Buying a DNA kit is one of the most exciting and interesting things you can do to discover your genetic and ancestral heritage.
Genetic testing kits are a great way of digging up your family history and understanding your genetic make-up and identity.
At-home DNA tests are more popular than they have ever been before and it is no wonder why with so many viable options on the market. It is now cheap and easy to find out your genetic ancestry and it is all done from the comfort of your own home!
You can use these test results to not only learn about your genetics, but your family history, health and well-being as well. Genetic testing is a great way to delve deeply into your roots and understand where your family came from.
Using these tests is quite simple really. Most companies will ask for your name, details and address to send out the kit. Once you receive your test you can provide your sample, register it and send it back on its way and wait for your results.
Most companies require a small swab or a little spit in order to conclude your DNA sample. Once you have provided this, it is simply a waiting game, and many people cannot wait to uncover the secrets of their past.
The advantages of purchasing a DNA test are highly valuable. The things we can learn from genetic testing are impossible to resist. For instance, a DNA test can tell us about our heritage.
Everything we have learned about our heritage so far tends to come from our parents and grandparents. Any further than that can get muddled up or lost in translation.
The benefit of using a DNA test allows us to delve deeper into our DNA than ever before and learn more about who we are, where we come from and where our ancestors come from.
Even more, we can discover our family history and genealogy, or even connect with people with matching DNA or long lost relatives.
In terms of health benefits, DNA testing can provide you with definitive knowledge of what genes you carry if you are looking at having children.
Furthermore, some genetic tests and DNA tests can uncover unique and genetic traits within your genetic code so that you can find out what health conditions you are naturally at risk from. In this way you can be alert of such problems and adjust your lifestyle or habits as a preventative measure.
LivingDNA
Some tests can only provide comprehensive results of maternal or paternal lines, and nearly all companies offer reports of ethnicity and maps of ancestral locations. One of the best DNA companies for locating geographic and ethnic information is LivingDNA.
LivingDNA is a family-run British ancestry business located in Frome, England. It was founded in 2002 by husband and wife David Nicholson and Hannah Morden.
Although LivingDNA is a DNA and ancestry testing company, they surround themselves with an anti-racism ethos at the heart of their business. Living DNA strives to become the first company to make a global family tree called the One Family Tree Project. The purpose of this is to eliminate racial discrimination by collecting DNA and genetic similarites to demonstrate that we are all related.
The project highlights that although we may have different physical characteristics, varying genetic differences and skin colors- we are all linked into one big family tree somewhere down the line.
Unlike many of its competitor DNA companies, LivingDNA promises that it will never sell or profit off of your genetic data. They utilise funds from sales to generate internal research for their One Family network project and own ancestral research.
This is a huge benefit in the modern digital day where you may be curious about your data footprint. If you are concerned about data privacy and the security of your private and personal information, LivingDNA promises to never reveal or sell that information.
This is highly impressive, as other businesses in the genetic field can accumulate large DNA datasets that they can then sell to researchers, insurance companies, pharmaceutical and government services.
LivingDNA offers a 3-1 ancestry service with a test and a breakdown of your genetic and autosomal DNA with insights into your maternal and paternal ancestry. In addition, LivingDNA provides an optional ancestry book that offers details of your family and genetic history that is a great insight into your life.
One of the main benefits of using LivingDNA is their comprehensive results for British descendents. The reference populations that they utilise in their results are biggest in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
This means that the further your ancestors moved towards European countries like Spain, France, Italy and Germany, the results are not quite as accurate as before. However, the company is growing vast and quickly and as their reference populations grow, their results become better and more accurate.
LivingDNA are now developing and expanding their research into Africa, which will bring 72 more regions and more reference panels for African genetic testing.
In general, LivingDNA provides a highly in depth and comprehensive ancestral analysis. Unlike competitors such as Ancestry and MyHeritage, LivingDNA does not access historical records so it cannot provide you with a family tree.
However, their ancestry and genetic reports are some of the most detailed and thorough reports available on the market.
Further information
What is most impressive about LivingDNA is its cheap and accessible testing kit.
At just £49 per starter kit, this is one of the most cost effective and competitively priced kits in the business. The DNA boom in popularity has made exploring your ancestry even more accessible and popular with genealogists all over the world eager to start their family tree.
As usual with genetic testing kits, LivingDNA offers such a low cost starter kit in order to get you hooked on more comprehensive and in depth results. Their basic ancestry test is £69 plus shipping, this test uncovers autosomal DNA, as well as your mitochondrial DNA and Y-DNA.
This way you can understand where both your maternal and paternal ancestors come from. Some other testing companies can only discover your DNA on one side depending on your gender, so LivingDNA offers great results for even better value for money.
They also offer a DNA wellbeing kit for £79 and an all-in-one DNA ancestry and wellbeing kit for £99 plus shipping.
Furthermore, LivingDNA offers an additional professional and stunning Ancestry book. This is composed of your specific personal ancestry results, with details on geographic location and your genetics. This is a great way to share your results with family and a wonderful conversation starter.
Even if you are not highly interested in your family history and ancestral results, using LivingDNA genetic tests can be a great opportunity to further understand the health and wellness traits that you carry.
After gaining your LivingDNA results, you can download the raw DNA results to upload to other websites that decipher what genetic traits and health conditions you may be prone to. For instance, Genomelink can give you a plethora of detailed links to health traits, lifestyle traits, mental wellbeing and disease-causing genes within your DNA.
With this information you can remain alert to some of the genetic diseases and complications that may be present in your DNA and adjust your lifestyle in order to combat it.
For a quick overview of what to expect with LivingDNA, we have 5 things you should bear in mind before purchasing.
The 5 things you should know before buying LivingDNA
LivingDNA kits are some of the cheapest available on the market. At only £49 for a starter kit they are one of the most accessible and affordable ways to uncover your genetic and DNA data.
As a business, Living DNA vow to never sell your data or profit off your private information. Unlike other companies, LivingDNA promises to only use your genetic information for internal research and to build their One Family Tree project.
LivingDNA are based in the UK and the majority of their users are of British and European descent. Therefore their results for British, Irish and European ancestry are highly accurate. Other regions may not gain as strong results but the company is expanding its data rapidly.
What is great about Living DNA is that you can download your raw DNA data results to use on other platforms to understand more about your genetic health and wellbeing.
LivingDNA does not create and build a family tree for you like other ancestral websites. However, they do provide some of the most detailed ancestry reports available on the market.
Uncover the secrets of your ancestors with a DNA kit today!