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I have been intrigued by DNA Kits since reading lots of blog reviews around a year ago

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What are home DNA kits?
DNA test kits are essentially commercialised science – private companies are allowing us to access the lab from our home. Considering most health or doctor related things in the UK are publicly provided by the NHS, this has been novel in many ways.

Still, this isn’t a healthcare product. We must be careful to realise its limitations, but essentially a DNA test kit is a product that allows you to swab your DNA, send it off and the DNA test company will analyse the results. There are many types of results you can pay for, but the most common and perhaps the most comprehensive is the ancestry analysis.

What can you discover about your ancestry?
The fierce competitiveness of capitalistic science has led us to very high-performing results and analysis of ancestry. Some of the top companies have the deepest ancestry data in the world, with millions of users and even more data points.

Here are some things you can get out of the DNA test kit service:

Ethnicity
Those who estimate themselves to be a mixture of races – perhaps they see traits in their parents that they can’t pin point – or have heard rumours of their grandparents heritage, can essentially explore their ethnicity in detail. The lifetime of wondering if you have any Russian heritage can be proudly discovered. In fact, the biggest value from the ethnicity results is the surprises it chucks at you. You may come to the understanding that you’re 17% Russian, but also that your DNA matches Germany by 7% – something you never knew or considered.

The best bit about this analysis is that it can flip our perception of the world. Those holding strong, proud views about European may come to the realisation that 100% white European does not exist. Or proud nationalist Americans may pay for the test in the hope to reconfirm their Irish heritage, only to receive back that they’re 24% Mexican – a country that they have prejudiced in the past.

This test is usually for the open minded, and thus when those who aren’t and get the analysis, can have a paradigm shift – suddenly their tribalism is crushed and they can open up and empathise with outsiders more – because we’re all made up of a lot of different ethnicities

Family tree.
No matter the level of openness and open mindedness in a holistic sense, we’re all going to have an internal urge to find out more about ourselves. Whether it’s our ego or our family-orientation that has led us through survival – finding out about where we come from is a special question.

Listening to your grandad talk about his experience in the war can make you proud, even though you had no part in it. Now what if you found out your family dates back to a Swedish monarchy? What an awesome insight. This type of insight can bring families closer together, not just from the results but from the on-going process of outlining and drawing it up. It can lead to getting in touch with old family members that you’ve not spoken to in decades, and talking about memories that haven’t been spoken of before.

Why is it a great gift to give your family on holidays?
The thing is, much of the insight and closeness it can bring to a family makes it a very special service. What better time to have it than getting it at a festive time of year, in a time where the family gets together (which can be a rare occasion) and really indulge in how special the moment is?

After all, it’s a gift that the whole family can enjoy (which, other than a nostalgic board game, is a very difficult product to find). For around £60 you could gift a family member their ethnic origin results and discover new family members – that’s value for money.

Of course, this isn’t exactly a gift for your 9 year-old nephew who just wants the latest Fortnite battle pass, but it can be greatly appreciated by older family members. In fact, it’s not as big in the UK as it is in the States, making it a hugely surprising gift too (many Brits know that family tree services exist, but not necessarily that ethnicity analysis can be included in that).

It may be best to not get the health analysis package when getting it for a gift – leave that for them to buy it themselves. It’s not the best present to receive on Christmas, that you’re now predisposed to a rare health condition.

Which companies are available in the UK?
Below are a few of the key players that operate in the UK market. It’s worth remembering that the best genetic testing services will tend to be the well-known ones – as will be explained at the end:

MyHeritage
MyHeritage DNA kit (discover ethnic origin and find new family members) – £59
Reports in carrier status (insight into 27 disorders) – £179

You can also subscribe at MyHeritage for an on-going service. This will give you continued access to historical data, family tree software and so on.
Subscriptions:
Expanded family tree (£79/year; £59 1st yr)
The Ultimate Package (£189/yr; £129 1st year)
Access to all historical data (£109/yr; £79/ 1st yr)
PremiumPlus expected family tree (£139/yr; £99 1st yr)

AncestryDNA
AncestryDNA kit – £79 + shipping (Autosomal test; wait 6 to 8 weeks)

Living DNA
Living DNA starter kit – £49 + shipping (wait time 10 to 12 weeks)
Living DNA ancestry kit – £99 + shipping (wait time 10 to 12 weeks)

23andMe
23andM3 ancestry + traits DNA test kit – £79 (wait time 6 to 8 weeks)
23andM3 ancestry + health DNA test kit – £149 (wait time 6 to 8 weeks)

There are some other DNA test kit companies such as Ancestral Origins which provide fast results (2 weeks wait time), but generally it is best to stick to the big companies. They will not only be reliable in their service, but they have a much larger pool of data. This, in theory, should lead to more accurate results.