Getting a Home DNA Test seems to be the most popular thing to do during the pandemic. Everyone’s curious about where their ancestors came from and what health concerns they should consider. Now, the quest for clarity has been solved!
With a Home DNA Test, you can unlock the life-long answers you’ve been searching for within minutes. All it takes is a sample of your saliva or swab of your cheek. But there seems to be a bit of confusion about how DNA tests actually work. The biggest challenge: all the “facts” aren’t always true.
Before you purchase a home DNA test or take the results as face-value, here are a few tips to ensure you are not led astray.
Don’t think you’re exempt from diseases
Common diseases such as breast cancer and Alzheimer’s can possibly be detected through a home DNA test. But you can’t always rely on the results to accurately reflect your odds of being disease-free. If your lifestyle habits are leading you down a dark road, your genes probably won’t help you. It’s easy to put all your hope into a DNA test to determine your health status but there are more factors beyond genes that will affect your risk of getting diseases. Don’t let a DNA test convince you that you don’t need to commit to a healthy lifestyle to achieve optimal health.
All conditions won’t be found
Genetics is a growing field — but that doesn’t mean the entire universe of diseases have been discovered. Although you may be able to rely on a home DNA test to track popular diseases, you may not get the information you need to uncover lesser-known diseases that may impact you.
Your family tree may not be complete
Popular DNA test kits such as AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and MyHeritage Genetics all come with benefits but you should be aware of the limitations — they all have their own database of samples from various people all over the world. The companies match your sample against the others that are in their database. So, if members of your family tree were not tested by…