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

23andMe Blog

23andMe Blog Team

This Is About Me

23andMe’s popular Ancestry Composition just got a little better.
The feature estimates what percentage of your DNA comes from populations around the world, breaking down the Asian, African or European ancestry to give you insight into the <a href="https://www.23andme.com/ancestry/">geographic origins of your ancestors</a> going back many generations.
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-19805 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1-300x220.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="220" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1-300x220.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/African-American-Example1.jpg 661w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Customers should start seeing the update to their Ancestry Composition over the next several weeks. It will offer people with African or Asian ancestry greater detail than they had before. We added several additional reference populations – for a total of 31.
Customer’s ancestry results are broken down by region, and then subregions and then even finer detail. So for example, we may breakdown the results of someone of African Ancestry by first identifying the percentage of “Sub-Saharan African Ancestry.”
That in turn might be broken down between percentages of west, African, central and south African.
The update allows 23andMe to offer individuals with African ancestry more detail into whether their ancestors came from eastern Africa, western Africa, southern Africa or central Africa. This is similar to how 23andMe reports out data for people of European ancestry, but 23andMe is not yet able to break down African ancestry by country or tribe. We are currently working on an <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/23andme-research/23andmes-african-ancestry-project/">African Ancestry Project</a>, which we hope will ultimately improve results for people with African ancestry.
<div id="attachment_19787" style="width: 291px" class="wp-caption alignright"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-19787" class=" wp-image-19787 size-medium" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Asian-Ancestry-281x300.jpg" alt="" width="281" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Asian-Ancestry-281x300.jpg 281w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/Asian-Ancestry.jpg 500w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 281px) 100vw, 281px" />An example of an Asian American&#8217;s ancestry results.</div>
Customers with Asian ancestry will get much more detail into their ancestry, breaking ancestry between eastern Asia, southeastern Asia and south Asia.
In addition the update will now provide much more detail for customers with East Asian ancestry by breaking down that ancestry among five countries – China, Japan, Korea, Mongolia and eastern Russia (people with Yakut ancestry).
23andMe is conservative in making ancestry assignments, so in many cases we may list a certain percentage of a customer’s results as “non-specific” to a particular region. A customer’s results may include a certain percent of “Non-Specific Northern European” ancestry, for example.
That simply means that while 23andMe has identified the broader region of their ancestry, we do not have enough information to be able to predict the country of origin for that ancestry. We do offer customers the opportunity to select a more “speculative estimate,” which can sometimes give them more detail.

23andMe Makes More Improvements to Ancestry Features

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright wp-image-15035 size-medium" title="Alyssa photo" src="http://35.88.189.111/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-234x300.jpg" alt="" width="234" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-234x300.jpg 234w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-768x983.jpg 768w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-800x1024.jpg 800w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-687x880.jpg 687w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo-922x1180.jpg 922w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Alyssa-photo.jpg 982w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px" />
This is a guest post from a 23andMe customer, who took a journey to learn about her ancestry.
By Alyssa Gradstein
I took the 23andMe DNA test to find out who I was.
I was adopted and ethnically mixed. I can’t count the number of times in my 30 years I’ve been asked:
“What are you?”
It stung every time someone would decide for themselves what I am. I needed to know who I was and where I came from.
I was fortunate to meet my biological mother but never my biological father, who my biological mother never knew herself. In addition to the common questions regarding health and genetics, I’d always wondered about my biological father’s background. I knew he was African-American, but I wanted to know more about my roots.
Because I’ve always wondered about myself, I often lacked the confidence I see in others who know themselves fully. I believe, to be a complete person, you need to be confident in yourself and who you are before you can be that person for others.
After taking the 23andMe DNA test, I found I was most genetically similar to people who come from Ghana in Africa.
I immediately made the decision to visit. I was totally open to the journey ahead. 
<iframe loading="lazy" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dVFLJRkPMbc" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe>
When I landed in Africa I felt like I’d finally come home.
When I first decided to go, I’d researched different trips and I found an organization I could wholly identify with. I discovered the Happy Kids Foundation.
I am a teacher with a decade of experience. I have always loved helping children find their own voice, their self-esteem. I want them to know how important they are as individuals. As an adopted person, I understand the feelings of neglect. I understand feeling disconnected and what it’s like not knowing your personal history. I understand that these children need extra love and nurturing. That’s why when I went on my personal journey of self-discovery in Africa, I pointed myself toward the Happy Kids Foundation.
Happy Kids was founded in 1995 in order to provide housing and schooling for orphans and underprivileged children in the rural region of Wegbe, Ghana. The month I spent volunteering at Happy Kids was unforgettable. It changed my life, forever.
In Africa, I learned about my culture, what it meant to be a member of a community, and what it felt like to work hard for the people you love. Touring the slave castles there gave me an incredible sense of empowerment and an appreciation for my freedom that I had so often taken for granted.
I am forever grateful to 23andMe. With their help, I was able to find my missing pieces. A few years ago, I didn’t know who I was. 23andMe helped me find my story
Most importantly, when people ask: “What are you?”
I have an answer for them.
23andMe provides genetic testing services for informational purposes; your results may or may not help you to search for or identify relatives or family members.

Alyssa Gradstein

Alyssa’s 23andMe Ancestry Story

Editors note: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated the name of Mrs. Obama&#8217;s maternal great-great grandfather. The correct name is Henry Wells Shields. 
A story in Sunday’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/us/dna-gives-new-insights-into-michelle-obamas-roots.html?pagewanted=all">New York Times</a> about first lady Michelle Obama’s distant white relatives echoes some of what we’ve seen more and more of at 23andMe – Americans, both black and white, using DNA to uncover unknown histories through their ancestry.
Much like what Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. did in his most recent PBS series, <a href="../inside-23andme/behind-the-scenes-with-pbss-finding-your-roots/">Finding Your Roots</a>, the Times was able to use DNA samples, paper records and family stories to piece together Mrs. Obama’s complicated family tree. The report found that Mrs. Obama&#8217;s maternal great-great-grandfather was the slave owner Henry Wells Shields.
While most African Americans know that they have some European ancestry because slave owners often forced themselves onto their slaves and fathered children by them, finding connections to living distant white relatives who are the descendants of those slave masters can be complicated. The Times notes that the widespread use of DNA testing has made some of these discoveries that much more common.
We’ve had several posts that touch on these issues. Take a look if you haven’t already seen them.
<div style="border: 1px solid #000; padding: 5px; font-style: italic; margin-bottom: 15px; width: 200px; float: right; margin-left: 15px;">
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignleft size-full wp-image-12163" style="float: left; margin-right: 15px;" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/JRBgdIBXKIeVIdETJrxYIw_ttam_logo.jpg" alt="" width="24" height="40"> Customers can look at the breakdown of their ancestry with 23andMe&#8217;s Ancestry Painting tool here.
Not yet a customer? Visit our <a href="https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">store</a> or <a href="https://www.23andme.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">learn more</a>.
</div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/a-black-family-history">Missing Pieces in An African-American Family History</a></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/thomas-jefferson-black-descendants">DNA Tests Uncover African Ancestry and a Surprising Connection to Thomas Jefferson</a></li>
<li><a href="../uncategorized/did-you-know-ancestry-is-not-so-black-and-white/">Did You Know Ancestry is Not So Black and White?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/hidden-african-ancestry">Our Hidden African Ancestry</a></li>
</ul>

First Lady Michelle Obama’s Distant Cousins

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-12716" style="border: 1px solid #ccc;" title="DNA USA.indd" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA-197x300.jpg" alt="" width="197" height="300" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA-197x300.jpg 197w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/DNA-USA.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 197px) 100vw, 197px" />
Bryan Sykes, the evolutionary geneticist at Oxford University and the author of<a href="../2008/08/14/recommended-reading-the-seven-daughters-of-eve/"> The Seven Daughters of Eve,</a> is adding to his oeuvre of popular work on genetics with his new book,<a href="https://www.amazon.com/DNA-USA-Genetic-Portrait-America/dp/0871404125%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAIXFKFJI6IH6DO5KQ%26tag%3Dkirkus-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0871404125"> DNA USA, A Genetic Portrait of America.</a>
As with his previous work, Sykes breaks down some of the complicated aspects of genetics in ways that are easily understood. This book is both travelogue and a snapshot of the genetic melting pot that is the United States of America.  As Sykes writes America is the place “where the genes of the three great continents converge.”
The book offers some intriguing, although mostly anecdotal, observations. During his journey Sykes meets people who agree to have their DNA tested anonymously. He then creates DNA portraits of these individuals, using 23andMe to create ancestry paintings of each individual. From that he drew conclusions about early America and the rich mixing of European, Asian and African people in America. The book also offers Sykes a chance to discuss the history of the earliest Americans.
Last week, our own senior director of research Joanna Mountain – who along with 23andMe scientist Mike Macpherson acted as consultants for some of the genetics in the book – introduced Sykes at a lecture he delivered at Berkeley Arts &amp; Letters.
He got a good response from the audience and his book has some buzz including a<a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/bryan-sykes/dna-usa/#review%20http://www.oxfordancestors.com/"> thumbs-up</a> from the Kirkus Review. 
We’re offering two signed copies of the book &#8212; simply submit the form below for a chance to win!

DNA USA

Data from the 2010 census showed that about 13% of people living in the United States self-identify as African American, but from a genetic point of view, ethnicity isn&#8217;t so black and white.
Most African Americans have genetic ancestry tracing back to both Africa and Europe but the exact proportion can vary widely. And conversely, many Americans who consider themselves of completely European descent may actually have some African ancestry as well.
A<a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/107/2/786" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> study</a> published a few years ago found that the <a href="../2010/01/11/large-study-reveals-details-of-african-american-genetic-ancestry/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">average amount of DNA in an African American’s genome</a> that could be traced back to West Africa was about 77%, but ranged from as little as one percent to as much as 99%.
At 23andMe, researchers have looked at the genetic ancestry of about 78,000 customers likely to consider themselves as entirely of European ancestry and found that somewhere between three to four percent of those people have <a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/hidden-african-ancestry" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">“hidden” African ancestry</a> ranging from 0.5 to 0.75 percent. These findings suggest that this group of customers have an African ancestor who lived about six generations, or about 200 years, ago.
The United States is often referred to as a “melting pot” and although African Americans comprise the largest racial minority, this country is also home to many other genetically mixed groups. Indeed, Americans with ties to Latin America typically have DNA deriving from <a href="http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1000037" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Native American, European and sometimes African</a> populations.
By studying genetic ancestry, researchers can break down the proportion of a person’s DNA that traces to different parts of the world and learn more about our unique and interconnected histories.
February is<a href="http://www.history.com/topics/black-history-month" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Black History Month</a> – stay tuned for more posts!
Did you know? provides tidbits of information about genetics (in humans and in other animals) and explains how DNA relates to both ancestry and health.

Did You Know? Ancestry is Not So Black and White

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-medium wp-image-6064" title="heartrhythm" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/heartrhythm-300x209.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="209" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/heartrhythm-300x209.jpg 300w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/heartrhythm.jpg 350w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" />
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common heart rhythm disorder that, while not usually life-threatening on its own, can lead to more serious complications such as heart attack and stroke.
AF can be caused by underlying heart problems but high blood pressure, being overweight, and having type 2 diabetes also increases the risk of developing the condition. It would make sense, then, if populations with higher rates of these risk factors exhibited higher rates of AF. This, however, doesn’t seem to be the case: atrial fibrillation is <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2720573/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">more common in people of European descent than in African Americans</a> despite the fact that African Americans as a whole tend to have higher rates of hypertension, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.
A research team led by Gregory Marcus of the University of California &#8211; San Francisco and Susan Heckbert of the University of Washington in Seattle investigated whether this seeming contradiction might be due to genetic factors.
<h6>Looking at Differences in Ancestry and Differences in Risk</h6>
Theorizing that European ancestry predisposes people to AF, these investigators looked for correlations between the amount of European ancestry and risk for developing the disease in more than 4,000 African Americans and 15,000 people of European descent.
Their results, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3058884/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">published recently in the journal Circulation</a>, show compelling evidence that African Americans with higher amounts of European ancestry are at higher risk for AF. In fact, simply being African American provided a 30% reduction in risk for AF over individuals who derived their ancestry solely from Europe.
When Marcus and his team looked closer, they found that as the amount of European ancestry increased, so did the risk for atrial fibrillation. While the researchers note that this intriguing pattern may be due to non-genetic factors that correlate with amount of European ancestry, they suggest that ancestry itself &#8212; and, thus, genetics &#8212; is the mediating factor.
<div style="background-color: #ffc; padding: 15px; margin-left: 15px; margin-top: 10px; float: right; width: 270px; border: 1px solid #ccc;">Curious how much of your ancestry comes from Europe, Africa, and Asia? 23andMe customers can view a breakdown of their DNA using the Ancestry Painting feature in their accounts. They can also view their genetic results for Atrial Fibrillation (note that genetic information for atrial fibrillation has only been scientifically established in people of European descent).</div>
<h6>Mixed Ancestry</h6>
More broadly, their findings highlight some of the challenges of researching diseases in populations with mixed ancestry.
Does the proportion of ancestry from different parts of the world impact the results? How do we interpret findings discovered in such populations, and what do findings made separately in European and African populations mean for individuals who derive their ancestry from both places?
These are still open questions, and ones that 23andMe hopes to help answer through the Roots into the Future research initiative.
Related blog posts: 
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/roots-into-the-future/">Roots into the Future: A New Research Initiative for African Americans</a> 
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/ethnicity-matters-in-research-a-case-study-in-prostate-cancer/">Ethnicity Matters in Research: A Case Study in Prostate Cancer</a> 
<a href="https://blog.23andme.com/articles/hidden-african-ancestry">Our Hidden African Ancestry</a>

The Ancestry Link For Atrial Fibrillation Risk

<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="alignright size-full wp-image-1974" title="oldafricamap1508" src="https://blog-api.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/oldafricamap1508.png" alt="" width="350" height="258" srcset="https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/oldafricamap1508.png 350w, https://blogcms.23andme.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/oldafricamap1508-300x221.png 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 350px) 100vw, 350px" />
Because their ancestors often were slaves during the 18th and 19th centuries, and therefore usually lacked birth or death certificates, it is very difficult for African American genealogists to trace their ancestors further than a few generations.
Even when they can trace their ancestry to the slavery era, it is virtually impossible to find exactly where their ancestors originated because slave ships did not keep passenger lists of the people they captured from Africa.
As a consequence, many have been turning to genetics as a tool to help trace their African ancestry. But how reliably can genetics trace a person&#8217;s ancestry back to a specific African location or ethnic group?
Using genetics this way is quite complex; even the most advanced analysis can&#8217;t provide all the answers.

Relying on genetic data for genealogical purposes can be problematic, especially if your expectations are too great.
For example, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the Director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had his Y-chromosome genotyped by two different companies. The first told him that his ancestors likely traced back to Nubia or Egypt, while the second test more accurately placed his paternal ancestry in Europe.
As an African American, Gates believes that the first company may have simply &#8216;told him what he wanted to hear&#8217;: that all of his ancestry traced back to Africa. But, as is often the case, one&#8217;s genetic ancestry can be more complex than meets the eye.
One problem is that genetic analyses predominantly trace deep ancestry. Because genetic information does not change significantly within one or two generations, genetics generally shows where a person’s ancestors lived thousands of years ago. This is hardly useful to genealogists who are looking for information about ancestors who lived only a few hundred years ago.
That isn&#8217;t to say we can’t learn anything useful about the deep ancestry of many African Americans — in fact, studies of genetic ancestry have yielded much information about prehistoric population movements across the continent. For example, there are clear genetic ‘footprints’ in modern Africans – and African Americans – indicating massive expansions of Bantu-speaking peoples from West Africa into the eastern and southern part of the continent over 4,000 years ago. This has helped archaeologists understand the extent to which not only the Bantu culture and language, but the people themselves, spread throughout the continent.
Most African Americans have the signature of this Bantu migration in their genes because they are descended from populations that were affected by it. But many, including Gates, have the genetic signature of another widespread group: Europeans. Indeed, European ancestry is not uncommon among African Americans, whose ancestors can include white slave owners who fathered children with their slaves.
The use of genetic data can be useful in confirming anecdotal evidence of a non-African ancestor in an African American&#8217;s family tree.
Many African American genealogists want greater detail and resolution from their genetic information, even a link to a specific nation or tribe. But in many cases this is simply not possible. The population history of Africa — especially sub-Saharan Africa — is older and more genetically complex than that of any other region of the world. Homo sapiens evolved in East Africa more than 150,000 years ago, and has been living throughout Africa continuously since that time.
There have been countless migrations, dispersals, and expansions of African peoples to all parts of the continent — in addition to the Bantu expansions. As a result, the genetic diversity of present-day Africans is incredibly complex.
In many cases, scientists are unable to associate a specific genetic classification with a specific tribe or ethnic group. There are of course a few exceptions — isolated hunter-gather groups like the !Kung of the Kalahari Desert and the Pygmies of the Central African Rainforest have lower levels of genetic diversity as a result of their relative isolation. But in West Africa, where the majority of slaves were captured, there is significant genetic diversity both within countries and within tribal or ethnic affiliations.
The high level of diversity means that scientists have a difficult time pinpointing where a particular person&#8217;s genetic roots trace beyond a more general geographical region (i.e. West Africa). For example, the paternal haplogroup E3a, found in more than half of African American men, is just as common in Africa itself &#8211; and spread throughout the continent. So, for an African American male who&#8217;s paternal ancestry falls within the E3a haplogroup, it could be virtually impossible to narrow down the place of origin of his African ancestors.
Still, when traditional tools are unavailable or incomplete genetics can reveal useful genealogical information, whether a person&#8217;s roots trace back to Africa, Europe, or someplace else entirely.

African ancestry — Page 4