A new national survey shows a keen interest in DNA testing primarily driven by people’s desire to know more about their potential health risks.<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-300x248.png" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26142" width="300" height="248" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-300x248.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-768x634.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-1024x845.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-880x726.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery-1180x974.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/DNA-Discovery.png 1270w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
The survey, conducted by 23andMe in the lead up to<a href="https://www.genome.gov/26525485/about-dna-day/"> DNA Day</a>, asked consumers a range of questions to gauge both their understanding and interest in genetic testing.* Just as in all the surveys the company has done since 2013, a majority of consumers said they were interested in testing.
But this year saw a slight increase over last year in the percentage of respondents who said they were either extremely or somewhat interested in using DNA testing to find out about their health. The survey found that 74 percent were interested in testing to learn about health risks, which is a 3 percent increase over last year.
<h6>Potential Health Risks</h6>
Most striking of all is that learning about health risks drives the most interest in DNA testing. The survey found that two-thirds of respondents ranked health information as their top consideration for testing. Interestingly, the same percentage of those surveyed ranked their interest in ancestry information as those who said a desire to <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/participating-in-23andme-research-a-customers-perspective/">contribute to genetic research</a> was a primary driver for their interest in testing.
“It’s encouraging to see consumers value the core of 23andMe’s mission,” said Jhulianna Cintron, 23andMe’s consumer genetics trends expert. “We want everyone to benefit from the science around the human genome, and that’s why health, ancestry and research have always been at the core of what we do.”
<div id="attachment_27027" style="width: 708px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27027" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DNA-Day-Survey.png" alt="" class="wp-image-27027 size-full" width="698" height="352" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DNA-Day-Survey.png 698w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/DNA-Day-Survey-300x151.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 698px) 100vw, 698px" />Learning about potential health risk was the primary driver in their interest in DNA testing, according to a new survey by 23andMe.</div>
23andMe began conducting annual surveys measuring consumers’ interest in DNA testing in 2013. At that time, estimates were that fewer than half a million people had done an at-home DNA test. Since then interest in genetic testing has soared. One estimate suggests that more than<a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612880/more-than-26-million-people-have-taken-an-at-home-ancestry-test/"> 26 million people</a> have taken an at-home DNA test. That surge in interest has come with references to testing<a href="https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/jon-snow-emails-23andme-about-his-dna-results"> sprinkled in popular culture</a>, and daily news coverage. 
<h6>Genetic Literacy</h6>
But people’s deep interest in genetic testing is often out ahead of their understanding of the science. The survey shows there is room for improvement in basic genetic literacy, which mirrors other national surveys that show a general need for<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/03/28/what-americans-know-about-science/"> science literacy</a>.
23andMe’s 2019 survey found that fewer than half of those asked, 41 percent, knew that DNA is organized into chromosomes, for example. While most of those surveyed, 57 percent, understood that genetic research can help lead to new treatments for disease, only 39 percent knew that genetics can play a role in a person’s risk for<a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/"> Parkinson’s disease</a>. More than 70 percent of those asked were unaware that a person’s genetics can impact how likely it is for them to have a stronger or weaker reaction to<a href="https://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm624753.htm"> different medications</a>.
While the survey found gaps in genetic literacy, it also showed a continued interest in leveraging genetic information to learn more about their own health. A majority of those surveyed, 62 percent, also said that information could help them make lifestyle changes to improve their health. And 66 percent said they would be interested in learning about genetic variants that they could pass on to their children that could increase the risk for certain diseases.
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All in all the survey indicates that people’s interest in DNA testing remains strong, and it is not driven by just one thing, but a desire to learn not only about potential health risks, or their ancestral heritage, but also a willingness to contribute to important research that might help others. And no matter their motivation, the vast majority of Americans, 85 percent, said that they have a right to access their genetic information with an at-home genetic test directly.
*23andMe DNA Survey, conducted in April 2019. The online survey included 1,500 nationally representative Americans who were 18 years old or older. The margin of error is +/- 3 percent.

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

People Want to Know About Potential Health Risks

Recorded in front of a live audience at this year’s<a href="https://schedule.sxsw.com/2019/events/PP102121"> SXSW conference</a> in Austin, the latest<a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-spit-29676456/"> episode of Spit</a>, an iHeartRadio podcast with 23andMe tackles one of our most significant public health challenges of our day — preventing millions of Americans from developing <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/health-predispositions/type-2-diabetes/">type 2 diabetes</a>.
Hosted by writer, comedian and cultural critic,<a href="http://baratunde.com/"> Baratunde Thurston</a>, this episode kicks off the second season of<a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-spit-29676456/"> Spit</a>, iHeartRadio’s podcast with 23andMe. Baratunde brought together an eclectic panel that included not just Tracey D. Brown, the CEO of the American Diabetes Associations (ADA), but also country music star<a href="https://timmcgraw.com/"> Tim McGraw</a>, who has an inspiring personal health and fitness story. And rounding out the panel was<a href="https://www.lark.com/about"> Julia Hu</a>, the CEO of Lark Health, where scientists and engineers have created a new digital coaching app to help consumers meet their diet and exercise goals.
<div id="attachment_27024" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27024" class="size-large wp-image-27024" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-1024x746.jpg" alt="" width="1024" height="746" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-1024x746.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-300x219.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-768x559.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-880x641.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960-1180x859.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4960.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />From left Julia Hu, CEO of Lark Health, Tracey D. Brown, CEO of the American Diabetes Association, Tim McGraw, country singer and fitness advocate, and the Spit podcast host Baratunde Thurston at SXSW in Austin.</div>
The first step at prevention is merely raising awareness, said Brown, who took over as CEO of the American Diabetes Association in 2018 after serving as senior vice president of operations and chief experience officer at Sam’s Club.
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There are huge human and economic costs to diabetes, “yet the sense of urgency (in the public) isn’t there yet,” Brown said.
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<div id="attachment_27021" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27021" class="wp-image-27021 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-587x880.jpg 587w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975-787x1180.jpg 787w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4975.jpg 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Tracey D. Brown, CEO of the American Diabetes Association</div>
Along with alerting people to this looming health crisis, people also must become aware of their own likelihood of developing diabetes. You have to “know your numbers,” Brown said. Adding that a simple glucose level blood test could alert the many people who are prediabetic, but don’t know it yet.
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Brown uses herself as an example of the perils of ignoring factors that might increase one’s likelihood of developing <a href="https://www.23andme.com/topics/health-predispositions/type-2-diabetes/">type 2 diabetes</a>. She developed gestational diabetes while pregnant with her daughter, and it later moved on to diabetes.
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“I should have taken (it) seriously then, but I didn’t,” she said.
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What really motivated Brown to change was her daughter, who had once asked: “Mommy are you going to die of diabetes?”
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It’s what helped push Brown to make the lifestyle changes that have slowly weaned her off daily insulin injections. But it’s never easy, she said.
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<div id="attachment_27022" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27022" class="wp-image-27022 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4952.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Baratunde and McGraw before the panel discussion.</div>
As in Brown’s case, it was one of Tim McGraw’s daughters who pushed him to get healthy. Watching a preview of a film he was in, his daughter reacted to seeing him looking overweight on screen.
&#8220;My oldest daughter said, &#8216;Geez, Dad. You really need to do something,'&#8221; he said. &#8220;And the next day, I was in the gym.&#8221;
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His daughter’s unfiltered comments brought home for him how his late nights, drinking and bad habits were impacting his health. He wanted to change that.
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“I wanted to be healthy,” McGraw said. “I wanted to stick around.”
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The son of a professional baseball player, and an athlete in his youth, McGraw got serious about fitness about ten years ago. His philosophy was to “just do something physical every day,” he said.
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McGraw is working on a book about his transformation to be called Grit &amp; Grace: Train the Mind, Train the Body, Own Your Life. He also recently launched<a href="https://trumavfitness.com/"> TruMav Fitness</a>, a health and fitness brand. And he noted that beyond helping yourself, taking steps to get healthy is likely going to motivate someone else.
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“If you do something positive I guarantee somebody else is following along, and doing something positive as well, whether you know it or not,” he said. “It can make an exponential change by setting an example like this.”
<div id="attachment_27020" style="width: 210px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27020" class="wp-image-27020 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-200x300.jpg" alt="" width="200" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-200x300.jpg 200w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-683x1024.jpg 683w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-587x880.jpg 587w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980-787x1180.jpg 787w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/THEANTMAN-SPITPODCAST-4980.jpg 800w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px" />Julia Hu, CEO of Lark Health</div>
Finding the motivation to make that kind of change though is often the biggest challenge, said Julia Hu, the CEO of Lark. And that’s where the company’s<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/health-traits/your-digital-health-coach-is-here/"> digital health coach</a> comes in. Earlier this year Lark teamed up with 23andMe to provide customers the opportunity to integrate their genetic results into their digital coaching programs to help offer personalized diet and exercise suggestions and spur people toward their health goals. Lark offers a CDC-recognized diabetes prevention program that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) and the ubiquitous of smart phones to give users virtual coaching. That kind of consistent advice can go a long way in helping people achieve their goals, Hu said.
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“Losing just five percent of body weight can cut the (likelihood) of diabetes in half,” she said. “Small changes can make a big difference.”
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You can listen to the latest episode on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/conversation-around-one-major-challenges-to-human-health/id1422827494?i=1000433580830&amp;mt=2">iTunes</a> or <a href="https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-spit-29676456/episode/a-conversation-around-one-of-the-30747322/">iHeartRadio</a>.
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To find out more about type 2 diabetes and diabetes prevention go to the<a href="https://diabetes.org/about-diabetes/type-2"> American Diabetes Association</a>, or the<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/type2.html"> Centers for Disease Control and Prevention</a>.
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Spit Podcast Takes on Type 2 Diabetes

By Brittany Natale
<div id="attachment_27015" style="width: 289px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27015" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Dad-Cindy-Mindy-e1555520280386-279x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27015 size-medium" width="279" height="300" />Cindy, Marvin and Mindy.</div>
A genetic journey can be both exhilarating and rewarding. You may uncover once unknown relatives, rich with stories that add more color to your family history. But you may not expect that delving deeper into your DNA could also help to reunite childhood friends. Yet for two middle-aged women, their DNA exploration not only connected them with new family, but also helped them connect two old friends. 
Cindy and Mindy live in separate states hundreds of miles apart and were drawn to <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/">23andMe</a> for different reasons. However, they quickly learned they had much more in common then they’d ever expected – Cindy and Mindy discovered that they are half-sisters.
“Mindy had only been on 23andMe for one month and I for two months when this all took place,” said Cindy, “It was surely meant to be.” 
<h6>A Day Like Any Other </h6>
Cindy, who lives in Sandborn, Indiana, kept hitting brick walls while searching for information about her father, John. He had divorced her mother when Cindy was just a child, and died young. She wanted to learn a bit more about him.
When she turned to DNA testing, Cindy discovered something that was at first puzzling. Although she had grown up thinking John was in fact her birth father, his family DNA matched with her older sister’s but not her own. Curious and determined to find out why, she used <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/#toc-family">23andMe&#8217;s DNA Relatives</a> tool to help solve this family mystery. What she discovered, however, was something she was not expecting. 
“I forgot about [23andMe] for a month or so, then I got back on and realized that I had the settings set on private,” shares Cindy, “I changed my settings to public and within hours I got a match that read, ‘this person is your half sister’. I was shocked”.
That person was Mindy, who lives more than 700 miles away in Norfolk, Virginia. And around the same time Cindy made her jaw-dropping discovery, Mindy was also getting the surprise of her life. 
“My son and I had been on the site for only a month,” says Mindy, “One Friday I came into work and turned on my computer and saw that I got a message on 23andMe [from Cindy] that read, ‘Imagine my surprise when I got a message from 23andMe that said that you are my half sister’. I must have responded to her email immediately.” 
<h6>The Story</h6>
It took a little while to figure out how these two strangers were in fact sisters.
Excitedly conversing via email, the two traded details on their family. They each also talked separately with family members, and together they were able to sketch out the story.
It turns out Cindy’s mother, Charlotte, had briefly dated a man named Marvin, Mindy’s father. 
The two got together while Charlotte was separated from her husband John. But after the ever so brief affair ended, Charlotte got back together with John. Soon after she found out she was pregnant with Cindy, her third child. They always just assumed Cindy was John’s daughter. 
The couple stayed together another five years, before ultimately divorcing. Cindy said she never knew whether her mother had any inkling that she might not be John’s child. 
Charlotte eventually remarried, and moved with her family out of state from Michigan to Indiana. In 1963, not long after the divorce John passed away – he was just 30. Cindy doesn’t know if he ever suspected that she wasn’t his child. However, a letter sent by John’s mother that Cindy found later in life hints that his family may have had their suspicions.
More than 50 years later, in her quest to learn more about her father, Cindy discovered that her birth father was alive and well and living in Florida. After connecting with Mindy, she connected with her birth father, Marvin, and they were able to use 23andMe to confirm that she indeed was his daughter. 
However, the story does not end here.
<h6>Way Back When</h6>
Cindy and Mindy’s story is wonderful and special in many ways, but it has one more twist that takes it to another level.
<div id="attachment_27014" style="width: 304px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27014" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG_4628-294x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27014 size-medium" width="294" height="300" />Marvin, on the left, and Ralph &#8220;Corky.&#8221;</div>
Remember Cindy’s mom, Charlotte, who remarried after divorcing John? Her second husband, Ralph, also adopted her children, Cindy included. The twist in this story is that Ralph was once close friends with Marvin. Or to put this another way, Ralph had unknowingly raised the child of one of his closest friends from his youth: Marvin, a guy he affectionately nicknamed, Corky. 
This was way back in the early 1950’s, when Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, and Patti Page dominated the radio airwaves. As the country began revving up to fight in the Korean War, Ralph and Marvin, two close childhood friends, decided to enlist in the U.S. Air Force. 
“I went into service in late 1949,” said Ralph, “and Corky came into the service a couple of months after I did.” 
Even though they enlisted a few months apart, they lucked out and ended up serving together.
“Instead of going to Korea, I got sent to McGhee-Tyson Radar Unit in Tennessee, and Ralph was there,” Marvin said. “I walked into the hotel, it was the Fort Crane Hotel, and I said, ‘Do you have a Ralph Boyer here?’ and they said ‘Yes’, so I went knocking on his door and he couldn’t believe it. He just looked at me and said, ‘What are you doing here!?’” 
The two, who were friends since grade school in Michigan, were tasked with guarding a site where atomic bombs were made. When they both got out of the service the two young men, still just in their early 20s, remained close friends. 
“When we got out of the service we double dated for awhile,” said Marvin, “I guess that is the genesis of when this whole thing started.” 
Marvin dated Cindy’s mother, Charlotte, while Ralph dated one of her girlfriends. 
“We were really close,” said Ralph, “He was my best buddy, so that’s the way it was.” 
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
What&#8217;s Your Story?

Like our DNA, our stories connect us. They can also inspire, entertain and empower us. Thousands of 23andMe customers have already shared their stories with us. We hope you will choose to share yours.
Whether it’s about finding a long-lost relative, gaining insights into your health, or simply recounting the fun you’ve had while exploring your DNA, we want to hear your story. We may even want to feature it on our website or in a television commercial.
You can see some of our favorite customer stories <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.
<a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/#form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tell us your story!</a>
</div>
However, as the 1960’s came to a close, the two fell out of touch, and it was Ralph who eventually married Charlotte. They moved out of state to Indiana. Marvin wed another one of their childhood friends and started a family of his own, three sons and a daughter, in Michigan. Ralph was even the best man at Marvin’s wedding. 
“I hadn’t been in touch with Corky since 1970,” said Ralph, “so it had been many years since I had seen or even heard from him”. 
<h6>Reuniting and Connecting</h6>
After Mindy and Cindy connected, they wanted to make sure that Ralph and Marvin also got the opportunity to reconnect.
When the group finally got together for the first time this past January in Florida, the place where Marvin and his wife now call home, they clicked instantly. Old stories and memories were recalled, each person finding out more about each other and making up for lost time: Mindy and Cindy spoke of the uncanny coincidences they share, such as how they have rhyming names, and both have a granddaughter named Violet. While the two sisters finally got to speak in person and cultivate their kindred connection, Ralph and Marvin reminisced about their childhood and time in the service. They even recreated the photos they took some 50 years ago while stationed at their military base. 
Each had a memorable experience – a friendship was reunited after nearly half a century, and two siblings were brought together after a lifetime apart. 
“The odds against all of this happening are astronomical,” said Cindy, “ I survived cancer. I happened to get on 23andMe. Marvin will be 87 in April, my dad [Ralph] is already 87. That they are even alive to tell this story, and complete this story, is amazing”. 
Mindy, Cindy, and their fathers all stay in touch and talk often. This summer, they are planning to reconvene at a larger family reunion down in Asheville , North Carolina. It will be here that Cindy will finally get to meet her extended relatives and learn more about the family that, until recently, she never knew she had. 
“It is strange how it all worked out,” said Marvin, “but my daughter, Mindy, has always said she wanted a sister, so now she finally has one!” 
<hr />
Brittany Natale is a freelance writer living in New York City. Her work has appeared in publications such as i-D, Teen Vogue, The Village Voice, Nylon, Domino, L&#8217;Officiel, and AnOther.
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Mindy and Cindy’s 23andMe Story

Guillaume’s dad once referred to him in a poem as “my son of three fathers,” but he should have written: “My son of three fathers and three mothers.”
<div id="attachment_26997" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26997" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier-300x214.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26997" width="300" height="214" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier-300x214.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Bordier.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume Bordier</div>
His parents adopted him during the final years of the war in Vietnam. After they divorced, he added a stepdad and stepmom to his family. But Guillaume also had an unknown third father and mother. All he knew was that his birth father was likely an African American serviceman, and his birth mom was Vietnamese.
Raised in France, Guillaume was the only dark-skinned boy in his school. He went on to become a virtuoso ballet dancer and choreographer but always wrestled with his identity and a desire to know more about his origins.
“Because of my physical characteristics, I knew that I was part Vietnamese and part African-American,” Guillaume said. “But I knew nothing else.”
<h6>Searching</h6>
Although Guillaume’s father once said, his son’s “eyes reflect the light of every corner of the world,” Guillaume did not feel connected in that way.
“I always wondered who I was, and what my real origins were,” he said. “And as an adopted child, no matter what we say, we are always looking for our roots.”
Opening up his 23andMe Ancestry Composition results for the first time, with it’s mosaic of colors representing the global regions from which his DNA originated, gave Guillaume another tangible representation of who he was and where he was from. And it opened up a door into the mysteries of his origins.
His arresting story of discovery, documented in a film directed by Jésus Castro-Ortega called &#8220;<a href="http://www.andanafilms.com/catalogueFiche.php?idFiche=1254&#038;rub=Nouveaut%C3%A9">In Balance</a>,&#8221; was first shown last summer on French National television. An English-subtitled version, distributed by Andana Films in the US, is now streaming on Amazon Prime and<a href="https://link.tubi.tv/0oiLXvgRMV"> Tubi</a>.
The opening scenes of the film include Guillaume seeing his 23andMe results for the first time.
“It changed the course of my life,” he said.
<h6>The Wolf Cub</h6>
The French couple who’d adopted Guillaume Bordier worried that he might not survive.
<div id="attachment_26998" style="width: 232px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26998" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage-222x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26998" width="222" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage-222x300.png 222w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-at-Orphanage.png 379w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 222px) 100vw, 222px" />Photo of Guillaume at a Vietnamese orphanage before his adoption.</div>
Malnourished, the 14-month-old weighed just 14 pounds and was in wretched physical condition. Sickly and slight for his age, his mother nursed him back to health. The young Guillaume was like an “abandoned wolf cub,” she once said.
At first, Guillaume, who would go on to become a powerful, and graceful ballet dancer, struggled just to walk. He didn’t take his first steps until he was two-and-a-half. Beyond those physical obstacles, Guillaume had to overcome the challenges put in front of him due to the color of his skin.
“Ballet dancing was, in France at that time, a solely white universe,” he said.
Yet dance was everything to him.
“I could have been someone who is violent,” Guillaume said. “But dance saved me. It was my therapy for every situation.”
His father at one point forbade him from dancing saying ballet is “not for boys.” So Guillaume would draw elaborate storyboards of the dances he had already memorized, complete with the positioning of every dancer, their names, and, of course, his role in the production.
That early obsession became his profession as Guillaume went on to dance in New York and Paris. Over time he added choreographer to his job title. But in the last few years, as Guillaume neared 50, the questions around his origins became more persistent. He often thought of where he’d come from, about the war, and what it must have been like for his birth mother to give him up.
<div id="attachment_26999" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26999" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-300x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26999" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-300x300.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-150x150.png 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-271x271.png 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother-372x372.png 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-and-His-Mother.png 449w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume and his mother in France.</div>
In dreams he imagined that moment and what she might have said as she left her baby:
“’You will grow up not knowing your mother and father,’” he imagined her saying to him. “’You will keep wondering if we’re dead or alive. My son I won’t be there but here is your life.’”
<h6>My Brother?</h6>
Both nervous and excited Guillaume and his partner, Francois, sat down one night in 2016 to look at his 23andMe results for the first time. Anxious he didn’t know what to expect.
“Ever since I learned you could use DNA testing to find your origins I’ve wanted to do it,” Guillaume said.
His first reaction to the results was awe. 
“Incredible,” he said when he saw the colorful wheel representing the regions to which his DNA connected him.
<div id="attachment_27000" style="width: 302px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27000" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC-292x300.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27000" width="292" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC-292x300.png 292w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaumes-AC.png 394w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 292px) 100vw, 292px" />Guillaume&#8217;s Ancestry Composition includes the rich mix of his African American and Vietnamese roots.</div>
Guillaume saw the large chunk of West Africa ancestry he inherited from his African American birth father, who also passed on to him a small but significant amount of European ancestry. He was surprised to learn that along with his Vietnamese ancestry from his birth mother he inherited a large amount of Chinese and Chinese Dai ancestry. The African and European half of his ancestry came from his father, and the Vietnamese and Chinese came from his mother.
“So I’m half American,” he said at one point after absorbing it all.
But it was when he looked at his <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry/">DNA Relatives</a> that he stopped short. At the top was a connection to a man he’d never met but with whom he shares about a quarter of his DNA.
“My brother,” he said and then corrected himself. “My half brother. This is so intense…Can you imagine?”
<h6>Back Into the Matrix</h6>
Guillaume marveled at the odds of finding his brother, Joe.
<div style="float: right; text-align: justified; width: 300px; background-color: #eee; padding: 15px; margin-left: 10px;">
What&#8217;s Your Story?

Like our DNA, our stories connect us. They can also inspire, entertain and empower us. Thousands of 23andMe customers have already shared their stories with us. We hope you will choose to share yours.
Whether it’s about finding a long-lost relative, gaining insights into your health, or simply recounting the fun you’ve had while exploring your DNA, we want to hear your story. We may even want to feature it on our website or in a television commercial.
You can see some of our favorite customer stories <a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">here</a>.
<a href="https://www.23andme.com/stories/#form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tell us your story!</a>
</div>
Joe was also born in Vietnam, but almost four years after Guillaume. He’d also been given up after birth, but in his case, he’d been raised by an elderly woman in his village. When he turned 18, he was able to come to the United States.
Guillaume and Joe finally connected via email and then talked on the phone. Joe, who now lives in Tennessee with his family, was able to tell Guillaume that he has at least seven siblings who are all from the same mother. 
Most striking of all for Guillaume was that their mother was still alive, and had fled Vietnam to live in the United States. Joe could in turn introduce Guillaume to their mother, as well as a half-sister who both live in New Orleans.
Not long after that, he connected with her for the first time in an emotional video chat. At one point he broke down crying trying to explain to her what he is feeling.
“Mom, mom,” he said. “I’ve been searching for you all my life mom.”
A few months later, Guillaume comes to the US for a visit and drives with Joe to visit with their mother. In the days leading up the meeting, Guillaume felt he was living in an altered reality. He couldn’t sleep; he couldn’t help but go back over his life, thinking about everything, almost reviewing his existence in rewind.
“I’m starting over, going back into the matrix,” he said.
<h6>Like a Hurricane</h6>
Nothing is completely clear — the sequence of events, the names, and places — but sitting with his birth mother after their first emotional meeting Guillaume begins to get the first sketchy details of his origins. She spoke in broken English and sometimes in Vietnamese that was translated by her daughter, and Guillaume’s half-sister, Phung.
Their mother worked in the laundry near Camp Tien Sha, a Naval base in Danang that housed a battalion of Marines. Guillaume’s father was a young Marine.
<div id="attachment_27001" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27001" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-300x284.png" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-27001" width="300" height="284" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-300x284.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-768x726.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-1024x968.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-880x832.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom-1180x1116.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-Birth-Mom.png 1438w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Guillaume and his birth mother after meeting for the first time.</div>
They had started as friends but soon turned into something more. They were together for a few months in 1968 and 1969, she said.
“He looked like you,” she told Guillaume, adding that his skin was lighter like his, and that, “everybody loved him.”
Sometimes he would stay with her, she told him. Sometimes he’d be gone on missions for many days or weeks, and she would not see him. Then one day she was told he died in combat. She was devastated. She soon discovered she was pregnant.
Some of those details were comforting to hear, but Guillaume also had so many more questions.
What was his name? She wasn’t sure, John or James perhaps. She didn’t know his rank or his age. She wasn’t sure the date of his death or where.
She told Guillaume that after she’d heard the news, she became distraught and later became ill. When Guillaume was born both she and the new baby were sick, and they both began losing weight, she told him. At some point, she left him with a family that she trusted to care for him so that she could work in Saigon. When she returned they were gone, and unbeknownst to her had taken Guillaume to an orphanage.
That detail was important for Guillaume because he believed it meant she’d never abandoned him. She’d told him that she’d gone back and searched for him. She’d bike the countryside looking. His sister, Phung said that their mother never stopped thinking about him.
“You have to understand that Vietnamese people cherish boys,” she said.
Their mother had never stopped praying that she’d find him, and then like a miracle, he finds her.
It’s all a bit overwhelming and unbelievable. Guillaume didn&#8217;t just find his mother, but seven siblings.
“It’s like a hurricane in the brain,” he said. “An emotional (hurricane) Katrina. I didn’t expect that.”
<h6>I Think I Am Your Son</h6>
You can’t answer five decades of questions in one week, Guillaume said.
When he returned to France Guillaume shared photos of his trip with his adopted mother.
His mom immediately felt sympathy toward the woman who gave him up so long ago.
“This must have reminded her of a lot of things she wanted to forget,” Guillaume’s mother told him. “She must have thought you were dead. Can you imagine? She is very strong.”
But as the weeks and months went on after his visit, more questions emerged. Was his father really dead?
<div id="attachment_27004" style="width: 224px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-27004" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-214x300.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-27004 size-medium" width="214" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-214x300.jpg 214w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-768x1076.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-731x1024.jpg 731w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-628x880.jpg 628w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-843x1180.jpg 843w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Guillaume-3-scaled.jpg 1828w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px" />Guillaume is still search, trying to find the identity of his birth father.</div>
“I can’t be certain,” he said. 
Months after his visit he found another half-sister living in Texas, but closer to him in age. They met in person in the summer of 2018.
Guillaume found a few second and third cousins on his birth father’s side, but so far no insights into his birth father’s name or whether he died in Vietnam or not. He found the name of a young African American Marine, James Albert Sanders, who’d been killed in combat in May of 1969, and left a note on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund “Wall of Faces.”
“Maybe you are my father,” Guillaume wrote. “If you are my father, I want you to know that I always looked for you. If you are my father, let me tell you that I am very, very proud to be your son … I became not a soldier but a soloist ballet dancer &#8230; If you are my father, let me tell you that I miss you so much and I love you with all my heart.”
&nbsp;

Guillaume’s Search

By Tony Garrett, 23andMe customer and research participant
What if something inside you, something in your DNA, could lead to a cure, would you share it? Would you share it even if it didn’t help you personally?<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-26990" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/tony3.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
I’m a 40-year-old father of a teenage girl, and this question isn’t a rhetorical one for me. I’ve been<a href="https://www.facebook.com/TGarrettsjourney/?__tn__=kCH-R&#038;eid=ARBqRHv7yt_UH_sT_441d7bX8DDWkPiVBN2x-yOHNwJmA_7E2jOSfQUasc0VDrBS6P1dzg3Tn8aLTTqu&#038;hc_ref=ARTBXtmIVCHjB-3dUkfvP-FK1A_wIz133xA-VzHU_dSc4KPxtvspV15VtSjaOOJX9yk&#038;fref=nf&#038;__xts__[0]=68.ARDjr_zK3QslhTDu2kgxHr4DjjiyjsafrJGjjywzBbXqrz3YRB16qmF_Q-InNzw3uZo6dYM_ISpM5Camrt64jcZ7LcTZ-PUnlgx-oI1z3eEItPSB_4S8aUHRbBStcAnWyJ9IMCicsyOpFXjzweTsbwx75Yquz0WEd3CozZRZMoGYSsutnbHAUwhGe3IzT7UFhnzicn1dQYDlyVCz504j_lNhKwsvQ8uI8hecZMqfOPw6HemaBSB5uehHeUAjF9ulHDD0pX-gDn6WCm_ilyaAPfZjG5Vc1ifKcnF8d4mxu4FurVBuGI3bcXSXmgJKKICaXGRNYLgCw69BG5fl2yyXgQ"> living with Parkinson’s disease</a> for a decade now. I want to know.
I have to tell you I’m biased. I would gladly share my information. I would die happy if I knew that knowledge gleaned from my DNA might have helped in the development of a treatment or cure. Even if it didn’t help me.
<h6>You Can Help</h6>
Something in you, in your DNA, when studied together with data from millions of others, could help me. Isn’t that a profound idea?
What is much more likely is that that information could help future generations facing a diagnosis like mine. That’s why five years ago I didn’t hesitate to opt into having researchers at 23andMe use my data. The company was<a href="https://www.23andme.com/pd/"> upfront</a>. They let me know they were working with researchers at<a href="https://foxinsight.michaeljfox.org/"> The Michael J. Fox Foundation</a> and also at pharmaceutical companies that may use my anonymous data for the study of Parkinson’s and other diseases, in the search for new treatments.
But I know that not everyone is so eager to be part of research like this. I understand that, and I’ve heard a lot from those who choose not to opt-in and all the reasons why. But I want to share with you what I see as the positive side of participating in research.
We live in a new world where data, big data from millions of people like you and me, could lead to new breakthroughs that save people’s lives. This new method of research is revolutionary. It has the potential of accelerating treatments and cures for conditions like Parkinson’s, and to do that much faster than before. For those of us with Parkinson’s that means something.
<h6>Living with PD</h6>
So what about me?
Many people know about Parkinson’s because of Michael J. Fox and Muhammad Ali, and the heroic work they’ve done to raise awareness about this condition. But, like me, most of the almost one million people living with Parkinson’s in the United States are not in the limelight. Our daily battles with this disease are largely unseen.
My life is simple.
<div id="attachment_26991" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-26991" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-300x300.jpg" alt="" class="size-medium wp-image-26991" width="300" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-300x300.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-150x150.jpg 150w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-768x768.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-880x880.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-271x271.jpg 271w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-372x372.jpg 372w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2-574x574.jpg 574w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Tony2.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />Tony with his daughter Breanna.</div>
I was born and raised in a working-class part of Illinois where I still live. I played high school sports — football, basketball, and track. When I graduated, I went to work. I did maintenance with the local school district, but in my early 20s I noticed my hand was giving me trouble, and my pinky would shake. My doctor sent me to see a neurologist, but at the clinic, they told me they’d need me there for two weeks of tests. I couldn’t take that kind of time off work. It would be several years before I was ultimately diagnosed, at 31, with young onset Parkinson’s disease.
By then I was having more than just grip problems. I had leg cramps, slurred speech, and some mornings it was so hard to move. It felt as if I was encased in concrete. My doctor said I was the youngest patient he’d ever seen with the disease. I guess that makes me special.
<h6>What I Want</h6>
I tell you this not so that you will feel sorry for me. I don’t want pity. I want you to understand what it is like to live with a condition like Parkinson’s. It’s a daily struggle. It involves both physical and psychological pain, wrangling for the right treatment, finding a medicine that doesn’t cause you even more problems, and fighting off depression. And as with any incurable condition, you must come to terms with where this is all going. Where it ends.
But I’m OK. My diagnosis brought me closer to my God. It has distilled what is essential in my life — my daughter, and my family. It helped me focus on the joy, and satisfaction I get in helping others. And I’ve learned to appreciate the simple joys of a walk outside and the morning sun. But I wouldn’t wish this disease on anyone. I will do whatever I can to help find a cure.
This gets me to you, and the question I asked in the beginning:
What would you do if information inside your DNA, could help cure Parkinson’s or any number of other conditions? Would you share it?
Tony Garrett is a retired maintenance worker who now works to raise awareness about Parkinson’s disease. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.
&nbsp;

Participating in 23andMe Research, A Customer’s Perspective

Today, 23andMe added a new report on TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis, a genetic, multi-system disease.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-26987 size-medium" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-300x200.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="200" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-300x200.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-768x512.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-880x587.jpg 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Smiling-Granddad-and-Grandson-1180x787.jpg 1180w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
<h2>What is TTR-Related Amyloidosis?</h2>
This new <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-ancestry">Genetic Health Risk report</a> looks at three of the most common genetic variants associated with TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis. This little-known and underdiagnosed genetic condition is caused by the buildup of a protein called<a href="https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/TTR"> transthyretin</a> (TTR) in the body’s tissues and organs. This protein buildup can damage the nerves, heart, and other body parts. Symptoms vary widely, but can include cardiomyopathy, peripheral neuropathy and autonomic neuropathy. Because symptoms of TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis can vary widely, it is often misdiagnosed.<a id="a1" href="#f1">[1]</a>  
23andMe’s new report gives customers an opportunity to learn about their potential risk for TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis so that they can take action by speaking to their doctor to learn more about their risk and discuss appropriate next steps, which may include diagnostic testing.
<h2>Alnylam Collaboration</h2>
Based on a shared commitment to disease awareness of TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals supported the publication of this report in part. Alnylam has worked with TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis patients for years and has a deep understanding of how the condition can impact individuals and their families. As such, the company’s scientific and medical teams provided input on information related to the condition, including its symptoms and how it manifests in the patient community. 
To further the goal of awareness and early detection, 23andMe will also be running an awareness program in collaboration with Alnylam to provide 23andMe Health + Ancestry Service kits to first-degree relatives—parents, full siblings, and adult children—of any 23andMe customer with an identified TTR variant. Hopefully, this effort will increase awareness and lead to earlier diagnosis of this condition. The program will be launched later this year.
<h2>Report Details</h2>
The new report looks at three of the most common TTR variants that account for an estimated 50-to-80 percent of TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis cases.<a id="a2" href="#f2">[2]</a>
The report does not test for all possible variants linked to TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis. Customers who do not have one of the variants 23andMe tests for could still have a variant not covered in the report.
The three variants in this report—V122I, V30M, and T60A—each occur at different frequencies among people of different ethnicities.
<h2>Facts to Keep in Mind</h2>
However, it’s important to remember that not everyone who inherits one of these variants will necessarily develop symptoms.
<ul>
<li>The V122I variant is most common in African Americans and people of West African descent. Most people with this variant have some amount of TTR protein buildup in the heart after age 60, but not all will end up with heart damage. Approximately 10 percent of African Americans over the age of 60 with congestive heart failure likely carry this variant.<a id="a3" href="#f3">[3]</a></li>
<li>The V30M variant is most common among people of Portuguese, Northern Swedish, and Japanese descent but carries different risks for each ethnicity. About 50 percent of people of Northern Swedish descent with this variant develop TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis by the age of 80, with symptoms often appearing after the age of 60. By comparison, about 90 percent of people of Portuguese descent with the V30M variant develop the condition by age 80, with symptoms appearing as early as 20-30 years of age. People of Japanese descent with the V30M variant can develop symptoms as early as their 20s or as late as their 90s, depending on family history.<a id="a4" href="#f4">[4]</a> <a id="a5" href="#f5">[5]</a></li>
<li>The T60A variant is most common in people of Irish descent. It is also found in people of British descent. People with this variant typically develop symptoms between 45 and 80 years old. Lifetime risk estimates are not available for people with this variant.<a id="a6" href="#f6">[6]</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>Prevalence and Treatment</h2>
While the condition is little known and underdiagnosed, the frequency of TTR variants among certain ethnicities is relatively significant.
Estimates suggest that 1 in 28 African Americans, 1 in 67 people from Northern Sweden, 1 in 90 people from Northwest Ireland, and 1 in 625 people of Portuguese descent have one of the three variants included in 23andMe’s new report. However, there are no current estimates on how many of those with one of the three variants will go on to develop TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis.
This report, like 23andMe’s other Genetic Health Risk reports, aims to give customers an opportunity to learn of a potential health risk so that they can work with their health care provider on the best options for mitigating and managing that risk.
Treatments for TTR-related hereditary amyloidosis include the use of medications or surgical intervention to address the symptoms. Recently approved medications are now being used to decrease the production of the TTR protein. In addition, because the liver produces most of the TTR protein, some patients have benefited from liver transplants. Additional research on developing new treatment options is also currently underway.
23andMe Health + Ancestry Service customers who are on the most recent genotyping platforms can find this new report in the Health Predisposition section of their account. Not yet a customer? You can find out more about 23andMe’s Health + Ancestry Service<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/"> here</a>.
<h2>Footnotes</h2>
<footer class="footnotes"><a id="f1" href="#a1">[1]</a>Sekijima Y et al. (2001). &#8220;Familial Transthyretin Amyloidosis.&#8221; [Updated 2018 Dec 20].</footer><footer class="footnotes"><a id="f2" href="#a2">[2] </a>Gertz MA et al. (2015). &#8220;Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Therapy of Transthyretin Amyloidosis.&#8221; J Am Coll Cardiol. 66(21):2451-2466.</footer><footer class="footnotes"><a id="f3" href="#a3">[3] </a>Buxbaum JN et al. (2017). &#8220;Transthyretin V122I (pV142I)* cardiac amyloidosis: an age-dependent autosomal dominant cardiomyopathy too common to be overlooked as a cause of significant heart disease in elderly African Americans.&#8221; Genet Med. 19(7):733-742.</footer><footer class="footnotes"><a id="f4" href="#a4">[4]</a> Holmgren G et al. (1994). “Geographical distribution of TTR met30 carriers in northern Sweden: discrepancy between carrier frequency and prevalence rate.” J Med Genet. 31(5):351-4.</footer><footer class="footnotes"><a id="f5" href="#a5">[5] </a>Planté-Bordeneuve V et al. (2003). &#8220;Genetic study of transthyretin amyloid neuropathies: carrier risks among French and Portuguese families.&#8221; J Med Genet. 40(11):e120.</footer><footer class="footnotes"><a id="f6" href="#a6">[6] </a>Reilly MM et al. (1995). “Familial amyloid polyneuropathy (TTR ala 60) in north west Ireland: a clinical, genetic, and epidemiological study.” J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 59(1):45-9.</footer>


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Report Brings to Light Underdiagnosed Condition

You have a good head on your shoulders, but your genetics might be influencing whether or not you also have a little dandruff there.
<h2>Combing Through The Genetics</h2>
While we can’t brush it off for you, 23andMe scientists have identified genetic variants associated with dandruff.
As part of 23andMe’s regular cadence of releasing new<a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/#toc-traits"> trait reports</a>, 23andMe now offers a report on a customer’s genetic predisposition toward having dandruff.
The new report analyzes a customer’s genetic data for 487 variants associated with dandruff, takes into account a customer&#8217;s age, sex, and ancestry, and reports back whether that customer is more or less likely to have dandruff.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-26975 aligncenter" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-1024x536.png" alt="" width="1024" height="536" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-880x461.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff-1180x618.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Dandruff.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
<h2>Not Just Your Genetics</h2>
Your genetics, of course, is just part of the picture. Your environment and lifestyle also influence the flaking of the skin on your scalp. And the root of the problem, or at least one possible cause, maybe in the interaction between the microbes on your scalp and your skin cells.
For some of us, these microbes — and don’t freak out because we all have ‘em — may trigger an immune response that triggers skin cells to move more rapidly, causing skin cells to flake off and form dandruff. Scientists don’t yet know why some of us are more sensitive to these microbes than others, but they’ll continue combing the data to find out why.
This report and the more than two dozen other trait reports we offer within our  Health + Ancestry Service are meant to give customers a bit more insight into the fascinating world of genetics. They also add to the understanding of how your DNA and environment interact to help influence all the many things that are part of who you are.

23andMe’s New Dandruff Report

Pregnancy or rapid changes in weight can lead to stretch marks, but your genetics play a vital role in whether you see those lines across your skin.
<h2>The Genetics of Stretch Marks</h2>
23andMe scientists have identified 544 genetic variants associated with stretch marks.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-26976 size-large" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-1024x536.png" alt="An illustration with the words stretch marks" width="1024" height="536" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-1024x536.png 1024w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-300x157.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-768x402.png 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-880x461.png 880w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks-1180x618.png 1180w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/WS-Stretch-Marks.png 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />
As part of 23andMe’s regular cadence of releasing new <a href="https://www.23andme.com/dna-health-ancestry/#toc-traits">trait reports</a>, 23andMe now offers a report on a customer’s genetic predisposition toward having stretch marks, also known as striae distensae.
The new report analyzes a customer’s genetic data against those variants we have identified. It takes into account a customer&#8217;s age, sex, and ancestry and reports back whether that customer is more or less likely to have stretch marks.
<h2>Not Just Genetics</h2>
Some of us are more susceptible to stretch marks than others because of environment, age, and sex, but genetics also plays an important role.
Studies have shown that skin cells from people with stretch marks have lower amounts of specific proteins that are important for skin elasticity and repair. So when this skin is stretched rapidly from, say, pregnancy or weight loss or gain, the damage may be repaired, but it can also leave behind marks.
More than five years ago, 23andMe<a href="https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(15)36019-X/fulltext"> published</a> a first-of-its-kind study looking at the genetics behind stretch marks, identifying an association near the gene that encodes for the elastin protein.
The new Stretch Marks trait report and the now more than two-dozen other trait reports we offer within the Health + Ancestry Service are meant to give customers a bit more insight into genetics. They also add to the understanding of how your DNA and environment interact to help influence all the many things that are part of who you are.

23andMe’s New Report on Stretch Marks

As pranksters prowl for marks on April Fools Day, they might want to know how their punchline will land.



According to data from 23andMe, genetics plays a role in a person’s sense of humor and ability to get a joke. (Although we love a good gene pun and wordplay&nbsp; — &#8220;Mom&#8217;s genes&#8221; anyone? — we&#8217;ll spare you any gene puns this time around.)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-this-is-not-a-joke">This is not a joke</h2>



Indeed, like most traits, our sense of humor is influenced by genetics and environmental factors like upbringing, culture, and social circle.



This is evident in 23andMe’s data, which shows regional and gender differences. For example, women rated themselves as having a lower sense of humor and ability to get jokes.



This could have less to do with men having a better sense of humor and more with how women self-assess their humor. It could also reflect cultural norms that have even penalized funny women in the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/01/11/when-being-funny-can-hurt-women-work/?utm_term=.e9ab012c82e9">workplace</a> and perpetuated the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2014/feb/11/women-arent-funny-why-do-people-believe-this">“women aren’t funny”</a> myth.



23andMe also found that jokes land a little better in Illinois, home of Chicago’s humor mill <a href="https://www.secondcity.com/">Second City</a>, than in the barren plains of North Dakota. Another place where they love to laugh is Washington, D.C. No joke!



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-genetics-of-humor">The Genetics of Humor</h2>



But there are also interesting genetic components to one’s sense of humor.







There may be evolutionary advantages to having a funny bone, and studies have looked at the genetics of the propensity to show positive emotional expressions like <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26029940">laughing and smiling</a>, as well as the <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/sites/default/files/attachments/95822/humor-predicts-mating-success.pdf">ability to get a joke and ‘mating success.’</a>



For instance, humor helps establish social bonds. 23andMe researchers looking at data from customers who have consented to participate in research found interesting genetic associations with having a sense of humor that centers on brain development, cognitive function, and intelligence. One of the strongest associations we found for a person’s ability to get a joke was in a gene that is important for neurodevelopment and a significant player in autism.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-scientific-details">Scientific Details</h2>



So how did we do this?



We asked just over one million 23andMe customers who consented to participate in research the following questions:



<ul class="wp-block-list">
<li>On a scale of 1-5, how would you rate your sense of humor? Answers included 1 (Below Average), 2, 3 (Average), 4, 5 (Above Average)</li>



<li>How easy is it for you to get jokes? Answers included Very Easy, Somewhat Easy, Somewhat Hard, and Very Hard.</li>
</ul>



Before we delve into genetics, let’s look at demographics where we saw the starkest differences: among the sexes. (As a side note, about 70 percent of people assess themselves as being above average in having a sense of humor, and only 5 percent say they are below average. This could be that people don’t think of population averages but instead are just indicating if they have a “good” or “bad” sense of humor.) OK, back to demographics. Women were about half as likely to report a sense of humor (Figure 1, p-value &lt; 7.0e-05, OR=0.6) and about twice as likely to report difficulties getting a joke (Figure 2, p-value &lt; &nbsp;7.9e-09, OR=2.0).



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26969"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="199" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Bar-Chart-300x199.png" alt="A chart showing the distribution of responses comparing men and women and how they rate their sense of humor." class="wp-image-26969" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Bar-Chart-300x199.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Bar-Chart.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 1. Distribution of responses to the question by sex, “On a scale of 1-5, where 5 is above average, how would you rate your sense of humor?”</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26967"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="197" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/How-Easy-Get-Jokes-Bar-Chart-300x197.png" alt="A comparison between men and women looking at whether they easily get jokes." class="wp-image-26967" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/How-Easy-Get-Jokes-Bar-Chart-300x197.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/How-Easy-Get-Jokes-Bar-Chart.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 2. Distribution of responses to the question by sex, “How easy is it for you to get jokes?”</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-regional-differences">Regional Differences</h2>



We also found some tiny regional variations. People in the District of Columbia, New York, and California were the most likely to rate themselves as having a good sense of humor, while those in Puerto Rico, Mississippi, and North Dakota were the least likely (Figure 3).



The District of Columbia, Delaware, and Illinois participants were the most likely to &#8220;get a joke.&#8221;&nbsp; Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Maine participants were the least likely (Figure 4). While we did find that the differences between the highest-ranking and lowest-ranking states were statistically significant (sense of humor p-value = 2.215e-10; gets jokes p-value = 6.372e-12), the mean differences between states are not particularly large.



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26968"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="202" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Heat-Map-300x202.png" alt="" class="wp-image-26968" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Heat-Map-300x202.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sense-of-Humor-Heat-Map.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 3. Regional differences across the US for having a sense of humor.</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-medium wp-image-26970"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="206" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Heat-Map-Get-Jokes-300x206.png" alt="A heatmap showing the regional differences across the United States where where people are less likely to get a joke." class="wp-image-26970" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Heat-Map-Get-Jokes-300x206.png 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Heat-Map-Get-Jokes.png 512w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 4. Regional differences across the US for getting jokes.</figcaption></figure>



We ran two genome-wide association studies to investigate the underlying biology of having a sense of humor and getting jokes. The data was from unrelated people of European descent. We controlled for age, sex, genetic ancestry, and the version of the genotyping platform.



More than two dozen genetic variants reached genome-wide significance. Those are indicated in red in Figure 5 for a sense of humor. And in Figure 6 for getting jokes. Red dots show genetic variants that are “statistically significantly” associated with the trait being investigated. In this case, having a sense of humor and getting jokes. That means they’re more likely to be real associations (as opposed to random noise).



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-26972"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="256" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Sense-of-Humor.png" alt="A Manhattan plot showing genetic associations and genes that are strongly associated with a person's sense of humor. FOXP3 was the gene with the strongest association." class="wp-image-26972" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Sense-of-Humor.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Sense-of-Humor-300x150.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 5. Genome-wide association study Manhattan plot for “On a scale of 1-5, where 5 is above average, how would you rate your sense of humor?” n=466,828. A Manhattan plot shows the strong associations between a particular trait and different genetic variants (represented by dots). This model treated the responses as linear. It is adjusted for age, sex, genotyping platform, and the top five principal components of genetic ancestry.</figcaption></figure>



<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-full wp-image-26971"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="512" height="256" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Get-Jokes.png" alt="A Manhattan plot showing genetic associations and genes that are strongly associated how easily a person is to get a joke. " class="wp-image-26971" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Get-Jokes.png 512w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plot-Get-Jokes-300x150.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 512px) 100vw, 512px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Figure 6. Genome-wide association study Manhattan plot for “How easy is it for you to get jokes?” n=463,738. This model treated the responses as linear. They are adjusted for age, sex, genotyping platform, and the top 5 principal components of genetic ancestry.</figcaption></figure>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-joke-gene">A Joke Gene?</h2>



This is where it gets interesting. We saw several significant genetic associations that overlapped between the self-rated sense of humor and the ability to get jokes.



The strongest association for the “sense of humor” trait was within FOXP2, a gene known to be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05859-7">incredibly important for the ability to use language</a>. Several associations were with other genes somehow involved in brain function. Those include PTCH1, which is involved in <a href="https://www.invitae.com/en/physician/genes/20430/">brain development</a>, and SEMA6, which is involved in neurodevelopment more generally. Finally, there was an association with NEGR1, which is implicated in both <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19079261">obesity</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5665562/">intelligence</a>.



We also found associations in PRKG1. The PRKGI gene is involved in <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-foraging-gene-humans-fruit-flies.html">foraging and self-regulation</a>. Foraging and self-regulation are related to goal-directed behavior, such as finding and gathering food. They require recall and pattern recognition. This comes in handy with sophisticated word constructs that make up humor. Another hit was found at SLC39A8. It&#8217;s involved in the uptake of manganese, an element<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165017302002345"> in brain function</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-so-what">So What?</h2>



As we said earlier, our researchers also found a strong association between one’s ability to “get jokes” and AUTS2. This gene is essential for <a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=auts2&amp;oq=auts2&amp;aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.815j0j7&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">neurodevelopment and a major player in autism</a>.



<a href="https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/humr.2013.26.issue-3/humor-2013-0030/humor-2013-0030.xml">Some studies</a> have shown that individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome or those with high-functioning autism tend to have a different style of humor. Often, people with these conditions don’t laugh at what is commonly found as funny. However they laughing at scenarios some don’t believe to be humorous.



Humor is universal. It’s a way to bond with other people and connect. It’s part of what makes us human. Understanding why we are the way we are and how a trait like humor is associated with neurodevelopment adds to our understanding of what makes us. And like all complex behavioral traits, there isn’t a single gene for a well-developed funny bone. Instead, many genetic variants and environmental causes give us our sense of humor.



Maybe someday we’ll have data on the genetics of pulling a good prank. So this April 1st, don’t get caught with your genes down, and get ready to smile.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-find-out-more">Find Out More</h2>



Explore what your DNA says about you and all you can learn <a href="https://www.23andme.com/">using 23andMe. </a>

Latest Posts — Page 69