Ancestry DNA - how reliable? Is it a con?

[Gretchen]

Some time ago my sister bought a DNA/Ancestry kit for her husband, then intrigued, one for herself.

Mentioning it recently encouraging other family members to try after discovering some distant ‘relative’ in Australia. (Deceased and apparently didn’t leave me anything)
My Mother bought one (from the same company) and has just had her results in with a few distant matches/probable relations mentioned. Mainly central English with a little bit of European thrown in (similar to my sister’s and almost everyone I’ve spoken to with a central England postcode. Perhaps coincidence but I’m dubious, after all if you’re supplying your name and DOB etc surely this information could be gleamed from the web/social media within a few minutes).

However, my Mother’s results do NOT mention my sister. It also transpires as a horrible child I used to tell my younger Sister she was adopted.

So other than opening a can of worms how accurate/reliable are these tests? Are they just a ‘gimmick’?

Or in reality is it just a slow to update database and I really am related to my sister?

FWIW I’m not the slightly bit interested in doing this myself.

[Cockaigne]

it is very suspect. My brother was told he had jewish DNA, even though jewish is a religion. Yu get different results each time.

[bigpriest]

Cockaigne said:

it is very suspect. My brother was told he had jewish DNA, even though jewish is a religion. Yu get different results each time.

Jewish is both an ethnicity and a religion (somehow)

[TUS373]

There are dodgy ones. Case in the states of 3 identical triplets all taking a test. They did not tell the supplying company. All test results came back different suggesting they were not related to one another.

It's on a par with having your palm read in many cases.

[bigpriest]

Gretchen said:

Some time ago my sister bought a DNA/Ancestry kit for her husband, then intrigued, one for herself.

Mentioning it recently encouraging other family members to try after discovering some distant ‘relative’ in Australia. (Deceased and apparently didn’t leave me anything)
My Mother bought one (from the same company) and has just had her results in with a few distant matches/probable relations mentioned. Mainly central English with a little bit of European thrown in (similar to my sister’s and almost everyone I’ve spoken to with a central England postcode. Perhaps coincidence but I’m dubious, after all if you’re supplying your name and DOB etc surely this information could be gleamed from the web/social media within a few minutes).

However, my Mother’s results do NOT mention my sister. It also transpires as a horrible child I used to tell my younger Sister she was adopted.

So other than opening a can of worms how accurate/reliable are these tests? Are they just a ‘gimmick’?

Or in reality is it just a slow to update database and I really am related to my sister?

FWIW I’m not the slightly bit interested in doing this myself.

See this link and the bit about SNP. It depends on the size of their database but yes, dodgy and relies on people being 'amazed' that they have traces of lots of different populations from across the world when it's pretty obvious.

DNA Family History

[Gretchen]

TUS373 said:

There are dodgy ones. Case in the states of 3 identical triplets all taking a test. They did not tell the supplying company. All test results came back different suggesting they were not related to one another.

It's on a par with having your palm read in many cases.

I didn’t actually google anything but that’s interesting will seek the story out to read.

I almost posted a photo of a Zoltar machine because the palm reading/tarot cards is what it reminds me of in a way.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

If 2million white Europeans from America and Britain take the test then it'll show you as more than likely British....


It's only as reliable as the people who take it on ancestrydna's paid for database as that's the only data source.......

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Monday 14th August 20:30

[Gretchen]

I imagine the majority of people of do these also own stars, a piece of the Moon and possibly a Lord/Lady title with a Sq metre of land in Scotland?

Im in the wrong business.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Cockaigne said:

it is very suspect. My brother was told he had jewish DNA, even though jewish is a religion. Yu get different results each time.

What they meant was that the overwhelming majority of people with this DNA will be Jewish. Obviously, you cannot tell what someone believes from their DNA, only what they are likely to believe.

A young Jewish couple convert to Islam. They join a mosque, and meet another young couple who have also converted from Judaism to Islam. The 2 couples become close friends. One couple has a son, the other a daughter. Because they know each other from childhood, they end up marrying. He becomes an Imam, she is also very religious. Neither of them actually have any idea their parents converted, as it happened before they were born.

They go on to have children, who are brought up as devout Muslims. If one of those children does a DNA test, they are going to get a result telling them their DNA is overwhelmingly Jewish. But they're Muslim, and so were their parents and grandparents. Their DNA would be exactly the same if the 2 sets of grandparents had not converted, and met at synagogue, and dad was a rabbi and not an Imam.

[Cockaigne]

you can't tell a religion from a DNA test, full stop. Pure conjecture.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

The test result only works if also alot of Jewish people think 'oh I wonder what my genetic origins are'.

If Northern Western White people are the vast majority (if not all) are the ones taking the test then the test won't show people who (take the test) have strong African etc routes.

I know loads of people who are showing the same mix;

Irish/Scottish 50%
Scandavian 35%?
5% Italian
5% Jewish
Etc.

[DickyC]

Cockaigne said:

you can't tell a religion from a DNA test, full stop. Pure conjecture.

But you can tell if someone is Jewish.

Jewish as an ethnicity.

[Cockaigne]

DickyC said:

But you can tell if someone is Jewish.

Jewish as an ethnicity.

no, all Jewish people are not genetically similar or can clearly be identified from their DNA. This is very basic stuff.

These firms play up on this.

[Mazinbrum]

My only other relative I know that has submitted DNA to Ancestry is my second cousin in Sweden and Ancestry correctly identified us as second cousins.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

DickyC said:

But you can tell if someone is Jewish.

Jewish as an ethnicity.

There are many black Jews in East Africa, and there's Rachael Riley. How are they both ethnically Jewish? The legal position on what constitutes a race and what is racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, etc, is different from the scientific position.

[Cockaigne]

Article here if anyone interested

https://www.livescience.com/63997-dna-ancestry-tes...

. "So, you can't really say that somebody is 92.6 percent descended from this group of people when that's not really a thing."

[Leithen]

Worth reading up about the different types of DNA tested, and which companies offer which tests. Autosomnal, MTDNA, and Y-DNA.

Autosomnal is IIRC a much broader brush comparison that requires as big a database as possible to offer accurate information.

MTDNA is your mother’s line, even though men have it, it is only passed down by women. This can give you very accurate information, but the further back you go with matches the harder it is due to female surname changes through marriage.

Y-DNA is the male line and only men have it. It is accurate, but not much use in identifying close relatives due to mutations that occur frequently (100-200 years), but not regularly. Matches can be linked back hundreds of years.

[Riley Blue]

I'm adopted and although I knew my birth name and my birth mother's name I never intended to delve into that part of my family history while my Mum and Dad who adopted me were alive. After they'd both died I started to research my family tree; theirs at first but after a couple of years also my birth mother's. On my original birth certificate there's a blank against father's name so I reckoned I had no chance delving into his past.

I was using Ancestry for my research and did one of their DNA tests, hearing nothing for quite a while other than some general comments about my ethnicity - apparently I'm 38% Scottish, 39% English and Benelux, 15% Sweden and Denmark, 6% Ireland and have a pinch of Norway.

Time passed and some very distant relatives were suggested and then, through Ancestry, I received a message from a man who thought he was a cousin on my unknown birth father's side.

I've seen his photo, the similarity is so close we could be brothers.

[NuckyThompson]

Riley Blue said:

I'm adopted and although I knew my birth name and my birth mother's name I never intended to delve into that part of my family history while my Mum and Dad who adopted me were alive. After they'd both died I started to research my family tree; theirs at first but after a couple of years also my birth mother's. On my original birth certificate there's a blank against father's name so I reckoned I had no chance delving into his past.

I was using Ancestry for my research and did one of their DNA tests, hearing nothing for quite a while other than some general comments about my ethnicity - apparently I'm 38% Scottish, 39% English and Benelux, 15% Sweden and Denmark, 6% Ireland and have a pinch of Norway.

Time passed and some very distant relatives were suggested and then, through Ancestry, I received a message from a man who thought he was a cousin on my unknown birth father's side.

I've seen his photo, the similarity is so close we could be brothers.

i'm awaiting results at the moment probably about a month away.

This is the sort of connection i was thinking it would throw up. I.e. if there's others on ancestry with matching DNA it will notify me.

Not sure if it's secrecy of nobody actually knows but try Maternal grandfather is unknown. Ask my mother or her brothers or sisters and they all say they don't know, there's about a 10 year age gap though so would assume the eldest would have some kind of inkling of who the father is out of the 4 of them but as far as im aware none of them have a father listed on the birth certificate (i've seen the eldest of the 4 siblings cert so know he's not lying)

little bit wary thinking there's some secret hidden or maybe they don't have a clue. Would be interesting to get a match on that side though

[98elise]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

DickyC said:

But you can tell if someone is Jewish.

Jewish as an ethnicity.

There are many black Jews in East Africa, and there's Rachael Riley. How are they both ethnically Jewish? The legal position on what constitutes a race and what is racism, Islamophobia, antisemitism, etc, is different from the scientific position.

If a woman is treated for breast cancer one of the things she will be asked is if she is Jewish. There is a gene mutation thats puts them at a significantly higer risk of breast and ovarian cancer. It has nothing to do with what God they worship.