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Discovering Your Roots — DNA Testing Explained and Celebs who took the Plunge.

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Picking DNA testing kit
Picking DNA testing kit right for you. Image via social media.
Picking DNA testing kit
Picking DNA testing kit right for you. Image via social media.

DNA Testing Explained – Discovering Your Ancestral Roots and Susceptibility to disease and Health Woes. Picking the right testing kit depends on seeking accuracy and depth.

In an increasingly globalized world, goods and services as well as people are moving across national borders with increasing ease. International migration rates are reaching record highs, and the likelihood of a person meeting someone from the other side of the planet will only go up.

The subject of discovering your ancestry is especially popular in settler countries such as America, Canada and Australia. Some people have very well documented family lines that are passed on verbally from one generation to the next, whereas others, especially if there was an adoption somewhere up the line, can only speculate as to where their homeland(s) is/are.

Help from Technology

The rise of DNA test kits has taken society by storm. This has been the product of decade of technological development. Ever since the Genome Project was completed in the early 2000s, the improvements made in the price performance of information technology have made these technologies increasingly more democratized and accessible to the person on the street.

The concept of a DNA testing kit is quite straightforward but easier said than done. When you order a DNA test kit online, you will be charged based on the accuracy of the data bank the company has as well as the scope of the test you desire, I.e. how many facets of your genes do you wish to know about ranging from ancestral roots to susceptibility to certain heritable diseases.

Once you have made your selection, a testing kit will be mailed to your doorstep with instructions on what is needed from you, usually just a certain amount of saliva, and how the package is to be mailed back for testing. Once you have done what was asked for, it is simply a matter of waiting for the test results to come back to you.

Certain internet celebrities and even ordinary people have gone so far as to make unboxing videos on social media to reveal their results to the world. Some people receive pretty well predicted results simply because there was not much left to question, whereas others have received some pretty shocking revelations from these results. 

Picking DNA testing kit
Picking DNA testing kit that might help you detect susceptibility to health woes.

Why Take A DNA Test?

There are a variety of reasons to take a DNA test. It all depends on what your priorities are. The most practical reason is to determine what your susceptibility is to certain heritable diseases. We cannot choose who our ancestors are, but we can certainly take matter into our own hands by knowing what we are up against and find the best ways to go about them.

By knowing what drawbacks you have inherited, whether it be a disposition to Cystic Fibrosis or sickle cell anemia, taking a DNA test will help greatly in determining which ones you need to pay attention to and which require urgent attention. This can potentially save you a lot of money in the long run as it can cut down on unnecessary diagnostic tests.

There is also the personal and slightly emotional reason of simply wanting to know where your ancestors originally came from. If you are one of those to have an illustrious but murky family tree, you might be looking to take a DNA test out of pure curiosity. Even those who supposedly have pretty straightforward lineages take these tests for fun and end up discovering that not all is what it seems.

Some people have actually made travel plans to their ancestral homelands after taking a DNA test to get more in touch with their roots and rejuvenating themselves by discovering themselves in more fundamental ways. Put simply, a DNA kit can be a Pandora’s box, but in a good way.

best dna tests
Picking DNA testing kit that helps you get answers.

Picking A Testing Kit That’s Right for You and Celebrities Who Have Done It

There are plenty of DNA testing services that you can check out here that provide a differentiated range of services that cater to different market niches. Obviously, the more detailed the test you wish to have taken, the pricier it is going to be. So, it is important that you know what you want to know beforehand to avoid wasting money.

Going to a review site for DNA testing kits is usually recommended so as to know which ones are more reputable. Unfortunately, some of the less well-known brands not only have a smaller data base and therefore cannot provide very accurate results, but some have also been known to sell your information to unscrupulous third parties.

There have been quite a few celebrities that have used DNA testing to figure out their true lineages. Many African-American celebrities, such as Snoop Dogg and Oprah Winfrey, have found out they have quite a few non-African ancestors which has given them a whole new perspective on the world.

Others, like Steven Tyler, have actually been able to find African-American ancestors dating back to the War of 1812, where one of his ancestors played the drums which might have been passed down all the way to him in the present day.

Takeaway

Thanks to the never-ending march of technological progress, not only do we have more gizmos to amuse ourselves with, but we also are able to pay more detailed attention to our health in ways never thought possible even at the beginning of the century.

It is almost certain that as time goes by, the realm of DNA testing will only provide us with a greater quality and quantity of services that can potentially greatly increase our quality of life. It is truly exciting to see what the future holds for us.

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