Will DNA/Genetic carrier tests come back to bite us?

[Blahblah]

I read that 23&Me (the Ancestry/Genetic test company) has a Black Friday/Monday offer of 50% off. I've always been curious to do it....What you guys think, Is it worth it?  I'm interested in the Ancestry + Health kit that include Disease Carrier Status and Health Predisposition reports.

Several people told me that doing Genetic Health testing can be misleading & detrimental (and it's illegal in many countries). In the future, could Insurance companies deny you, because technically, you would *know* after the test that you are predisposed to diseases (for example, Breast Cancer, Diabetes, or another disease)

(I've also heard some people just do the basic Ancestry DNA tests & then upload somehow through Promethease or Genomelink to get more details on your genes/genetic mutations? Seems those reports might not be very user-friendly...)

[notloki]

A waste of money. Too little science to back it up and high false positives. Itjust worries people too much. If it was a viable test insurance would pay for and your doc would offer it. It is not as simple as "I have this gene so I will get X illness".

[Iceberg]

46 minutes ago, notloki said:

A waste of money. Too little science to back it up and high false positives. Itjust worries people too much. If it was a viable test insurance would pay for and your doc would offer it. It is not as simple as "I have this gene so I will get X illness".

Curiously here: do you feel the same way about the genesite (spelling?) one that predicts med reactions? I just had a conversation with an NP about it (not for me) 

[notloki]

5 minutes ago, Iceberg said:

Curiously here: do you feel the same way about the gene site (spelling?) one that predicts med reactions? I just had a conversation with an NP about it (not for me) 

No, that is more specific. We already know mostly which genes control the lsozymes. They are a big part of metabolism, which determine how much/little of the drug makes it into your body. 

[Iceberg]

59 minutes ago, notloki said:

No, that is more specific. We already know mostly which genes control the lsozymes. They are a big part of metabolism, which determine how much/little of the drug makes it into your body. 

I am wondering if will eventually get supplanted with the newer focus on using eeg to predict medicine response. Apparently, they had quite good luck figuring out who would respond to lexapro.

https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/neural-signature-predicts-antidepressant-response ...  not a new study it’s from feb but I didn’t want to mention it without the link 

[Blahblah]

14 hours ago, notloki said:

A waste of money. Too little science to back it up and high false positives. Itjust worries people too much. If it was a viable test insurance would pay for and your doc would offer it. It is not as simple as "I have this gene so I will get X illness".

Really? That's discouraging. So it's basically a scam? I just wonder how they could be selling these kits on the market, with geneticists working at the company... and with millions of positive reviews, etc if it's not at all valid.

[CrazyRedhead]

1 hour ago, Blahblah said:

Really? That's discouraging. So it's basically a scam? I just wonder how they could be selling these kits on the market, with geneticists working at the company... and with millions of positive reviews, etc if it's not at all valid.

There are flaws in 23andMe's health kit testing.......As it says at the end of this article, an evaluation done by your doctor would be best.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/01/opinion/23andme-cancer-dna-test-brca.html

As for why they are selling these kits on the market?..... I'm guessing they are making quite a bit of money from the sales.

Edited December 1, 2020 by CrazyRedhead

[Blahblah]

On 12/1/2020 at 9:22 PM, CrazyRedhead said:

There are flaws in 23andMe's health kit testing.......As it says at the end of this article, an evaluation done by your doctor would be best.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/01/opinion/23andme-cancer-dna-test-brca.html

As for why they are selling these kits on the market?..... I'm guessing they are making quite a bit of money from the sales.

Thanks for the link, it explains it well.... I had read that there was some sort of controversy awhile back, but since I saw that it was "FDA Approved" I assumed it was legit (and useful)! I guess I was wrong.

[notloki]

Let me ask you this. Who is going to interpret  all this data ? Do you have a geneticist in mind ?I doubt a generalist who  be able.

[sugarsugar]

I am very skeptical of these claims plus future privacy concerns. My family is very sold on them but I am not very trusting.