https://www.23andme.com/en-eu/ (this is the link for the European site, which I automatically get sent to. Try https://www.23andme.com for US)
I'd read about this kit ages ago in my CAM Journal (Complementary and Alternative Medicine). The article was positive in most aspects except one - the results required further interpretation by geneticists or a nutritionist with a strong genetics background, as what you got was basically raw genetic data.
Imagine my surprise when, about a month ago, I was watching television and on comes an advert for 23andMe, offering these self-test kits to the general public! They've re-vamped the way they present the interpretations, and it's now readily accessible and readable. And an added bonus - you get to know how close your DNA is to Neanderthal DNA! That may not excite some of you, but for me perhaps it will explain the copious amounts of knuckle and toe hair I battle with :)
But seriously, I want to know where my genetic strengths and weaknesses lie. I like to be informed so I can make choices based on that information. It's how the name of this blog came about. Health begins with me. Gather the info and make the choices best for you based on what you know.
Without going too scientifical (I know it's not a real word but it's really fun to say) I am hoping to find out - either from the results or from an independent review of the raw data - what my ability to process vitamin B12 is and what specific form(s) of B12 work best for me. There are several detoxification pathways working in the body, one of which is methylation. In order for methylation to proceed, methyl donors are required. The major methyl donor in the body is S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). A lack of B12 inhibits SAMe synthesis, as well as the synthesis of folate. Also, B12 is a co-factor for the enzyme methionine synthase, which converts homocysteine to methionine, completing the circle of methyl donors. But - if B12 is deficient, the reaction is inhibited, potentially leading to hyperhomocysteinemia (a mouthful, fer sure, but it's just a fancy name for high homocysteine levels). Hyperhomocysteinemia is increasingly associated with chronic illness and cardiovascular disease.
Why bring all of this up you ask? Methylation is one of the detox pathways vital for the safe handling of estrogen. Unmethylated estrogen metabolites are potentially damaging to DNA. As a woman skipping along in the years (ok, getting "older") I want to know that my body can safely handle estrogen load because of the risks associated with high estrogen and cancer development. I want to know that my body can handle not only my own estrogens (which naturally decrease with age) but also those known as exogenous estrogens - the ones encountered in the everyday environment through plastics, pesticides, car exhaust, solvents, birth control, oh the list goes on...
And I want to know how close I am to a Neanderthal :)
