along with certain genetic markers, the risk factors for celiac include having European ancestry, a family history of celiac disease and a personal history of other autoimmune disorders.


Celiac disease should not be confused with other problems related to gluten, namely wheat allergies and gluten intolerance. Wheat allergies trigger responses that range from hives to sneezing and wheezing. Unlike celiac disease, gluten intolerance triggers a response that comes from innate immunity — the body using its normal immune response to repel gluten as if it were an invader — causing a direct response in the form of inflammation inside and outside of the digestive tract.


Celiac disease comes from adaptive immunity, a more sophisticated system in which genes activate specific cells to fight foreign bodies. With celiac disease, one’s own tissue lining of the small intestine is attacked as a result of this adaptive immunity. The only treatment for celiac disease is adherence to a completely gluten-free diet. Luckily this completely alleviates symptoms for most people with the disease and allows the damage to their intestines to heal.
Unfortunately, we don’t have much control over the microbes in our environment, but we can at least educate ourselves to recognize the symptoms of Celiac Disease if and when they appear.
Amick Boone is a freelance writer who&#8217;s written about health and life sciences for nearly 10 years.  When she&#8217;s not at her computer, she&#8217;s usually in motion &#8211; doing yoga, riding her bike or traveling.

Amick Boone

Genetics, Microbes and Celiac Disease

<span id="internal-source-marker_0.19513093507326507" style="font-size: 15px; font-family: Arial; color: #000000; background-color: transparent; font-weight: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" title="iStock_000009024892XSmall" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/iStock_000009024892XSmall-300x240.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="240" />
Researchers have long believed that genetics put some people at higher risk for mental illness than others, but exactly which genes are involved has remained a mystery. Even very large studies have come up with relatively few insights into the genetics of mental illness.
But a study <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2962129-1/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published</a> last week in The Lancet is shedding some light on the connection between genetics and mental illness. The study is the largest mental illness study done to date, and used genetic data from over 60,000 people of European ancestry.
The scientists, led by Dr. Jordan Smoller from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, looked at five different forms of mental illness: autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder, major depression disorder, and schizophrenia. They found four different genetic associations with mental illness in general, and surprisingly they discovered that three of the four associations were involved in all five conditions. This means that the same genetic variants involved in depression may also be involved in schizophrenia.  This genetic similarity between different forms of mental illness was suspected from previous studies in which twins would have different forms of mental illness.
Another interesting aspect of this new study was the importance of calcium channels. Calcium is important for muscle contractions and heart beats, and calcium channels are gates that let calcium in and out of our cells. Two of the four genetic variants that the researchers found occur in genes that encode these calcium channels, suggesting that calcium channels may also be important for mental health.
Sometimes research discoveries seem too removed from our day-to-day life to matter.  Yet this new insight into calcium channels could lead to new treatments, and new treatments would mean good news for millions.  During the course of this year, it is estimated that one in ten of us will suffer from a mood disorder, such as depression or bipolar disorder.  If it’s not you, it may be someone you know.  That makes this study pretty exciting for us all.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-17678" title="MentalIllness" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MentalIllness2.jpg" alt="" width="593" height="316" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MentalIllness2.jpg 791w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MentalIllness2-300x160.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/MentalIllness2-768x409.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px" />This graph shows the prevalence of different forms of mental illness in US adults in any given year. Statistics are from <a id="internal-source-marker_0.19513093507326507" href="http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml#MajorDepressive" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">NIMH</a>. 
 SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that reason it is important to remember that like all information we provide, the studies we describe in SNPwatch are for research and educational purposes only. SNPwatch is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice; you should always seek the advice of your physician or other appropriate healthcare professional with any questions you may have regarding diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of any disease or other medical condition.

Latest Posts — Page 139