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As someone with a PhD in human genetics and publications in top medical journals like The Lancet and JAMA, I actually knew the vp of genomic health at 23andme. The problems are: 1) They sell genetics as medicine before the science is settled. Most diseases are influenced by MANY genes and environmental factors, so looking at just one or a few variants and labeling someone as ‘high risk’ oversimplifies the science and misleads consumers. 2) These tests often lack what we call “actionability” in medicine, where results guide treatment or prevention. Without proper interpretation by a clinical geneticist, most results lead to confusion and anxiety for the consumer. 3) Finally, there’s a big difference between these “fun” tests and clinical-grade genetic testing. The fun tests analyze limited genotypes (think looking at a few letters out of a library of books), while clinical tests often sequence your exome or genome for a much deeper accurate analysis (think reading whole pages or books in a library). Bottom-line: home genetic tests can be entertaining, but when it’s treated like clinical medicine, it can lead to misinterpretation and unnecessary anxiety. Use them with caution!
Here's another fun one. A friend did 3 tests. Here's why. They sent the first one in, expecting something that matched the genealogy tree/research one of their relatives was heavy into for the family. It did not match. The resemblance in parentage was was pretty intense, so they weren't thinking that (looked just like their dad). So, the friend sent it in again. Same results? No. Completely different results including heavy Pacific Islander which is not anywhere, visible anyway, in the family. At this percentage, we'd expect some visibility. So they sent in for a third test with a complaint. The company responding asking what were you expecting. They told the company. The next test was again different than the first two but in line with the stated expectations, sans Pacific Islander. How would you interpret that experience? Medical aspects aside.
A company relying on bad science with subpar labs did a test on fucked it up multiple times... that's how i would interpret that experience... their focus was never on finding someones ancestry which already relies on bad science or give anyone health advice... their focus was having as much data on someone as possible to sell it to anyone with a wallet
Which company was this? I've done Ancestry (in the UK, can't speak for other countries testing) and have found it very interesting. Everyone who was supposed to come up as a match actually came up and I've had no inconsistencies, that's been the same case for my partner and some other families members.
As a bit of a genealogy nerd and someone who previously worked in the genetics field I would say this. First off the result of one test should match the result of a subsequent test. Obviously. However, a company's estimate of a person's ethnicity will shift over time. The reason for this is that the estimate is based on research. To somewhat over-simplify it they look at particular SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) which are single letter variations in a person's DNA. Specifically they look at single letter locations in the human genome that are known to vary based on geographic origin (most of our DNA is identical to each other so there's little point looking at all of it as that would significantly increase the cost). Now, how do they know what geographic location an SNP corresponds to? They look at all the people who have the variation and where they are located. The location with the highest concentration will likely be where that variation first arose. They may also look at actual scientific research papers into specific SNPs. At best it's an educated guess. And you could have the same variation arise more than once in different locations. So at a certain point in time a company might think that a particular variation corresponds to one location only to later realise that is actually corresponds to a different location, or maybe even multiple locations. As for getting a result for a particular location and a person not resembling people from that location, it's important to understand that most genes don't affect what a person looks like. For example, someone could have 30% sub-Saharan African ancestry but look stereotypically European. They probably won't. But they could. I did a test with Ancestry and it currently says that I have around 1% DNA from the Baltic region. But that 1% was not there when I first did the test and its location has shifted around over the last five years. Originally it didn't show up, then it was central and eastern Europe generally, and now it's listed as Baltic. I uploaded my raw data to another company and paid them a small fee to have them analyse it and they say that I have 4% central European DNA. Why the difference? Because they're working with different research and data sets. So it's only ever an estimate. One company says I have 49% Irish DNA while the other says it's 75%. That's a pretty big difference. But it's because they are working with different research and data sets. The bigger the data set the more likely it is to be more accurate. Ancestry has a larger market share than the other company meaning they're working with a larger data set which means theirs is more likely to be more accurate. But it's still an estimate. Another important thing that many people don't realise is that DNA is not inherited equally from all your ancestors. While it's true that you get half your chromosomes, and therefore half your DNA, from your mother and half from your father (there is an exception to that when it comes to the sex chromosomes but I'll ignore that here because many of the basic ancestral DNA tests don't look at those chromosomes), you do not inherit 25% of your DNA from each grandparent (or 12.5% from each great-grandparent). Chromosomes recombine during gamete formation so you will get more DNA from one of your mother's parents than from the other one (and the same for your father). Often people expect to find certain ethic ancestry in their results and don't. Sometime it's because it's simply not there. But other times it's because they just didn't inherit any DNA from that person (or they did but it consists of the DNA that we all share so there's no way of knowing who it came from). So if someone knows for certain that they have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, for example, and it doesn't show up that is not conclusive proof that they are wrong about their ancestry. It may just be too far back that they inherited none of it or what they did inherit is the DNA that is shared by everyone. All of that said, different tests with the same company all done within a short period of time should yield the same result (unless their data set has been significantly updated between tests). One way to know if the company has completely botched the test would be to look at what relatives the test matches you against. My Ancestry test has matched me to around 200 people that I know from research I am related to. So I know they didn't botch it or mixed it up with someone else's test. If someone is seriously interested in finding out what their ancestry is I would recommend using a DNA test in conjunction with genealogical research. But know that records only go back so far. For example, for me to find out where the alleged 1% Baltic DNA came from I'd have to go back 6 to 7 generations assuming equal inheritance of DNA (I'd be looking for a 4th or 5th great-grandparent). That would place it in the mid to late 1700's. I've been able to determine which branch that DNA comes from by looking at which of my relatives also show Baltic DNA and determining our common ancestors. In that branch I know who all of my 4th great-grandparents were and who some of my 5th great-grandparents were, but not all of them. It's a work in progress and it could actually be further back than that. Also, infidelity, "illegitimate" births, and men knowingly taking responsibility for other men's children are all things that happen. So just because a man is recorded as a child's father it doesn't mean he was. So sometimes you will not be able to find out where a small percentage of DNA actually came from. If you are going to do genealogical research my best advice is do not trust anyone else's research. Do your own. A lot of people are sloppy with it and just accept anything that looks interesting without verifying whether the records are even for the right person. The sad truth is that you're probably not related to royalty or anyone famous. Your ancestors were probably all peasants. Because nearly every human being on the planet were peasants or similar at one point in time. I am curious which company those tests were done by?
More importantly, people need to realize that THEY are the real product these companies are selling. Selling to insurance companies, cops, any who knows who else.
To be honest not even that is completely accurate. They can get an idea of your genes but to get an exact % is definitely them making that up. Nothing in genetic technology is that accurate.
Such a business model isnt quite sustainable, it's very natural for them to venture out. And as a layman, it's quite easy to link genetic test with health, and I bet they felt the same and ventured out in this direction
Love this video. In a cardiovascular genetic counselor in NYC and I have noticed that these tests lead to so much confusion and misinformation about risk for complex diseases. They can be fun but definitely cannot replace medical genetic testing
Dangit. I was hoping this could be a cheaper option for me. I had a PT ask if I had EDS, but I've never had the genetic test, and insurance won't cover it.
More information needs to be given to people that nothing not even certified medical diagnosis is going to always be 100% accurate. Nothing in this world is guaranteed so take everything you hear with skepticism (but not cynicism) and use critical thinking to really analyse a situation.
My aunt took a commercial genetics test because of family history of autoimmunity. The results came back with 11 different pathogenic alleles, 5 of which were dominant, but she had no symptoms of any of the dominant alleles she allegedly had. I warned her the commercial genetics tests were not up to snuff, so she went to an actual genetic counselor who tested multiple members of the family and found no pathogenic alleles except for one which increases risk for autoimmunity.
Thank you for covering this! When I did one of these tests 10 years ago to find out my ancestry, I deleted my information once I received my results. Many people do these for fun but don’t take proper precautions and forget about it. If only companies were consumer-friendly. I wish every doctor was like Dr. Mike! Thank you for sticking to your values and refusing to promote unethical products!♥️
My Grandma did an ancestry test and it was by a company that doesn’t offer medical advice, it just told her what countries our family originated from, that’s it.
The fear is what data they actually collected (beyond what they told you) and who has and will have access to it. If your grandma’s DNA is accessible to law enforcement for instance, you can be incriminated if your DNA is present at a crime scene. It just opens up so many avenues for falsely incriminating or target you for medical/health scams. Knowing what people are or will die from is a very powerful tool of manipulation. And one person’s data breach exposes an entire family. There are probably more consequences to be seen as well. The more extreme “thinkers” worry about forced sterilization programs with these type of data for instance
Something else scummy Dr. Mike didn't mention: If that's 23andMe's actual website at 7:54, notice how their graphical user interface (GUI) is designed (very likely purposefully) to be confusing regarding opting in or out of consent for sharing. When you're opted-in to sharing your personal data (the default), the button is grey, and says "Opt Out", while clicking the button TO opt out makes it highlighted and say "Opt In". While, I'm sure the company would argue, this is because you click the button to Opt Out, therefore the button says what you're doing if you click it, I can guarantee you many people were confused by the GUI due to being opted in showing as greyed out and saying "Opt Out", as if indicating "Opt Out" is your current setting and sharing your personal data is "turned off", while being opted out by clicking the button makes the button display "Opt In" and light up, as if to indicate you now ARE opted in, and sharing your personal data is "turned on".
Amazing video! I'm a geneticist and I have been sharing these concerns for years. I've also corrected friends and family on their interpretation of their results. Most of the confusion comes from the lack of information from the companies, but a lot of it is due to poor general science literacy.
the apps explain very thoroughly that none of it is an accurate predictor because of the huge margins or error. there’s even multiple detailed reviews you must complete before even seeing your result. so it truly is just terrible science literacy. gotta remember most people barely passed those classes in school
I took a DNA test in 2021. I didn't do it for any medical advice as if I wanted any of that info, I'd talk to my doctor first. I took a Ancestry DNA test. I wanted to find out about my grandfathers family as he was illegitimate so no father was mentioned on his birth certificate. He died before I was born so I never got to meet him. None of my dads family knew much about my grandfathers family either, so I wanted to find out who his family was and I thought taking an Ancestry DNA test would be the best way of doing it. While I was a little concerned about the privacy, I have ended up learning so much about my ancestors that I never knew before. I have got in contact with lots of closer and slightly distant relatives I never knew I had as well and been able to prove we are related through documented evidence, so it defiantly helped on that regard.
Thank you for this comment. I was adopted by my great uncle and aunt but never met my bio dad or anyone on his side because he died before I could. I've always wanted to do a dna test so I could find out a little more about his side and even see how much of my dna matches with my adoptive dad too
I think ancestry is fun for the family history side ( that's why we did ours, and it did really help with knowing which countries to start searching in because we had little records for the one side of my family ) but I definitely know people who found out that the "neighbors" actually were half siblings and another who found half siblings in another state. Crazy world...
@@Kal93baby I have noticed quite a few of my DNA matches say on their profiles that they were adopted and looking for family, so its a good way of potentially finding who your family are. For me, I haven't yet found that much info to find my grandfathers family. I was able to find out the person listed as present at the birth of my grandfather, he was living with her and her husband until he married my grandmother, so he might have been adopted by them. I also found her maiden name matched the surname of my grandfathers mother listed on his birth certificate, so they were probably related. I am still trying to find who she was. I was also able to find who my grandfathers only sibling, my great-uncle was as I found his birth certificate. The person it said was present at his birth, I got a 4th cousin DNA match to a direct descendant of hers so that helped, especially knowing her maiden name and finding a number of DNA matches with either that same surname or they have trees with direct ancestors with the same surname. I still keep hitting brick walls but it was a useful step in the right direction.
Thank you so much doctor mike, yesterday I was browsing through 23 and me to thinking of purchasing one of there plans, so I could learn what things im at risk of and if I have any ancestors I don' know about, this was yesterday around 8:00 and you come in clutch with this video. Thanks.
I took 23 and me for health insights since I found out my paternal grandma had Parkinson's. So I learned that I'm super white, my eyes will go bad(der) and that my mom had a half sister she went 60+ years without knowing about and we got to connect with that half sister's children (she passed away a year prior) and it was one of the most wholesome, uplifting, amazing things that's ever happened in my extended family. My mom loves spending time with her new nephews and nieces and they were so happy to finally fulfil their mom's life long wish of finding the family she never got to know. So I mean, some good came out of the $200 my mom spent on me for my birthday that year.
I did this. They came back with some info on medical that was wrong. They said I wouldn't develop it, and I already had the health issue. Two in fact. I wasn't there to find out medical. I wanted to know where I came from. Being adopted there is no info about what you background is. This was the closest thing I could do for my children.
Same, also adopted: I had zero clue of a family history. I've had Dr's dismiss health concerns because "you don't have a family history of that, so it's unlikely, we don't need to test for that" and insurance was the same way. I don't have a family history of anything! I did it trying to get a "baseline", and maybe connect with a relative that know, not as a 100% accurate .
Adoption is a great reason for these to exist... one of my friends was adopted and found out that their best friend (younger, lived in the same neighborhood and also adopted but younger by about 2 years) was actually their full-blooded sibling- mom AND dad. Absolutely bonkers, as they were adopted from out of the country! the odds of ending up as neighbors half a world away from where they were born...we are still shocked.
This is why I'm pro-regulations. These companies, elon musk, bezos, trump. They are sooo focused on money, we the people need regulations to protect us from those billionaires happy to hurt us for money
Make sure you let your two senators and your one representative in Congress know that you want to make sure that they don't do anything that would overturn the GINA law that help helps protect our genetic data from employers and insurance companies. And also to make sure they don't do anything more to weaken the ACA (than has already been done.) People quite often don't realize that the ACA also keeps insurance companies from refusing to cover people, or rescinding them after the fact, based on medical history, which can also include genetic history.
I did Ancestry to find both sides of my family, I was born in 1977 and put in the NY system in 78. Was able to find both sides in 2017-2018, but never paid attention to health stuff and I don't really care about the privacy side either for myself. Finding and connecting with family I was searching for since I was 18 is worth just about anything for me. This is just my story of course and I didn't use 23&me, so just my 2 cents...
@@clearhaven Accuracy 100% matters here. Those companies have literally had privacy breaches and are completely misleading their consumers. The accuracy matters because after you take this test, you might get a result that says “High Risk” for Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer just because ONE person along your family line had it, without taking into account your lifestyle. These tests are not done by genetic specialists. They do not understand the coding and extensive history that actually goes into genetics such as: hereditary, health factors, and patient history. In conclusion, this is NOT reliable at all, this is dangerous and a stupid, desperate attempt to monetize people’s health further for the sake of their company. Maybe watch the video before commenting and you would understand that. Edited for grammatical purposes.
I’ve always been on a fence about these/ I was close to buying a few times but never did. I appreciate you doing the research and putting out the information for us.
The US health insurance system is the reason US doctors make almost $100,000 more per year than Canadian and UK doctors, so.... don't hold your breath for him to bite the hand that feeds him.
Don't use her real name and don't opt in for dna relatives and she should be fine. The info is nice and you can download the raw data to check the individual genes (to see what variants you have)
Excited for the video I could see how Home Genetic Tests can go awfully wrong. Imagine trying to live a calm and normal life, knowing you have a higher risk for Alzheimer's ...
Knowing that you have a higher risk should make it a priority for you to make changes in your lifestyle to reduce your risk. How is that not helpful to you??
@@k.larson4682The problem is that these tests don’t come with the medical guidance a medical genetic test or counselling would be coupled with. Is it a significant enough increase in risk that I should make lifestyle changes? What lifestyle changes should I make? Does this change screenings I should take? Does it make actual sense for me to worry about it?
@@k.larson4682 Did you watch the video? Dr.Mike just said there is no action you can take with that result. If your genetically gonna get it, it's hard-coded. No lifestyle change can alter your DNA.
@@k.larson4682Having a healthy lifestyle will reduce your risk of developing many diseases. So you should try to have a healthy lifestyle regardless of your genes. But for something like Alzheimer's, there's no single proven cause and there's no cure - so you'll just be left with health anxiety for the rest of your life and no way to take meaningful action if you find out you're at higher risk.
Won't give out an email address anymore and people out here handing over their biological make-up forever for a quick answer you have no real way to know if it's true.
I'm from Europe where such tests exist, but they're most certainly not allowed to advertise about any dubious 'health' claims. so while I'm mildly curious to learn about my genetic ancestry, and might have bought a test to this purpose, I'd have never expected this to give me some insight or warning about a possible medical condition.
He mentioned it an indirect way when he talked about how police have used this data to find criminals. Quite often they have DNA from a crime scene, and then they search the database of known criminals who have had their DNA collection ordered by the court and find nothing. But then they go to these companies like 23 and me and try to do a family match -- which some people just do for fun to see if they can find some distant relatives -- and they end up finding a relative based on the DNA. Then they will work backwards from there and combine it with some surveillance to figure out which family member is the criminal. But yes, it would've been nice for him to have stated this explicitly also.
Jeez! I am so glad I KNOW where I came from. My family is pretty big but we're still close enough that calls are made to exchange pertaining information regarding health concerns. ❤
Even for necessary genetic testing for medical purposes, I always warn patients about the possibility of their data being used at some point by an insurance company to discriminate against them. Even though the GINA law is still in effect overall, and the ACA is still in effect for health insurance, if that information gets out a life insurance company could potentially decide not to cover somebody or rescind a policy, or an employer could choose not to hire somebody, or find an excuse to fire them before they become expensive to the company. And although medical insurance companies cannot currently refuse coverage based on medical history, if the Republicans destroy the ACA like they have been threatening to, that protection goes away as well. And sending your DNA to a for-profit company that may or may not guard the information, is definitely something to think very carefully about before doing .
Yeah Dr. Mike. THIS is why I refused to take one of these "23&Me" tests that I had gotten for my birthday once recently (a few years back.) Otherwise tho I have had other full "Genomic" testing done for other real "research" reasons at a University with an actual Geneticist... Given those results and your own experiences that you bring up here in the video are among the reasons that I have continued my stance against this type of BS...
I’m a pre-med student and was really interested in DNA. Last year I decided to get an ancestry test out of pure curiosity. It revealed that my parents weren’t biologically related to me and allowed me to know more about where I come from and contact my bio mother. My ancestry test did not involve many health insights but it did reveal parts of my life that I am very grateful for. I think ancestry is great for finding your origins as long as you aren’t looking for definitive health insights, or any health insights at all.
I did one through my psychiatrist! I’ve used over 10 psych meds in my lifetime. Zoloft (what I’m on now) is the only thing that works well with me that I’ve tried and genetically it’s true too. My psych had me start L-methylfolate to help me and now I need to schedule blood work because my iron is going to need to be lowered or discontinued because of how the supplements been fixing up some loose ends in my gut 😂
It's pretty accurate for me at least. Lots of meds that I wouldn't do well with were meds that failed or made me get psychosis cause they were so awful.
From what my psych said that it tells a person which medications are metabolized best, so in theory, should work best for the person. It's still a trial and error though. I've never taken this test, but know other people who have and it's about 50/50 whether, the medication that's supposed to work, really works or not. My psych said that the science needed to accurately test which medications would really work is not advanced enough yet.
@ yeah 1 that didn’t work for me was pristiq, I had issues with fatigue when taking it even tho it wasn’t a regular side effect. But for the most part I don’t metabolize things well because of one thing but pristiq didn’t have it so I was like “that’s odd” but hey you win some you lose some.
I used Circle DNA, which was entirely medically focused with barely any ancestry focus. I didn't know it was an option for me to talk to an actual geneticist. That seems like a really good follow-up. Thanks.
Dr Mike, can you talk about the BRCA gene mutations? The BRCA 1 gene mutation runs in my family. I had 50% chance of having it, and as a female getting those news last year at only 17, it was really scary. Luckily, though they usually don’t do genetic testing until you’re 18 here in Norway, since I was so close to that age and because the doctors viewed this as urgent enough, I did the genetic testing and found out the results of the tests were negative. Other than knowing if I had the mutation I would have a much larger percentage chance of getting specific kinds of cancers, and would have to do breast cancer screenings from an earlier age and possibly also need surgeries, I don’t know much about this gene mutation. A video on the BRCA mutations and even other information on genes would be really interesting. Love your videos🥰
@@clearhaven I know there is information out there, but he make videos about medical stuff so I just came with a suggestion. Plus he is someone I trust to give correct info
@selmahoiseth sadly, USA 💔 they barely care abt minors but once you're 18 here there's nothing for help. I need to drive 3 hours to a specialty hospital just to get the basic testing for EDS. I wish they did it the way Norway does it, makes more sense to do it in early adulthood.
I wasn't expecting a video about online genetic testing, really graceful with you doing that. I would suggest a video about telemedicine and online therapy...
Giving away the most personal information you have to a random company for funsies sure sounds like a good idea, thank God none of our family got this.
I also remember when Dr Mike did a short on black plastics where they could reach the hazardous levels of fire retardant consumption. But the study researchers made a critical maths error of 70x600 = 4200 instead of 42000
One of these tests informed me that my sister and I were besties with another set of sisters and we were second cousins! Same great-grandparents! And our common family is in another region of the country than either of us so it was not like we were all in the same community. The chances must be astronomical. The full story is WILD but one of my biggest blessings in life.
This is so frustrating! I really wanted to use one of these to try and find out about my anonymous egg donor, but naturally corporate greed just HAD to get in the way.
I have 23 and me and mever paid attention to the health really. I always thought some was interesting but never serious. I always liked their ancestry part and felt they should have stuck with that. I dont regret taking it, it has shown me relaitves i didnt know and help make bridges.
Being told through email that I have an elevated risk of developing an incurable disease is my idea of a good time! The idea that the health report is “just for fun” is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. This is kind of like randomly giving people full body CT scans, there’s a reason that we don’t go looking for problems like that. If the test just said things you don’t need to worry about then maybe that could be useful.
It's pretty disheartening when you realize that over half of the biotech industry is really just playing pretend to secure investor funding. People without the fundamental skills to analyze data and read/understand privacy policies have to rely on other people who can, like Doctor Mike! You're doing a good thing
I'm reminded of my blood tests. After the tests are done they send the results to me and my doctor. Some of the results concerned me but my doctor said to not put too much thought into it myself because a doctor can interpret them better with knowledge of my history, medications, and other stuff I don't know about.
Another thing that really worries me about these dna tests: I’m a historian, and I’ve been noticing for a while now a worrying trend of people putting way to much emphasis on things like genetics and dna when it comes to topics relating to different cultures and cultural appropriation. The way I’ve heard some people talking about these things, it’s honestly reminding me quite a bit of the pseudoscientific (once considered to be a legit form of science) field of Racial Biology, aka the idea that humanity can be divided into different “races” the way that say dogs can, and that different races carry different genetic traits that make them look and behave a certain way, (and that they should therefore be kept separate) and that really worries me. There is no such thing as one gene that corresponds directly to a specific ethnic group or culture, but the way these tests present their results they almost make it look like there is! And I worry that it might lead people to think that humans are a lot more genetically, and as an extension of that more culturally, segregated than we actually are, and that people might start thinking that cultural sharing and appreciation is something wrong and abnormal, rather than a completely normal part of ALL human cultures that we have been practicing and doing for thousands of years!
Human races are a real biological thing, though, with real genetic differences. There is more genetic distance between a White person and a Black person than between a dog and a wolf.
I did a health oriented genetics test from an EU company a couple of years back, and personally I'm glad I did. I know I have to take everything with a grain of salt, however when I did the testing a lot of results popped up which really well aligned with my and my own family's experiences, it explained quite a bit. From this info, it further reaffirms to me what I had my doubts on, and therefore the next step would be to go to a doctor to get proper confirmation, or already start implementing life changes and see if things get better.
I love you Dr. Mike! I'm always so excited when you make a video. However, can you please make concise versions of your Wednesday checkup. They are so interesting, but it is hard to watch the whole video.
I found out I have two cousins, siblings, who were donor conceived. A relative was an egg donor and the siblings are now connecting to us. We can share the info we have in terms of health that genetics don’t tell you.
Years ago when they were sponsoring all sorts of content creators on YT, I joked about what if they got breached and had the users most sensitive data stolen. Well, that aged like milk. Actually the joke was going to age like milk either way, but I would argue that the better ending should be there is no data leak.
Question - can disability or long-term care companies discriminate potentially for Medically obtained genetic testing gotten through a genetic counselor ? (Like not just something like 23&me) Like does that genetic testing stay private between you and your provider? 0:01
Genetic tests should not be done alone at home. People should consult an doctor about stuff like this,it's useless to use a little thing that takes your blood/info, just to say you and your family have ancestors, that don't even relate to you, even if you do, it could still lead to confusion.
I'm so glad you did this video. I have a friend who diagnosed herself with a connective tissue disorder by using this. I really appreciate your research so much. I do, too, and try to get my friends and family to do the same.
as someone who worked at a company that developed the equipment that performs the DNA sequencing.. speed to market has become way more important than accuracy of results.. as someone who spoke out about it too much i got let go in a round of layoffs what a surprise
If you want to give medical advice, you need to certify the test like any other medical test. What makes them think that those rules don't apply to them ? Big tech being reckless, as usual.
Thanks for the information Dr. Mike. And as for the sponsor, would appreciate if you didn't imply that the discount would actually make significant difference compared the value you said (In this case, it could be miscontrued that the subscription would cost me a bit more less than 5 dollars when in fact it's just 4.17). As someone living in a third world country, 4.17 is a lot for news you can access for free anyway. But still it looks like a good news source given a trustable figure like you is vying for it. I am gonna give it a shot coz I really needed a good news aggregator, but I am afraid I won't be boosting your discount numbers.
Perhaps in future include the possible ways how companies use the bought/leaked data and how it affects us in daily basis in a bad way. Otherwise the average person does not understand impact
I like doing genealogy, so I did some DNA tests, no health information because if I need it I will get it done with a doctors recommendation. I also have been testing the efficacy of the tests, first doing Ancestry, then inputting the raw data from that into MyHeritage, and I am now doing a test directly from MyHeritage to see how results differ or are the same between companies. I also have never trusted 23 and Me, I always got a strange vibe so I never chose them.
For me, I specifically got a health test to look at ApoE, I wanted to know what variant(s) I had given a family history of Alzheimer's. I have E3/E4, which is not super surprising. It is a little anxiety inducing, but to me I believe it is more important to know so that I can properly plan later in life if I have a family
To be fair, the popularity also arose because geneticists are rare and downing already in the most pressing cases, which doesn't even cover access foe people with bad already clinically diagnosed conditions (by symptoms). So, companies naturally step into any space where needs can be met. Or people can be made to develop needs they previously didn't have. 😅
Health insurance companies can't discriminate based on genetic testing..... YET. Keep in mind that may very quickly change in the upcoming years. c: Yet another reason I will never do one of these damn tests, as if I'll ever trust that things won't change in the laws for the worse.
Giving up DNA info to some random company is the stuff of nightmares. I had an acquaintance who worked at the company, and they were pretty aggressive about pushing it, and quite defensive of any criticism of the safety measures that were not taken. Won't do it. I don't know of any of my direct family members who have done it, but I do know of a few in-laws who have, and it makes me nervous as the info out there may affect my hubby and kids. I'm already suspicious of health insurance companies misusing my medical data. Sharing personal data, especially with any for-profit companies, will lead to ruin.
Hackers for some reason went after specific demographics? I know and appreciate why you don't speculate but it definitely feels pretty obvious why they went after those groups.
TH-cam sponsors getting scandals is becoming common. Remember that noble title bs? How about Better Help? Skillshare? Years from now we will probably learn a lot of problems about Ground News. Raid Shadow Legends might be imune because nobody can reasonably believe the hype and claims on their ads, we already know their ads are bs.
Also hello fresh is very expensive compared to buying your own groceries, and hard to cancel At this point I have a sort of mental blacklist of companies whose advertising budget seems a bit too big to be reasonable
I found my mom’s biological family thanks to 23 and me. It was the only reason I did it. They were completely wrong about the health stuff because I had some of the medical conditions that they said I wouldn’t have. I didn’t really care about that part as finding my family and connecting with them was huge mental health wise for me.
I was adopted at birth and did 23&me a few years ago thinking it might help me either find relatives or family medical history/risks (the older I get the more I realize how much it sucks that I don't know my family's medical history and if I'm at risk for anything). Unfortunately I did not find out anything relevant on either relatives or medical stuff so it has largely felt like a waste of money. Had no idea the company was doing that badly though. Thank you for the informative video!
Even the ancestry angle is pretty problematic. Populations have always moved around so we have no idea what viking or celtic DNA looks like, for example. Some of the research into ancestry DNA is highly questionable because the methodology has not been particularly good, small sample sizes, changing requirements for samples depending on availability of data in one specific area but not others, etc. It's a bit of fun, but it also borders on nonsense.
Damn, I just did this. Still waiting on the results, but i didn't opt for any medical stuff. I really just wanted to see what my ancestry was cause i don't have any info on my background. I'll be sure to delete everything i can.
I don’t want to know if I might get Alzheimer’s. I don’t want to know if I might get cancer. I am the type of person that will end up worrying myself to death. It’s not good to know these things. You can’t do anything to stop it. 😳
Thanks to Ground News for sponsoring this video! Go to www.ground.news/doctormike to subscribe. My link saves you 50% on their top tier Vantage plan, making it less than 5 dollars a month.
As someone with a PhD in human genetics and publications in top medical journals like The Lancet and JAMA, I actually knew the vp of genomic health at 23andme. The problems are:
1) They sell genetics as medicine before the science is settled. Most diseases are influenced by MANY genes and environmental factors, so looking at just one or a few variants and labeling someone as ‘high risk’ oversimplifies the science and misleads consumers.
2) These tests often lack what we call “actionability” in medicine, where results guide treatment or prevention. Without proper interpretation by a clinical geneticist, most results lead to confusion and anxiety for the consumer.
3) Finally, there’s a big difference between these “fun” tests and clinical-grade genetic testing. The fun tests analyze limited genotypes (think looking at a few letters out of a library of books), while clinical tests often sequence your exome or genome for a much deeper accurate analysis (think reading whole pages or books in a library).
Bottom-line: home genetic tests can be entertaining, but when it’s treated like clinical medicine, it can lead to misinterpretation and unnecessary anxiety. Use them with caution!
Here's another fun one. A friend did 3 tests. Here's why. They sent the first one in, expecting something that matched the genealogy tree/research one of their relatives was heavy into for the family. It did not match. The resemblance in parentage was was pretty intense, so they weren't thinking that (looked just like their dad). So, the friend sent it in again. Same results? No. Completely different results including heavy Pacific Islander which is not anywhere, visible anyway, in the family. At this percentage, we'd expect some visibility. So they sent in for a third test with a complaint. The company responding asking what were you expecting. They told the company. The next test was again different than the first two but in line with the stated expectations, sans Pacific Islander.
How would you interpret that experience? Medical aspects aside.
A company relying on bad science with subpar labs did a test on fucked it up multiple times... that's how i would interpret that experience... their focus was never on finding someones ancestry which already relies on bad science or give anyone health advice... their focus was having as much data on someone as possible to sell it to anyone with a wallet
that they probably don't do any real testing in a lab. The computer just throws some random a** sh*t on you for a 100 bucks
Which company was this? I've done Ancestry (in the UK, can't speak for other countries testing) and have found it very interesting. Everyone who was supposed to come up as a match actually came up and I've had no inconsistencies, that's been the same case for my partner and some other families members.
As a bit of a genealogy nerd and someone who previously worked in the genetics field I would say this. First off the result of one test should match the result of a subsequent test. Obviously. However, a company's estimate of a person's ethnicity will shift over time. The reason for this is that the estimate is based on research. To somewhat over-simplify it they look at particular SNPs (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) which are single letter variations in a person's DNA. Specifically they look at single letter locations in the human genome that are known to vary based on geographic origin (most of our DNA is identical to each other so there's little point looking at all of it as that would significantly increase the cost). Now, how do they know what geographic location an SNP corresponds to? They look at all the people who have the variation and where they are located. The location with the highest concentration will likely be where that variation first arose. They may also look at actual scientific research papers into specific SNPs. At best it's an educated guess. And you could have the same variation arise more than once in different locations. So at a certain point in time a company might think that a particular variation corresponds to one location only to later realise that is actually corresponds to a different location, or maybe even multiple locations. As for getting a result for a particular location and a person not resembling people from that location, it's important to understand that most genes don't affect what a person looks like. For example, someone could have 30% sub-Saharan African ancestry but look stereotypically European. They probably won't. But they could.
I did a test with Ancestry and it currently says that I have around 1% DNA from the Baltic region. But that 1% was not there when I first did the test and its location has shifted around over the last five years. Originally it didn't show up, then it was central and eastern Europe generally, and now it's listed as Baltic. I uploaded my raw data to another company and paid them a small fee to have them analyse it and they say that I have 4% central European DNA. Why the difference? Because they're working with different research and data sets. So it's only ever an estimate. One company says I have 49% Irish DNA while the other says it's 75%. That's a pretty big difference. But it's because they are working with different research and data sets. The bigger the data set the more likely it is to be more accurate. Ancestry has a larger market share than the other company meaning they're working with a larger data set which means theirs is more likely to be more accurate. But it's still an estimate.
Another important thing that many people don't realise is that DNA is not inherited equally from all your ancestors. While it's true that you get half your chromosomes, and therefore half your DNA, from your mother and half from your father (there is an exception to that when it comes to the sex chromosomes but I'll ignore that here because many of the basic ancestral DNA tests don't look at those chromosomes), you do not inherit 25% of your DNA from each grandparent (or 12.5% from each great-grandparent). Chromosomes recombine during gamete formation so you will get more DNA from one of your mother's parents than from the other one (and the same for your father). Often people expect to find certain ethic ancestry in their results and don't. Sometime it's because it's simply not there. But other times it's because they just didn't inherit any DNA from that person (or they did but it consists of the DNA that we all share so there's no way of knowing who it came from). So if someone knows for certain that they have Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, for example, and it doesn't show up that is not conclusive proof that they are wrong about their ancestry. It may just be too far back that they inherited none of it or what they did inherit is the DNA that is shared by everyone.
All of that said, different tests with the same company all done within a short period of time should yield the same result (unless their data set has been significantly updated between tests). One way to know if the company has completely botched the test would be to look at what relatives the test matches you against. My Ancestry test has matched me to around 200 people that I know from research I am related to. So I know they didn't botch it or mixed it up with someone else's test.
If someone is seriously interested in finding out what their ancestry is I would recommend using a DNA test in conjunction with genealogical research. But know that records only go back so far. For example, for me to find out where the alleged 1% Baltic DNA came from I'd have to go back 6 to 7 generations assuming equal inheritance of DNA (I'd be looking for a 4th or 5th great-grandparent). That would place it in the mid to late 1700's. I've been able to determine which branch that DNA comes from by looking at which of my relatives also show Baltic DNA and determining our common ancestors. In that branch I know who all of my 4th great-grandparents were and who some of my 5th great-grandparents were, but not all of them. It's a work in progress and it could actually be further back than that. Also, infidelity, "illegitimate" births, and men knowingly taking responsibility for other men's children are all things that happen. So just because a man is recorded as a child's father it doesn't mean he was. So sometimes you will not be able to find out where a small percentage of DNA actually came from.
If you are going to do genealogical research my best advice is do not trust anyone else's research. Do your own. A lot of people are sloppy with it and just accept anything that looks interesting without verifying whether the records are even for the right person. The sad truth is that you're probably not related to royalty or anyone famous. Your ancestors were probably all peasants. Because nearly every human being on the planet were peasants or similar at one point in time. I am curious which company those tests were done by?
I've heard this story before. It's always "a friend." 😂
Genetic tests companies should only focus on ancestry finding and not on giving health advices
The ancestry findings aren't even reliable. If you take multiple tests with different companies, you get different ancestry details
More importantly, people need to realize that THEY are the real product these companies are selling.
Selling to insurance companies, cops, any who knows who else.
@MonkeyJedi99 us, china, various businesses, there is a slight possibility even that bio/weapons/research may buy them too.
To be honest not even that is completely accurate. They can get an idea of your genes but to get an exact % is definitely them making that up. Nothing in genetic technology is that accurate.
Such a business model isnt quite sustainable, it's very natural for them to venture out. And as a layman, it's quite easy to link genetic test with health, and I bet they felt the same and ventured out in this direction
Love this video. In a cardiovascular genetic counselor in NYC and I have noticed that these tests lead to so much confusion and misinformation about risk for complex diseases. They can be fun but definitely cannot replace medical genetic testing
So, they're the astrology of medical diagnostic testing?
wow its so cool to see you say you are a cardiovascular genetic counselor, I remember watching you when you were applying to schools! congrats
Dangit. I was hoping this could be a cheaper option for me. I had a PT ask if I had EDS, but I've never had the genetic test, and insurance won't cover it.
More information needs to be given to people that nothing not even certified medical diagnosis is going to always be 100% accurate. Nothing in this world is guaranteed so take everything you hear with skepticism (but not cynicism) and use critical thinking to really analyse a situation.
I tell folks: take the test results with a grain of salt and discuss ALL test results with a real medical professional
My aunt took a commercial genetics test because of family history of autoimmunity. The results came back with 11 different pathogenic alleles, 5 of which were dominant, but she had no symptoms of any of the dominant alleles she allegedly had. I warned her the commercial genetics tests were not up to snuff, so she went to an actual genetic counselor who tested multiple members of the family and found no pathogenic alleles except for one which increases risk for autoimmunity.
I'm not a gambler, but giving your DNA to strangers for an answer you're assuming is true seems wild.
Thank you for covering this! When I did one of these tests 10 years ago to find out my ancestry, I deleted my information once I received my results. Many people do these for fun but don’t take proper precautions and forget about it. If only companies were consumer-friendly. I wish every doctor was like Dr. Mike! Thank you for sticking to your values and refusing to promote unethical products!♥️
hopefully your information really got deleted, cuz you can't take that for granted...
@Xia-hu You’re right! Wishful thinking- it’s crazy what companies can get away with.
My Grandma did an ancestry test and it was by a company that doesn’t offer medical advice, it just told her what countries our family originated from, that’s it.
The fear is what data they actually collected (beyond what they told you) and who has and will have access to it. If your grandma’s DNA is accessible to law enforcement for instance, you can be incriminated if your DNA is present at a crime scene. It just opens up so many avenues for falsely incriminating or target you for medical/health scams. Knowing what people are or will die from is a very powerful tool of manipulation. And one person’s data breach exposes an entire family. There are probably more consequences to be seen as well. The more extreme “thinkers” worry about forced sterilization programs with these type of data for instance
They also are now selling your Grandmas data to everyone with a wallet
they still have your grandma's DNA information to sell to 3rd parties.
@LoFiAxolotl i bought his meemaws data to make sure I can clone her in my underground lab 😈😈
@@LoFiAxolotl I didn't buy the Grandma's data
Something else scummy Dr. Mike didn't mention: If that's 23andMe's actual website at 7:54, notice how their graphical user interface (GUI) is designed (very likely purposefully) to be confusing regarding opting in or out of consent for sharing. When you're opted-in to sharing your personal data (the default), the button is grey, and says "Opt Out", while clicking the button TO opt out makes it highlighted and say "Opt In". While, I'm sure the company would argue, this is because you click the button to Opt Out, therefore the button says what you're doing if you click it, I can guarantee you many people were confused by the GUI due to being opted in showing as greyed out and saying "Opt Out", as if indicating "Opt Out" is your current setting and sharing your personal data is "turned off", while being opted out by clicking the button makes the button display "Opt In" and light up, as if to indicate you now ARE opted in, and sharing your personal data is "turned on".
Very good catch!
That's what they call Dark Patterns right? Like in Diablo 4
Amazing video! I'm a geneticist and I have been sharing these concerns for years. I've also corrected friends and family on their interpretation of their results. Most of the confusion comes from the lack of information from the companies, but a lot of it is due to poor general science literacy.
the apps explain very thoroughly that none of it is an accurate predictor because of the huge margins or error. there’s even multiple detailed reviews you must complete before even seeing your result. so it truly is just terrible science literacy. gotta remember most people barely passed those classes in school
Thoughts on genesight pharmacological test?
I’m NOT a doctor but I warned everyone too! This video is informative!
Same! I told my family not to do them and have me get sucked in by proxy.
Glad Dr Mike is talking about such issues which are usually glossed over by mainstream media
I took a DNA test in 2021. I didn't do it for any medical advice as if I wanted any of that info, I'd talk to my doctor first. I took a Ancestry DNA test. I wanted to find out about my grandfathers family as he was illegitimate so no father was mentioned on his birth certificate. He died before I was born so I never got to meet him. None of my dads family knew much about my grandfathers family either, so I wanted to find out who his family was and I thought taking an Ancestry DNA test would be the best way of doing it.
While I was a little concerned about the privacy, I have ended up learning so much about my ancestors that I never knew before. I have got in contact with lots of closer and slightly distant relatives I never knew I had as well and been able to prove we are related through documented evidence, so it defiantly helped on that regard.
Thank you for this comment. I was adopted by my great uncle and aunt but never met my bio dad or anyone on his side because he died before I could. I've always wanted to do a dna test so I could find out a little more about his side and even see how much of my dna matches with my adoptive dad too
I think ancestry is fun for the family history side ( that's why we did ours, and it did really help with knowing which countries to start searching in because we had little records for the one side of my family ) but I definitely know people who found out that the "neighbors" actually were half siblings and another who found half siblings in another state. Crazy world...
* Definitely
@@Kal93baby I have noticed quite a few of my DNA matches say on their profiles that they were adopted and looking for family, so its a good way of potentially finding who your family are.
For me, I haven't yet found that much info to find my grandfathers family. I was able to find out the person listed as present at the birth of my grandfather, he was living with her and her husband until he married my grandmother, so he might have been adopted by them. I also found her maiden name matched the surname of my grandfathers mother listed on his birth certificate, so they were probably related. I am still trying to find who she was.
I was also able to find who my grandfathers only sibling, my great-uncle was as I found his birth certificate. The person it said was present at his birth, I got a 4th cousin DNA match to a direct descendant of hers so that helped, especially knowing her maiden name and finding a number of DNA matches with either that same surname or they have trees with direct ancestors with the same surname. I still keep hitting brick walls but it was a useful step in the right direction.
Thank you so much doctor mike, yesterday I was browsing through 23 and me to thinking of purchasing one of there plans, so I could learn what things im at risk of and if I have any ancestors I don' know about, this was yesterday around 8:00 and you come in clutch with this video. Thanks.
I took 23 and me for health insights since I found out my paternal grandma had Parkinson's. So I learned that I'm super white, my eyes will go bad(der) and that my mom had a half sister she went 60+ years without knowing about and we got to connect with that half sister's children (she passed away a year prior) and it was one of the most wholesome, uplifting, amazing things that's ever happened in my extended family. My mom loves spending time with her new nephews and nieces and they were so happy to finally fulfil their mom's life long wish of finding the family she never got to know. So I mean, some good came out of the $200 my mom spent on me for my birthday that year.
Yeah I found my birthfamily.
I did this. They came back with some info on medical that was wrong. They said I wouldn't develop it, and I already had the health issue. Two in fact. I wasn't there to find out medical. I wanted to know where I came from. Being adopted there is no info about what you background is. This was the closest thing I could do for my children.
Same, also adopted: I had zero clue of a family history. I've had Dr's dismiss health concerns because "you don't have a family history of that, so it's unlikely, we don't need to test for that" and insurance was the same way. I don't have a family history of anything!
I did it trying to get a "baseline", and maybe connect with a relative that know, not as a 100% accurate .
Adoption is a great reason for these to exist... one of my friends was adopted and found out that their best friend (younger, lived in the same neighborhood and also adopted but younger by about 2 years) was actually their full-blooded sibling- mom AND dad. Absolutely bonkers, as they were adopted from out of the country! the odds of ending up as neighbors half a world away from where they were born...we are still shocked.
Dr mike is a total bundle,gives accurate information and useful information,is funny and comical and is a treat to my eyes❤
Yes he is so informative.
Your treat to my eyes comment made me smile. It's true. 😂
Thank you for posting this! Most people do not realize the risks of these and this video lays everything out very clearly.
Bill Burr: "Why would you send your saliva into the internet?"
This is why I'm pro-regulations. These companies, elon musk, bezos, trump. They are sooo focused on money, we the people need regulations to protect us from those billionaires happy to hurt us for money
Make sure you let your two senators and your one representative in Congress know that you want to make sure that they don't do anything that would overturn the GINA law that help helps protect our genetic data from employers and insurance companies.
And also to make sure they don't do anything more to weaken the ACA (than has already been done.) People quite often don't realize that the ACA also keeps insurance companies from refusing to cover people, or rescinding them after the fact, based on medical history, which can also include genetic history.
I did Ancestry to find both sides of my family, I was born in 1977 and put in the NY system in 78. Was able to find both sides in 2017-2018, but never paid attention to health stuff and I don't really care about the privacy side either for myself. Finding and connecting with family I was searching for since I was 18 is worth just about anything for me. This is just my story of course and I didn't use 23&me, so just my 2 cents...
What'd you use?
I’m not in the medical field and knew right away not to do this, I was worried about my privacy and accuracy.
Who mentioned accuracy? The results are accurate, it’s what you do with them -that is the issue being discussed here.
@@clearhaven Accuracy 100% matters here. Those companies have literally had privacy breaches and are completely misleading their consumers. The accuracy matters because after you take this test, you might get a result that says “High Risk” for Cardiovascular Disease and Cancer just because ONE person along your family line had it, without taking into account your lifestyle. These tests are not done by genetic specialists. They do not understand the coding and extensive history that actually goes into genetics such as: hereditary, health factors, and patient history. In conclusion, this is NOT reliable at all, this is dangerous and a stupid, desperate attempt to monetize people’s health further for the sake of their company.
Maybe watch the video before commenting and you would understand that.
Edited for grammatical purposes.
@@novaoddityexcept the results are accurate lol. They don’t base it on 1 singular person and just say “yup good enough for me they’re high risk”
I'd especially hope even if you did do this, you'd use a unique and strong password + 2fa.
@@clearhaven Accuracy is absolutely a huge topic especially since they rely on bad science
I’ve always been on a fence about these/ I was close to buying a few times but never did. I appreciate you doing the research and putting out the information for us.
Talk about health insurance. You have a large following you can help with change.
The US health insurance system is the reason US doctors make almost $100,000 more per year than Canadian and UK doctors, so.... don't hold your breath for him to bite the hand that feeds him.
I literally bought one for Christmas for my sis 😭 now I feel bad and it was like $100
Edit: thanks for all the replies
Don't use her real name and don't opt in for dna relatives and she should be fine. The info is nice and you can download the raw data to check the individual genes (to see what variants you have)
ITS FINE U CAN GIVE IT TO ME IF U WANT
Whatever you do, don't give it to the person above me
why feel bad? its an awesome gift!
Whatever you do, don't listen to anyone in this comment thread.
Excited for the video
I could see how Home Genetic Tests can go awfully wrong. Imagine trying to live a calm and normal life, knowing you have a higher risk for Alzheimer's ...
Knowing that you have a higher risk should make it a priority for you to make changes in your lifestyle to reduce your risk. How is that not helpful to you??
@@k.larson4682 Yeah but for Alzheimer's?
@@k.larson4682The problem is that these tests don’t come with the medical guidance a medical genetic test or counselling would be coupled with. Is it a significant enough increase in risk that I should make lifestyle changes? What lifestyle changes should I make? Does this change screenings I should take? Does it make actual sense for me to worry about it?
@@k.larson4682 Did you watch the video? Dr.Mike just said there is no action you can take with that result. If your genetically gonna get it, it's hard-coded. No lifestyle change can alter your DNA.
@@k.larson4682Having a healthy lifestyle will reduce your risk of developing many diseases. So you should try to have a healthy lifestyle regardless of your genes. But for something like Alzheimer's, there's no single proven cause and there's no cure - so you'll just be left with health anxiety for the rest of your life and no way to take meaningful action if you find out you're at higher risk.
I would be wary of letting a private business have access to my phone number, let alone my DNA sequence
Won't give out an email address anymore and people out here handing over their biological make-up forever for a quick answer you have no real way to know if it's true.
@ThatGuy-vi8ch some stores I go to ask for my postal code before paying and I don't think they should be able to ask for that
My coworker and I were talking about this exact thing yesterday!
What are you concerned they'll do with your DNA?
@@DILFDylF Well, if history shows us anything, it's not good.
I'm from Europe where such tests exist, but they're most certainly not allowed to advertise about any dubious 'health' claims. so while I'm mildly curious to learn about my genetic ancestry, and might have bought a test to this purpose, I'd have never expected this to give me some insight or warning about a possible medical condition.
I wish you brought up that it's not just your genetic data you're exposing but all of your close relatives and family.
He mentioned it an indirect way when he talked about how police have used this data to find criminals. Quite often they have DNA from a crime scene, and then they search the database of known criminals who have had their DNA collection ordered by the court and find nothing. But then they go to these companies like 23 and me and try to do a family match -- which some people just do for fun to see if they can find some distant relatives -- and they end up finding a relative based on the DNA. Then they will work backwards from there and combine it with some surveillance to figure out which family member is the criminal.
But yes, it would've been nice for him to have stated this explicitly also.
"By default they were sharing your data without you even knowing""
Every social media platform ever
Jeez! I am so glad I KNOW where I came from. My family is pretty big but we're still close enough that calls are made to exchange pertaining information regarding health concerns. ❤
Even for necessary genetic testing for medical purposes, I always warn patients about the possibility of their data being used at some point by an insurance company to discriminate against them. Even though the GINA law is still in effect overall, and the ACA is still in effect for health insurance, if that information gets out a life insurance company could potentially decide not to cover somebody or rescind a policy, or an employer could choose not to hire somebody, or find an excuse to fire them before they become expensive to the company.
And although medical insurance companies cannot currently refuse coverage based on medical history, if the Republicans destroy the ACA like they have been threatening to, that protection goes away as well.
And sending your DNA to a for-profit company that may or may not guard the information, is definitely something to think very carefully about before doing .
Yeah Dr. Mike. THIS is why I refused to take one of these "23&Me" tests that I had gotten for my birthday once recently (a few years back.)
Otherwise tho I have had other full "Genomic" testing done for other real "research" reasons at a University with an actual Geneticist...
Given those results and your own experiences that you bring up here in the video are among the reasons that I have continued my stance against this type of BS...
I’m a pre-med student and was really interested in DNA. Last year I decided to get an ancestry test out of pure curiosity. It revealed that my parents weren’t biologically related to me and allowed me to know more about where I come from and contact my bio mother. My ancestry test did not involve many health insights but it did reveal parts of my life that I am very grateful for. I think ancestry is great for finding your origins as long as you aren’t looking for definitive health insights, or any health insights at all.
I’d like to know more about those genetic tests that supposedly tell you which psychiatric medications will work best for you based on your genes
I did one through my psychiatrist!
I’ve used over 10 psych meds in my lifetime. Zoloft (what I’m on now) is the only thing that works well with me that I’ve tried and genetically it’s true too. My psych had me start L-methylfolate to help me and now I need to schedule blood work because my iron is going to need to be lowered or discontinued because of how the supplements been fixing up some loose ends in my gut 😂
It's pretty accurate for me at least.
Lots of meds that I wouldn't do well with were meds that failed or made me get psychosis cause they were so awful.
@ same here. Prozac, cymbalta, lexapro etc
From what my psych said that it tells a person which medications are metabolized best, so in theory, should work best for the person. It's still a trial and error though. I've never taken this test, but know other people who have and it's about 50/50 whether, the medication that's supposed to work, really works or not. My psych said that the science needed to accurately test which medications would really work is not advanced enough yet.
@ yeah 1 that didn’t work for me was pristiq, I had issues with fatigue when taking it even tho it wasn’t a regular side effect. But for the most part I don’t metabolize things well because of one thing but pristiq didn’t have it so I was like “that’s odd” but hey you win some you lose some.
I used Circle DNA, which was entirely medically focused with barely any ancestry focus. I didn't know it was an option for me to talk to an actual geneticist. That seems like a really good follow-up. Thanks.
Dr Mike, can you talk about the BRCA gene mutations? The BRCA 1 gene mutation runs in my family. I had 50% chance of having it, and as a female getting those news last year at only 17, it was really scary. Luckily, though they usually don’t do genetic testing until you’re 18 here in Norway, since I was so close to that age and because the doctors viewed this as urgent enough, I did the genetic testing and found out the results of the tests were negative. Other than knowing if I had the mutation I would have a much larger percentage chance of getting specific kinds of cancers, and would have to do breast cancer screenings from an earlier age and possibly also need surgeries, I don’t know much about this gene mutation. A video on the BRCA mutations and even other information on genes would be really interesting. Love your videos🥰
Dang they WONT give me genetic testing at my regular Dr's *because* I'm over 18. Love to hear Norway cares about their adults and not just minors
@where r u from?
Lot’s of info on that specific gene mutation on the 23andme website. Go do some research. You can expect to be spoon-fed everything.
@@clearhaven
I know there is information out there, but he make videos about medical stuff so I just came with a suggestion. Plus he is someone I trust to give correct info
@selmahoiseth sadly, USA 💔 they barely care abt minors but once you're 18 here there's nothing for help. I need to drive 3 hours to a specialty hospital just to get the basic testing for EDS. I wish they did it the way Norway does it, makes more sense to do it in early adulthood.
I rarely see doctors talk about such topics. Thanks Dr Mike 👏
I wasn't expecting a video about online genetic testing, really graceful with you doing that.
I would suggest a video about telemedicine and online therapy...
I really like having telehealth appointments. I do my therapy that way.
The best in providing accurate info and as always,very informative.Much love to you Dr Mike.Have an amazing Christmas 🌲
Bro thats crazy! Thank you for posting this so me and my folks didn't have to deal with any of this
Giving away the most personal information you have to a random company for funsies sure sounds like a good idea, thank God none of our family got this.
I also remember when Dr Mike did a short on black plastics where they could reach the hazardous levels of fire retardant consumption. But the study researchers made a critical maths error of 70x600 = 4200 instead of 42000
My brother and I have been trying to warn my family about this for YEARS. Thank you!
To be real I can't believe "send this private company your DNA and let them analyze and store the data" was ever an idea that sold well anywhere.
One of these tests informed me that my sister and I were besties with another set of sisters and we were second cousins! Same great-grandparents! And our common family is in another region of the country than either of us so it was not like we were all in the same community. The chances must be astronomical. The full story is WILD but one of my biggest blessings in life.
This is so frustrating! I really wanted to use one of these to try and find out about my anonymous egg donor, but naturally corporate greed just HAD to get in the way.
I have 23 and me and mever paid attention to the health really. I always thought some was interesting but never serious. I always liked their ancestry part and felt they should have stuck with that. I dont regret taking it, it has shown me relaitves i didnt know and help make bridges.
Being told through email that I have an elevated risk of developing an incurable disease is my idea of a good time! The idea that the health report is “just for fun” is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard. This is kind of like randomly giving people full body CT scans, there’s a reason that we don’t go looking for problems like that. If the test just said things you don’t need to worry about then maybe that could be useful.
It's pretty disheartening when you realize that over half of the biotech industry is really just playing pretend to secure investor funding. People without the fundamental skills to analyze data and read/understand privacy policies have to rely on other people who can, like Doctor Mike! You're doing a good thing
I did it, but without the health stuff - and its an amazing tool to put your family tree together. Can't hate on it too much.
Thank you for validating my concerns on this. SO glad I didn't sign up for 23 and me (the one I looked at)
Knew it, didn't finish the video but I knew it!...."continue watching"
I'm reminded of my blood tests. After the tests are done they send the results to me and my doctor. Some of the results concerned me but my doctor said to not put too much thought into it myself because a doctor can interpret them better with knowledge of my history, medications, and other stuff I don't know about.
Another thing that really worries me about these dna tests: I’m a historian, and I’ve been noticing for a while now a worrying trend of people putting way to much emphasis on things like genetics and dna when it comes to topics relating to different cultures and cultural appropriation. The way I’ve heard some people talking about these things, it’s honestly reminding me quite a bit of the pseudoscientific (once considered to be a legit form of science) field of Racial Biology, aka the idea that humanity can be divided into different “races” the way that say dogs can, and that different races carry different genetic traits that make them look and behave a certain way, (and that they should therefore be kept separate) and that really worries me. There is no such thing as one gene that corresponds directly to a specific ethnic group or culture, but the way these tests present their results they almost make it look like there is! And I worry that it might lead people to think that humans are a lot more genetically, and as an extension of that more culturally, segregated than we actually are, and that people might start thinking that cultural sharing and appreciation is something wrong and abnormal, rather than a completely normal part of ALL human cultures that we have been practicing and doing for thousands of years!
Human races are a real biological thing, though, with real genetic differences. There is more genetic distance between a White person and a Black person than between a dog and a wolf.
Dr Mike is a complete package that provides all types of medical information whatever the health problem may be. ❤
I did a health oriented genetics test from an EU company a couple of years back, and personally I'm glad I did.
I know I have to take everything with a grain of salt, however when I did the testing a lot of results popped up which really well aligned with my and my own family's experiences, it explained quite a bit.
From this info, it further reaffirms to me what I had my doubts on, and therefore the next step would be to go to a doctor to get proper confirmation, or already start implementing life changes and see if things get better.
I love you Dr. Mike! I'm always so excited when you make a video. However, can you please make concise versions of your Wednesday checkup. They are so interesting, but it is hard to watch the whole video.
Thank you for your due diligence Mike, I appreciate you.
As a donor conceived person we really need these kits to help us find our families
I found out I have two cousins, siblings, who were donor conceived. A relative was an egg donor and the siblings are now connecting to us. We can share the info we have in terms of health that genetics don’t tell you.
@ please tell them 🙏
As somebody who found out they were donor conceived last year and got these tests, I agree. I have 23 half siblings so far and still counting.
Years ago when they were sponsoring all sorts of content creators on YT, I joked about what if they got breached and had the users most sensitive data stolen. Well, that aged like milk. Actually the joke was going to age like milk either way, but I would argue that the better ending should be there is no data leak.
Question - can disability or long-term care companies discriminate potentially for Medically obtained genetic testing gotten through a genetic counselor ? (Like not just something like 23&me)
Like does that genetic testing stay private between you and your provider? 0:01
Genetic tests should not be done alone at home. People should consult an doctor about stuff like this,it's useless to use a little thing that takes your blood/info, just to say you and your family have ancestors, that don't even relate to you, even if you do, it could still lead to confusion.
I remember a guy who got arrested after is aunt got one of these tests and the company sold the data to the FBI
I'm so glad you did this video. I have a friend who diagnosed herself with a connective tissue disorder by using this. I really appreciate your research so much. I do, too, and try to get my friends and family to do the same.
as someone who worked at a company that developed the equipment that performs the DNA sequencing.. speed to market has become way more important than accuracy of results.. as someone who spoke out about it too much i got let go in a round of layoffs what a surprise
Yeyyy, a doctor mike video.
DR MIKE NEEDS TO REACT TO OUTER BANKS MEDICAL SCENES
If you want to give medical advice, you need to certify the test like any other medical test.
What makes them think that those rules don't apply to them ?
Big tech being reckless, as usual.
You nailed it on this one. Never bought the hype. If my doctor isn't with it, I'm out!
People wouldn’t turn to these home tests if going to a specialist was accessible
If your gut was not suspicious of 23 & me you need a gut check. I remember the Veristablishmentium video and getting a big "NOPE"
Veristablishmentium
Well I'm glad I saw this video pop up because I was gonna do a test next year
Dr. Mike when a 23andMe representative pays him a visit
*you cannot fast travel when enemies are nearby*
Thanks for the information Dr. Mike. And as for the sponsor, would appreciate if you didn't imply that the discount would actually make significant difference compared the value you said (In this case, it could be miscontrued that the subscription would cost me a bit more less than 5 dollars when in fact it's just 4.17). As someone living in a third world country, 4.17 is a lot for news you can access for free anyway. But still it looks like a good news source given a trustable figure like you is vying for it. I am gonna give it a shot coz I really needed a good news aggregator, but I am afraid I won't be boosting your discount numbers.
Perhaps in future include the possible ways how companies use the bought/leaked data and how it affects us in daily basis in a bad way. Otherwise the average person does not understand impact
I took it years ago just to get a generalized idea of my ancestry and trace my roots. I never considered or cared by the medical portion.
I like doing genealogy, so I did some DNA tests, no health information because if I need it I will get it done with a doctors recommendation. I also have been testing the efficacy of the tests, first doing Ancestry, then inputting the raw data from that into MyHeritage, and I am now doing a test directly from MyHeritage to see how results differ or are the same between companies. I also have never trusted 23 and Me, I always got a strange vibe so I never chose them.
Out of respect Mike I don’t even skip this guys ads 😂❤❤
For me, I specifically got a health test to look at ApoE, I wanted to know what variant(s) I had given a family history of Alzheimer's. I have E3/E4, which is not super surprising. It is a little anxiety inducing, but to me I believe it is more important to know so that I can properly plan later in life if I have a family
To be fair, the popularity also arose because geneticists are rare and downing already in the most pressing cases, which doesn't even cover access foe people with bad already clinically diagnosed conditions (by symptoms).
So, companies naturally step into any space where needs can be met. Or people can be made to develop needs they previously didn't have. 😅
Health insurance companies can't discriminate based on genetic testing..... YET. Keep in mind that may very quickly change in the upcoming years. c: Yet another reason I will never do one of these damn tests, as if I'll ever trust that things won't change in the laws for the worse.
Giving up DNA info to some random company is the stuff of nightmares. I had an acquaintance who worked at the company, and they were pretty aggressive about pushing it, and quite defensive of any criticism of the safety measures that were not taken. Won't do it. I don't know of any of my direct family members who have done it, but I do know of a few in-laws who have, and it makes me nervous as the info out there may affect my hubby and kids. I'm already suspicious of health insurance companies misusing my medical data. Sharing personal data, especially with any for-profit companies, will lead to ruin.
Hackers for some reason went after specific demographics? I know and appreciate why you don't speculate but it definitely feels pretty obvious why they went after those groups.
I bought mine from Ancestry so there's no medical info, only ancestral origins. Turns out this Anglo-European has a Jewish great-grandmother.
Merry Christmas Dr Mike
TH-cam sponsors getting scandals is becoming common. Remember that noble title bs? How about Better Help? Skillshare? Years from now we will probably learn a lot of problems about Ground News.
Raid Shadow Legends might be imune because nobody can reasonably believe the hype and claims on their ads, we already know their ads are bs.
Also hello fresh is very expensive compared to buying your own groceries, and hard to cancel
At this point I have a sort of mental blacklist of companies whose advertising budget seems a bit too big to be reasonable
I came to regret having a database know the exact amount of my Jewyness in 2016. In November, I began to worry about it again…
I'm glad I used Ancestry and not 23 and Me. Though, I'm not so sure they're any better.
I found my mom’s biological family thanks to 23 and me. It was the only reason I did it. They were completely wrong about the health stuff because I had some of the medical conditions that they said I wouldn’t have. I didn’t really care about that part as finding my family and connecting with them was huge mental health wise for me.
didn't feel right doing the test so I never did... glad I followed my gut feeling
I was adopted at birth and did 23&me a few years ago thinking it might help me either find relatives or family medical history/risks (the older I get the more I realize how much it sucks that I don't know my family's medical history and if I'm at risk for anything). Unfortunately I did not find out anything relevant on either relatives or medical stuff so it has largely felt like a waste of money. Had no idea the company was doing that badly though. Thank you for the informative video!
Doing a different lone like Ancestry might get better results for connecting you to other people
Even the ancestry angle is pretty problematic. Populations have always moved around so we have no idea what viking or celtic DNA looks like, for example. Some of the research into ancestry DNA is highly questionable because the methodology has not been particularly good, small sample sizes, changing requirements for samples depending on availability of data in one specific area but not others, etc. It's a bit of fun, but it also borders on nonsense.
23andme literally never told me about this hack. Thanks a bunch.
1:41 Isn’t there a correlation between diet and risk of developing Alzheimer’s? Or is this not proven?
Damn, I just did this. Still waiting on the results, but i didn't opt for any medical stuff. I really just wanted to see what my ancestry was cause i don't have any info on my background. I'll be sure to delete everything i can.
I don’t want to know if I might get Alzheimer’s.
I don’t want to know if I might get cancer.
I am the type of person that will end up worrying myself to death.
It’s not good to know these things.
You can’t do anything to stop it. 😳
Thank you for this
The ironic thing is that when I clicked on this video the ad that played before it was for ancestry dna. 😂