There is a third party site which will analyze your DNA test results for health information called Promethease which is FREE until the end of the year as a gift to us from MyHeritage who has acquired that site. You can even upload several tests from different companies for the same person to get a more complete picture.

Looking at your results takes some getting used to. It is a fairly geeky interface but here is a video that explains it.

They only keep the report for 45 days, but you can download it to your computer for future viewing.

Please be aware that the problem with trying to get health results from your DNA test is that so little is yet known. While some of the most damaging mutations are well documented there are hundreds more that might or might not be a problem. Most evidence is from correlation studies which are not necessarily definitive or large enough to be statistically significant.

On the front page you may quickly agree to many terms and conditions but please read and understand this one,

“I realize that most published reports about DNA variations explain only a small part of the heritability of a trait, and they also don’t take into account how different variants might interact. In addition, published reports typically ignore environmental, dietary, microbial, medical history and lifestyle factors, any or all of which may well affect my true risk for any trait or disease. “

Reading some of the information Promethease shows for your genes can be scary but don’t be alarmed. Most of these results are just saying that you might have an increased tendency for a specific condition but please remember that genes have to interact with each other and your enviroment so most are not destiny by themselves.

Here is an example of how it works:

I selected “aging” from the topic menu in the right hand navigation column hoping for some good news and saw the following, “One copy of the good version of the SIRT1 longevity gene. This is believed to slow the aging of the brain, and perhaps to increase longevity.” I like the sound of that!

The name of the SNP is on top left of the little report in blue which means you can click it to go into SNPedia, an online wikipedia of what is known about various SNPs, and find out more. This is part of what I found for that SNP:

Notice that there are items in brackets in blue like [PMID 26297657OA]. These take you to the abstract describing the study that lead to that conclusion which will look something like this:

Personally, I find this stuff incredibly interesting and spent hours on it a few years back. So it’s fun to see what’s new for me. The trick is not to be alarmed by being at increased risk for this or that. Please take it all with a grain of salt.