DNA Testing – What’s the Best Test?

Updated March 12, 2019: added links to Promethease, Livewello, and several other companies that were compared by SelfDecode below so you can decide for yourself which may best suit your needs and budget.

I decided to add this one as a special to respond to a comment on a different post.

I was using the phrase “It depends” long before I saw it used by Judy G. Russell – https://www.legalgenealogist.com/. In this case, I will be addressing three (3) DNA companies that are not used for genealogical purposes. The three (3) companies are AnabolicGenes – http://www.anabolicgenes.com, SelfDecode – http://www.selfdecode.com, and DNAFit – https://www.dnafit.com/ancestry.

Two of the most common questions I hear when it comes to DNA testing are

1. What’s the best DNA company?
2. What’s the best DNA test?

The short answers are

1. It depends
2. What are wanting to learn from DNA testing?

What you want to learn from DNA testing is going to influence the depends factor. For genetic genealogy DNA testing, as well as other types of DNA testing, in many cases, it’s six of one, half a dozen of the other. However, in certain instances, it will be more cut and dry. If you are looking for DNA things related to health, fitness, diet, etc., then you need to make sure the company tests the DNA markers that will provide the answers you want.

A comment on one of my posts asked which of these companies was the best to test at?

So which of the 3 companies would be best for genetic data interpretation http://www.anabolicgenes.com, Or http://www.selfdecode.com OR https://www.dnafit.com/ancestry? Is there another company that you’d recommend over these ones?

It’s really going to depend on exactly what a person wants to learn through a DNA test. Most companies have their strengths and weaknesses. Are you wanting health, fitness, weight loss/maintenance, diet, medical conditions. For example, I tested with a DNA company through a research center that looked at how my DNA would most likely respond to certain types of medicines.

In addition, most companies don’t do a full DNA test. You have over 3 billion base pairs in your DNA. Depending on company, they may test anywhere from a very small number of base pairs, SNPs, STRs, mtDNA, Y-DNA, etc. to a fair amount. For example, most genealogical DNA companies: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, FamilyTree DNA (FTDNA), FindMyPastDNA, LivingDNA, MyHeritageDNA, and National Geographic’s Geno 2.0 Next tests look at between just over 145,000 autosomal SNPs (Geno 2.0 Next) to over 930,000 autosomal SNPs (23andMe’s v3 chip). However when comparing between the companies, the amount of SNPs in common can vary widely: https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_SNP_comparison_chart. For the more popular tests, you can view a rough comparison of SNPs tested at https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart.

For companies like Anabolic Genes – http://www.anabolicgenes.com, Self-Decode – http://www.selfdecode.com, and DNA Fit – https://www.dnafit.com/ancestry, the comparisons may not be as easy to find. Some of the companies accept raw data transfers from one or more of the genealogical DNA companies in addition to offering DNA tests themselves.

Starting with Anabolic Genes, they offer two types of tests: All-in-One DNA Test: https://www.anabolicgenes.com/en/healthdna.html

This service includes:

• Fitness DNA Testing : Training and nutrition reports
• Health DNA Testing : +100 health reports
• Phamacogenetics testing : +120 drug response reports
• Skin DNA Testing : Skin beauty reports
• Wellness DNA Testing : Brain pathways reports
• Uninterpreted raw data file with +1million SNPs tested.

The above is what you get if you test directly with them. You can do a transfer from 23andMe for about 2/3 of the price. However, you will only get whatever SNPs that your chip version of the 23andMe tested.

The second test is the DNA Fitness test: https://www.anabolicgenes.com/en/acheter.html

Our fitness testing service includes:

• Fitness DNA Testing : Training and nutrition reports
• Health DNA Testing : +100 health reports – THIS SERVICE IS INCLUDED IN OUR NEW ALL-IN ONE TESTING HERE
• Phamacogenetics testing : +120 drug response reports – THIS SERVICE IS INCLUDED IN OUR NEW ALL-IN ONE TESTING HERE
• Skin DNA Testing : Skin beauty reports – THIS SERVICE IS INCLUDED IN OUR NEW ALL-IN ONE TESTING HERE
• Wellness DNA Testing : Brain pathways reports – THIS SERVICE IS INCLUDED IN OUR NEW ALL-IN ONE TESTING HERE
• Uninterpreted raw data file with +1million SNPs tested. – THIS SERVICE IS INCLUDED IN OUR NEW ALL-IN ONE TESTING HERE

Again, they offer a 23andMe transfer option, but as I noted above, you will get the SNPs tested by your chip version of the 23andMe test you took.

From their website, here is some more information: https://www.anabolicgenes.com/en/entrainement.html and

https://www.anabolicgenes.com/en/nutrition.html

Both links give a general idea of what genes are tested. If you want to ask about specific SNPs tested, you may have to contact them.

Moving onto SelfDecode, for pricing: https://www.selfdecode.com/#pricing. There are three prices listed: Individual, Family, and Health Professional

Individual:

Individual

$ 59 / year

• One file upload
• Full SelfDecode toolbox access
• Access to our personalized genetic blog
• 1 Introductory report
• 2 premium DNA Wellness Reports / year
• Extra file uploads for $39 each

Family:

Family

$ 118/ year

• Three file uploads
• Full access to SelfDecode tools for each file upload
• 3 Introductory DNA Wellness Reports
• 6 Premium DNA Wellness Reports / year
• Compare genes among family members
• Access to our personalized genetic blog for 3 users
• Extra file uploads for $29 each

Health Professional:

Health professional

$ 99/ month

• Access to our personalized genetic blog
• Full access to SelfDecode tools for each file upload
• Unlimited file uploads
• Account access sharing with clients
• Unlimited DNA Wellness Reports
• Enhanced customer support
• SelfDecode Practitioner Training [Coming soon]

If you scroll down a bit, you can see how they rank themselves against other DNA companies, including 23andMe’s Health Report – https://www.23andme.com/, DNAFit (see link below), Promethease – https://promethease.com/, Livewello – https://livewello.com/, Strategene – http://go.strategene.org/genetic-analysis, and Nutrahacker – https://www.nutrahacker.com/. It sounds like you can look for genes or SNPs if you are wanting more information.

Since they compare themselves to the above other companies, it may be best to look at each of those companies to see if they better meet your needs than any of the three (3) DNA companies I mentioned in this blog post.

Lastly, DNAFit: https://www.dnafit.com/ancestry/ – scroll down the link for a sample report Like AnabolicGenes, DNAFit allows 23andMe transfers.  They also offer transfers from AncestryDNA.

https://www.dnafit.com/why-dnafit/

DNAFit is not just a DNA test

As genetics gains popularity, it pays to choose a company with robust science and the commitment to helping you get the most out of your results. For us, the test is just the beginning.

With DNAFit, you’ll have everything you need, right at your finger tips:

• Genetic diet and fitness reports
• Your own personal health coach
• The DNAFit app with live chat support
• Genetically-matched training programs
• Personalised meal plans and recipes
• DNAFit’s dedicated research and development team – one simple test for a lifetime of ongoing discovery and change!

DNA Store: https://www.dnafit.com/store/

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