
Ask HN: Is 23andme (and others similar to it) worth the cost? - vijayr
Privacy concerns aside, have you tried them? Did you really learn anything new, especially from health perspective?
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DKnoll
Several members of my family and I have used 23AndMe. It's interesting. I
haven't logged into the site since about a week or two after getting it, but
the health stuff was interesting (didn't really learn anything new but it was
cool). The ancestry portion is the biggest appeal for most people, and my mom
gets a kick out of it as she's into genealogy.

On the other hand, where it was a novelty for my family, it has ruined
others... so make sure it's a door you want to open. ;)

~~~
vijayr
I am not too interested in ancestry, I'll probably just look at it out of
curiosity and thats it. More interested in their health reports.

What do you mean by "ruined others"?

~~~
panax
23andme was invaluable to me for health, but that is rarely the case. Most
likely you won't learn anything profound from it, though if do you learn
something important it is probably not going to be good news. I personally
much prefer that I know my results now and be able to take action to address
them than to not know, but I am also able to take a sort of stoic view toward
it without worrying about it and allowing it to impact me negatively. Many
people would rather remain ignorant of potential risk factors which may
actually never impact them than worry their whole lives about something
outside of their control(at least for now. CRISPR?). It can severely disrupt
the lives of some types of people and cause them anxiety. So before you take
it you should ask yourself if you are the type of person who would worry and
obsess over it and allow it to disrupt your life. Though if you do find
unpleasant results, most genotypes, with a few exceptions, are only weakly
correlated with their risks so don't take most of the results too literally.
And even for many of the genotypes with very strongly established links to
disease, most are only risk factors, and only increase the probability of an
outcome.

I don't think 23andme is currently reporting on health risks anymore until
they get things cleared with the FDA, though, and the other reports they
currently offer are not really useful. You still have access to the raw data,
though, and can use a third party like
[https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease](https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease)
to analyze the data. It will generate a report for you, but remember these
reports will try to link your SNPs to pretty much any studies available, even
when there is very little evidence or low confidence of the interpretation.
Don't take most of the results seriously unless it is well studied and well
established. This may be difficult to determine sometimes unless you have a
background in science or medicine, and it is a good idea to consult a medical
professional first if there is something that you think is significant and
concerns you.

~~~
tedmiston
I've heard of people commonly using the service Promethease ($5) to match up
their data from 23andMe with SNPedia until the issue with the FDA that
prevents collecting data and sharing analysis from one service is resolved.

[https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease](https://www.snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease)

------
mchannon
For my family, the heritage was a bit educational, though it often felt a bit
like wrong guesses (if you're 25% English, 25% Scottish, 25% Welsh, 25% Irish,
you'll come back 100% "British Isles"). My spouse's 25% Native American data
was even worse, about 1/8 of it coming in as "East Asian".

Finding specific gene data was also cool, but disappointing. If you know that
a certain gene is defective, there's no way of knowing if your C should be a
G, and a lot of gene markers aren't even findable. It's like a mostly-complete
index for a book that's 25% written, and 5% of that is flat out wrong. So the
health stuff was disappointing. I do feel, though, that obtaining the service
was a step in the right direction for the industry someday getting this right.

As it gains critical mass, it's a great resource for connecting with second
cousins as, if your family is like mine, older generations grew apart and want
to reconnect.

~~~
DKnoll
> For my family, the heritage was a bit educational, though it often felt a
> bit like wrong guesses (if you're 25% English, 25% Scottish, 25% Welsh, 25%
> Irish, you'll come back 100% "British Isles"). My spouse's 25% Native
> American data was even worse, about 1/8 of it coming in as "East Asian".

For me it groups British & Irish together, which makes sense if we're
considering genetic ancestry, not geographic/societal. For example German and
French are also grouped together for the same reason.

------
arca_vorago
23andme and similar have a horrible track record of privacy... I would highly
suggest against using a service that combines the sequencing and the analysis.
I would suggest, however, if you are interested in this line of data based
health investigation, to have the sequencing done by someone good at
sequencing and then have analysis done separately (or in conjunction between
the third party analyzer and the sequencer). The cost would be more, but with
a smaller shop you are much more likely to be able to request stringent data
secrecy or even deletion.

I say this as a person who sysadminned a genetics lab, so my scientific
knowledge of the subject is limited, but I did see the practical issues around
the industry.

~~~
DKnoll
What are the privacy concerns with 23AndMe? Curious as I'm a user.

~~~
chatmasta
They're literally storing, sequencing, and analyzing your DNA. What do you
think the privacy concerns are?

Most likely, the biggest cost of using 23andme is not evident yet. But as some
others have touched on, I could easily see it becoming a prerequisite for
health insurance in the near future. Do you really want to give up this data
now, without any idea the impact it may have on your financial situation in 10
years?

Obviously there's no right answer to that question but it's worth considering.

~~~
DKnoll
I meant as compared to other providers, which is what he seemed to suggest.
Also my government provides health insurance.

~~~
tedmiston
Things are messier in the US where insurance is tied to an employer, and
employers can implement arbitrary "optional" measures like requiring you to be
a non-smoker or very strongly encouraging you to take a biometric screening so
that you can "elect" to participate in their insurance plan. If you don't
elect to, insurance options outside that through the exchange (healthcare.gov)
are not great and often very expensive. It's a complicated subject here.

As far as the DNA sequencers, I haven't heard of any sharing their data with
insurance companies today but I also haven't read their privacy policies
closely to see what they could do. If 23andMe has the option to give you a
copy without retaining any that might be the safest option here.

------
2_listerine_pls
I read that they sell your information. You could try using a different name,
if possible. However, be ware that they might do some type of data
consolidation with other services in the future. For instance, a service you
do at a hospital in 6 years could help uncover your identity because that
hospital uses a third party. I mean, it could potentially even affect your
health insurance 10 years from now.

~~~
bjourne
I signed up before their tos said they would sell my data. I have no problem
with it being freely available for researchers, but them selling my dna for
profit is complete bullshit.

~~~
tedmiston
It seems like one can opt out of having their data shared to third parties.

> It is true that 23andMe’s big moneymaker is consumer data, not consumer DNA
> testing kits. Black said that more than 80 percent of 23andMe’s two million-
> plus customers consent to having their data used for research.

[https://gizmodo.com/23andme-is-selling-your-data-but-not-
how...](https://gizmodo.com/23andme-is-selling-your-data-but-not-how-you-
think-1794340474)

------
drakonka
I thought it was interesting but didn't result in my learning some information
that I can actually act on. I extracted my data from the site and instead of
just using their own site analysis tools I uploaded it to some third party
analyzers, which provided more detailed information that 23andme is either not
willing or not allowed by regulations to share. All of my health findings were
"good news" that made me feel nice, even though I know they are to be taken
with a big grain of salt.

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anikdas
been using Nylas Mail. Works pretty well. [https://www.nylas.com/nylas-
mail/](https://www.nylas.com/nylas-mail/)

