HOW TO ORDER YOUR GENETIC PROFILE THROUGH 23ANDME

You’ve decided to find out what your genetics hold… but you’re not exactly certain what you need to do from here?

Let me walk you through it.

There are a number of privately owned companies that will process your genetic data such as:

My current pick for both value for money and depth of data provided is to use 23andMe. The 23andMe saliva test provides comprehensive information on Methylation and the associated cycles that are important to me, analysing over 600 SNP’s for $178 USD, which includes the genetic test and return courier of your sample to the US lab. Amy Yasko’s company Holistic Heal is another good option for the information that is useful to me, but at $495 USD it’s not my first pick. ***UPDATE 2017, I no longer recommend 23andMe. Their new V5 chip is next to useless for the info that I need. Ancestry.com is nearly half the price of 23andMe at $129Aud and provides you with more information. I’ll leave this post here as the rest is quite pertinent to either company and may still be useful to someone****

When you click ‘buy’ and order your 23andM e test, you’ll find that you save on postage if you get more than one family member tested at the same time.

My tip when dealing with any of these companies is to use a fake name and date of birth that you will easily associate with the family member you are getting tested. I’m the first to admit that I’m overly cautious, but I don’t feel comfortable with that level of confidential information regarding my family falling into the wrong hands. Make sure you can easily remember which name you assign to which person to save any confusion in years to come.

When you place your order, you might be alarmed by their large bold notice saying that they won’t give you any health reports, all you’ll receive is ancestry information and raw data.

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That’s completely ok. You haven’t just wasted a significant sum of moolah. The raw data is what we need, you simply run it through an interpreting website and the printout you generate is your genetic blueprint that I’ll use when considering your treatment options. I’ll get into that next step in more detail later after I finish walking you through the 23andMe experience.

Once your test has arrived from 23andMe, follow their instructions and login to their website to register your test number to your fake name. Call the prepaid courier company and arrange for them to pick up your sample at a time and location that suits you.

The sample itself is easy to take, simply provide a saliva sample, seal it in it’s tube and send them off with the courier.

Now wait.

And wait.

And wait until 6-8 weeks has passed.

Once you receive the long awaited email saying that your raw data is ready, login to your 23andMe account and download your data file. Save it to your computer. Then head over to an interpretation site such as;

Each of these companies will process your reports instantly and you’ll be able to view your data and download it so that you can email it to me for interpretation as part of your initial MTHFR consult.

LiveWello is detailed, easy to understand and is now the interpretation company recommended by Dr. Ben Lynch.

MTHFR support- Sterlings app have recently increased the number of SNP’s on their report and changed their report format- making it more difficult to read. Eh, you win some you lose some.

Genetic Genie are free! Do you get what you pay for? Yes, they only report on the methylation and detoxification pathways. There continues to be conjecture regarding the reporting of the VDR gene with this company- are they reporting the right one as wildtype?

If you have already ordered your test and reports- Is there anything I’ve missed that you would have liked to know before hand? Any tips you can share to help others?

X Bri


**I’m not in any way affliated with any of the companies that I have mentioned or recommended in this post. I receive no financial, material or other benefit.

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