Like 23andMes 2020 report, AncestryDNAs 2020 results report showed percentages that had shifted and offered more detail than the 2017 report did. For its part, AncestryDNA has expanded in recent years to include 94 genetic communities for people of African American and Afro-Caribbean descent as well as new genetic communities for people with ties to Mexico, Central America, and South America. For some people, taking a home DNA test (also known as a direct-to-consumer DNA test) may represent an opportunity to learn things about who they are, where they came from, and who theyre related to that they simply would not have otherwise. 23andme is as accurate as AncestryDNA and also provides the migration paths for maternal and paternal lineages. 
A closer look at the results from our main picks revealed broader geographic definitions than were evident at first glancea lumping together of disparate African regions that may have obscured our testers Angolan roots.
When we first reviewed DNA testing services in 2017, we commissioned a legal analysis of the terms of service and privacy policies of AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA by Brian J. McGinnis, a partner with Barnes & Thornburg LLP and a founder of the firms data security and privacy practice group. Our testers received their autosomal results within about four weeks, but results from the Y-DNA and mitochondrial tests we ordered took an additional one to four weeks to become available. To see how this bias plays out in actual results, we recruited a panel of testers (three men and four women) who collectively had known ancestry from Africa, East Asia, Europe, the Middle East, (native) North America, Polynesia, and South Asia. Its important to recognize that although DNA tests can give you useful information about your ancestry, and even uncover heretofore unknown relatives, their ethnicity estimates are just that: estimates. As is the case with 23andMe, you cant see any information about your potential matches (nor can they see anything about you) until you opt in to the service. 
Note that FamilyTreeDNA has its own DNA testing lab, a rarity in the industry, as most services contract with outside labs. She is a PhD student in the School of Arts and Humanities at Claremont Graduate University, where she holds a Margo L. Goldsmith Fellowship. fatness concern As of June 2020, this test is no longer available. In researching this guide, we spoke with experts in the fields of genetics, anthropology, law, and medical ethics from the National Institutes of Health, Stanford Law School, the University of Maryland Carey School of Law, and the NYU School of Medicine, as well as genealogists who have provided commentary for television news magazines like Nightline and 20/20. Our journalists combine independent research with (occasionally) over-the-top testing to save people time, energy and money when making buying decisions. ancestry FamilyTreeDNAs most detailed tests can set you back more than three times what youd spend on the companys basic autosomal test or those from its closest rivals. We then have to come up with the most likely ancestral homeland [for our customer] based on where the matches are most common. Kittles noted that if the matches in Guinea-Bissau had occurred at a frequency close to that of Angola, both populations would have been listed in the results. After we shipped a total of 29 physical DNA samples back to the testing companies, our wait times for the results ranged from three to eight weeks. But such DNA testing services also come with inherent privacy concerns, and theyre bound by few legal guidelines regulating the use of your data. No matter which company you test with, you have to dig into the data on the website at least a little to truly understand your results. In a phone interview conducted after we had received the test results, Kittles examined the results and expressed full confidence in the Angola findings. We see it every single day, Moore said. We have not evaluated the companys more recent, lower-cost DNA testing and analysis options. In 2019, FamilyTreeDNA released an upgrade to its Big Y test called the Big Y-700 test, which added 700 short tandem repeats (STRs). Our testers AncestryDNA results report from 2017 showed broad percentage estimates for each geographic region of ancestry. But unlike AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA does not charge an additional fee for you to fully participate in its family-matching service.
Customers have always been in control of how their data is used and shared, and customers choose whether their sample is stored at our lab, or destroyed. Regarding law enforcement requests, Haggarty affirmed that 23andMe has never given customer information to law enforcement.2, Meanwhile, FamilyTreeDNA CEO Bennett Greenspan confirmed to us in 2017 that the companys Y-DNA and mtDNA tests did not return any biomedically relevant data. Just be aware that the company voluntarily provides law enforcement access to its customer database. Those concerned about privacy should know that FamilyTreeDNA is the only DNA testing service were aware of that is voluntarily providing customer data access to law enforcement. For example, he told us, Theres no single gene variant that makes you Tunisian; almost any variant that youll find in Tunisia youll also find in Argentina. DNA tests simply look at how often these variations occur, and algorithmically assign geographical areas based on statistical probabilities. For people who are new to genealogy, the sheer amount of information from the Y-DNA and mitochondrial tests can be overwhelming and difficult to put into context. orig3n In theory, keeping your genetic data under the roof of a single company with a unified privacy and data policy means a higher likelihood that your data will stay private. Testers should be extremely confident that the former is accurate. Full Genomes was the most expensive service we researched at the time of our previous guide, with test prices starting at more than twice as much as any other competitor. These policies vary wildly in length and readability, and they are subject to change at any time. The appeal is obvious: By simply spitting into a tube or swabbing the inside of your cheek, you can unlock genetic mysteries that may stretch back generations. MyHeritage began offering DNA tests only in late 2016, which almost certainly means it has a relatively small database from which to generate family matches. Its something you do with, not instead of, regular [genealogy] research. In our 2017 testing, our tester of African descent received broadly similar results regarding his African heritage from AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, National Geographics Geno DNA Project, and 23andMe. AncestryDNA was the only service we tested that is limited to autosomal testing. Whereas the companys previous reference panel, the AncestryDNA V2 reference panel, contained 3,000 individual DNA samples representing 26 distinct geographic regions, the updated AncestryDNA ethnicity estimation reference panel contains 56,580 DNA samples representing 77 regions. Sometimes we find identical matches across a broad geographic range, he explained. These additional tools should satisfy nearly any genealogy buff looking to explore their connections to early human migration or wanting to find relatives from one particular side of their family tree. Using these filters, we narrowed our list of contenders down to just five companies: African Ancestry, AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA, the National Geographic Geno DNA Project (no longer available), and 23andMe. The reality can be more complex, however. Herein lies the problem: The greatest portion of the DNA samples in the reference population databases that these companies use to compare your sample come from people with European ancestry. We have not evaluated the services autosomal testing. Plus, for people seeking distant cousins or even biological parents, the companys claimed DNA database of more than 30 million customers increases the odds of successful matches. FamilyTreeDNAs ethnicity estimates for our testing panel were broadly similar to those from AncestryDNA and 23andMe. AncestryDNA provides a small USPS prepaid shipping box you can use to send your sample to the testing lab. The continental predictions [as in] European versus African versus Asian are pretty solid, said CeCe Moore. The DNA Solutions website indicates a primary focus on paternity testing, with ancestry information limited to a wall chart showing broad migration patterns of your ancient ancestors. We recommend these tests only for people who have taken the time to gain a clear understanding of how their data will be stored, shared, and protected. The European Union has been active in regulating tech companies concerning consumer privacy, and Living DNAs promotional materials highlight the fact that it does not sell or share any of your data. The company declined to provide us with its customer database size but told us that 30% of its customers resided in the UK and 55% of its customers had British ancestry. AncestryDNA showed ties to a Senegal region that encompasses Guinea but also to a Cameroon/Congo region that, on its map, extends from Nigeria all the way down to northern Angola. Weve updated this with the latest customer database sizes. African Ancestry wasnt created to tell you if you have African roots. Submitting your sample to FamilyTreeDNA is just as straightforward as doing so with AncestryDNA and 23andMe, with the major difference being that you swab the inside of your cheeks for the FamilyTreeDNA test rather than spitting into a tube as the other two companies require. His work has appeared in Al Jazeera America, The New York Times, Forbes, and The Atlantic. So when you submit a DNA sample to trace your ethnicity, keep in mind that there is a vanishingly small proportion of a really small number of genes that could possibly be different between human beings0.015%, to be exact. The whole thing takes about 10 to 15 minutes. The next step is to collect your DNA sample by filling the provided tube with saliva. In particular, these articles have highlighted the ways in which companies like AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and FamilyTreeDNA monetize biomedical data and/or collaborate with law enforcement: Despite these eyebrow-raising developments, there has been some movement toward standardizing security and privacy practices in the DNA testing industry. You can see the usernames and profile photos of your potential matches (they can see yours as well), and through the sites messaging platform you can reach out to them. Its no accident that AncestryDNA refers to its algorithmic process as ethnicity prediction.. DNA works hand-in-hand with paper trail documentation, said Judy Russell, genealogy lecturer, educator, and author of the blog The Legal Genealogist. dna kits think testing americans millions corner found season ve around perfect gift And, she added, they also have to trust in the goodwill of every law enforcement officer or investigator.. We see everything from a comprehensive 100-page policy from a big company to a mom-and-pop shop whose privacy policy might be a sentence long, said James Hazel, a Vanderbilt University Medical Center fellow who co-authored a survey of privacy policies at 90 US genetic-testing companies. We think that for most people getting started in researching their ancestry, the current offerings are sufficient, but those wanting a more granular look at the past may want to try 23andMe or FamilyTreeDNA. Among other things, the service offers to screen for breast cancer, colon cancer, and heart disease. The companys DNA-matching feature automatically compares your DNA with that of its entire customer database, alerting you to any genetic matches alongside an estimate of how closely you may be related. In the course of testing for this guide, one of our participants learned that a parent was fathered by someone other than the person they grew up knowing as their grandfather, unearthing a family secret and placing a heavy and unwanted burden on our testers shoulders. Youll need to devote time to reading them. This is one product category where you definitely shouldnt click blindly on a consent box, as you might with app updates or when youre setting up a smart thermostat. All of the genealogy experts we talked to stressed that unearthing family history takes a lot of work. The service compares the DNA with this reference data to inform your Ancestry Composition results. This is still the case, though the company doesnt do anything with that data without your consent. Shown here is a view of the home location of one customers maternal ancestor mapped along with the home locations of ancestors for customers who shared her maternal ancestry. The aptly named AncestryDNA test stood out as the best DNA testing kit because it presents test results in a clearer manner than other services and places the ancestry information it provides in a useful historical context. Julie Granka, AncestryDNAs manager of personalized genomics at the time of our interview, explained to us that the company begins by identifying clusters of customers in its database with similar ancestral DNA. With a DNA database of 12 million customers, it may offer lower odds of connecting with unknown relatives, but it has the most polished site design, which makes navigating the myriad charts, reports, and explanatory documents easier than on competitors sites. These are the same testers 2020 estimates. For this guide, we limited our research to companies devoted in large part to human-ancestry DNA testing. dna test 23andme kits heavy right which However, it cant differentiate between maternal and paternal lineages, and the company may monetize your DNA data if you opt into its research program. paternity test kit instant Through the process of analyzing historical records such as customer-provided family trees and other paper-trail documentation relevant to this collection of individuals, the company can piece together the geographical movements of that community over time. In addition, AncestryDNA automatically builds what it calls Communitiescollections of customers who share some DNAthat can identify migration routes that have occurred within very recent generations. AncestryDNA has also made significant additions to its global region sample datasets. Our panel of testers shipped their samples from California, New York, and Texas. 23andMe has a sleek, brightly accented user interface that includes easy site navigation and a useful summary of your DNA analysis right on your homepage. Unlike most of the other services we tested, however, AncestryDNA cannot track your maternal and paternal heritage independently or trace your ancient migration path out of Africa. This DNA test is fine for tracing your general ethnic origins but shines in its optional add-ons, which provide highly detailed analysis of maternal and paternal lineages. Though the percentages varied in the results for our tester of African descent, all of the companies we tested indicated West African lineage. Its extremely difficult for individuals of African American ancestry to trace their roots because of the slave trade, said AncestryDNAs Julie Granka. Offering tests for either maternal or paternal lineage, the company uses a database of more than 30,000 contemporary African DNA samples. A FamilyTreeDNA spokesperson told us by email that the company will allow the upload of law enforcement samples to the database if they meet a very specific set of criteria. The spokesperson also said, Customers have the option to opt-out of participating in our genetic witness program in their account settings in their matching preferences.3, I often, in my own head, kind of lump Ancestry and 23andMe into one bucket and put FamilyTreeDNA in a totally separate bucket, said Natalie Ram, associate professor of law at the University of Marylands Carey School of Law and lead author of an article titled Genealogy databases and the future of criminal investigation. Ram continued: Ancestry and 23andMe have a whole law enforcement guide that says, you must bring a warrant and we will fight you. dna paternity The company presents this as a convenience so that if you later decide to upgrade to its health test, you wont need to submit a new DNA sample or even wait for 23andMe to perform an analysis; that work has already been done. We asked librarians and teachersall Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC)to share books that theyve found can help kids understand race and racism. Ancestry is not currently providing any individual-level genetic data to third-party researchers, a company spokesperson told us in 2018, and is instead providing summary-level data in its current collaboration with the University of Utah. James Hazel called the standards a positive development that starts the conversation and highlights some of the privacy issues. There are no substantive penalties for violating these voluntary standards, though the FPF removed FamilyTreeDNA as a supporter of the initiative in 2019 after the company was caught sharing database access with federal law enforcement. Though the percentages varied in the results for our tester of African descent, all of the companies we tested indicated West African lineage. And once you do, the picture often becomes less precise than you may have originally assumed. You also see customers who share DNA from only the maternal side of your family going back many centuries, potentially gaining a more complete picture from which you can start building your familys genealogy. Ancestry has since streamlined these documents with more user-friendly language, and the companys DNA-related policies are now incorporated into an updated terms of service document and a revised general privacy statement. We have not wavered from our policy of not sharing information with third parties without separate, explicit consent from our customers, said Jacquie Haggarty, 23andMes VP deputy counsel and data privacy officer, in a 2020 email. walgreens Given this context of the probabilistic ethnicity range shown, although its statistically possible for him to have roots from this region, its certainly not something he can claim with complete certainty unless its supported by family documents or historical records. Were in an environment in which we dont have rules about big databases, who accesses them and under what circumstances, said Arthur L. Caplan, director of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York Universitys School of Medicine, in 2018. We didnt evaluate biomedical testing for this guide, but if youre seeking info on potential health indicators in your DNA, 23andMe offers a suite of reports as a paid add-on service. 23andMe offers the same type of ethnicity estimates (and presents the same privacy concerns) as AncestryDNA, at a similar price. But access to personal contact information for your matches, their family trees, and the companys database of historical records requires you to purchase a subscription, an upgrade that over the course of a year is more expensive than the DNA test itself. In early 2017, the seven participants convened at the The New York Times building, where they registered their kits online and provided DNA samples either by swabbing the inside of their cheeks or spitting into a tube. Before you decide which of our picks is best for your needs, we urge you to spend a few moments reading our privacy section. This policy may be a dealbreaker for some people and merely worth a shoulder shrug for others, but in either case it points to the broader privacy risks weve discussed in this guide. Moore also emphasized that investigators must abide by policies protecting the individual's choice concerning whether their DNA data can be used. Creating a customer accounta requirement when youre registering your DNA kitmeans that any customer the company deems a potential family match, no matter how distant, can see your username and profile photo (if youve uploaded one) and contact you through the companys web-based messaging system. What could explain this addition to our testers family lineage? If you are interested in this sort of DNA testing, we suggest consulting with your doctor to understand the full implications.
If you pay for both an autosomal and mitochondrial test, for example, you have access to two sets of matches. dna kit test healthy weight dialog displays option button additional opens zoom walmart Clicking on a region reveals a percentage range of likely probabilities for your ethnic ties to the specific region or country, a link to more information on how Ancestry calculates this range, and historical information about the region.
I wasnt just disappointed, I was angry, she said. Based on feedback weve seen on customer message boards, wait times are likely to vary depending on current demand, but the six-to-eight-week time frame that AncestryDNA gives on its website seems to be a reasonably accurate worst-case estimate. McGinnis found the policies to be in line with common industry practices, though he saw room for improvement, noting that AncestryDNAs DNA-specific terms of service and privacy policies were not as clear as the companys general privacy statement. Though the percentages varied in the results for our tester of African descent, all of the companies we tested indicated West African lineage. orig3n It has a much more narrow goal: to match a person of African descent with the tribe and present-day country location of their contemporary relatives. Until you join AncestryDNAs subscription service, the information you can glean from these family matches is limited; you can see the peoples usernames and profile pictures, and they can see yours, but thats all. Our testers found that collecting and sending saliva samples was straightforward, with clear instructions and sturdy mailers. DNA tests also involve uncertainty, a measure of inherent risk and unpredictably, and breakthroughs that sometimes come with unanticipated implications. If youre taking on the challenge of building a detailed family tree, a DNA test can provide useful information about your ancestry. This is an opt-in feature, and should you decline to participate, the 23andMe customers who have opted in will not see your username, profile photo, or contact info even if you turn up as a genetic match. DNA test kit results can play a crucial role in genealogical research breakthroughs for African Americansbreakthroughs that may not have been possible with traditional, often limited written records alone. Brody noted that, for scientists, ethnicity and race are problematic terms because DNA simply points to biological ancestry. To compare real-world DNA test results, we recruited a panel of DNA-test takers who collectively represented each of the seven major population groups identified by the companies we evaluated. For male testers, 23andMe can provide a look at the ancient migration paths of both maternal and paternal lines independently. If youre using a DNA test to try to find unknown relatives or biological parents, the biggest advantage to choosing AncestryDNA is that the company claims a DNA database of 30 million customers as of this writing; thats significantly larger than the databases of its closest competitors. The experts we consulted told us that though DNA testing techniques are well established and will be similar no matter what company you choose, the relative sizes of the reference samples that your DNA is matched against for estimating ethnicity or finding relatives is one of the big variables among ancestry testing services: The larger and more diverse the sample size, the greater the likelihood that youll receive informative results. It monetizes your anonymized medical data via a partnership with GlaxoSmithKline, but only if you opt in to research participation. Here are some questions you should make sure to find the answers to before using a DNA testing service, including one of the picks in this guide: We knew from talking to experts that the customer databases companies use to determine your ancestral roots can vary widely in their representation of ethnicity but tend to overrepresent European-descended populations by a large margin. African Americans face additional hurdles, however. His ethnic ties to England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe are listed at 9%, yet the range slider indicates that his genetic ties to this region (which on AncestryDNA includes everything from Scotland to parts of Switzerland) could actually be anywhere from zero to 15%he shares DNA associated with people from these geographical regions, but as weve discussed above, given the history of human migration, people who have ended up elsewhere share many of those same markers, too. Thats not even the biggest challenge, said Lawrence Brody, PhD, director of the Division of Genomics and Society at the National Institutes of Health. One possibility lies in the fact that Angola was a Portuguese colony beginning in the 16th century. AncestryDNA was the first company we saw to offer this type of information, and combined with the companys large customer database, it can be valuable to history buffs who want to know how both close and distant relatives ended up in their contemporary locations. Even so, as genealogy newbies, we had to place a call to customer support on more than one occasion for clarification of what some of the data meant in practical terms.
