Asian Girl, English Boy: What We Learned from DNA Testing

Asian Girl, English Boy: What We Learned from DNA Testing

Ahead of our trip to Asia this year, we turned to 23andMe to learn some home truths about our roots

I never felt exotic growing up. I was one of eight Bangladeshi children on a street full of Bangladeshi residents in an area full of Bangladeshi immigrants.

In my home borough of Tower Hamlets, Bangladeshis make up almost a third of the population – significantly higher than the proportion in the whole of London (3%) or England (<1%). In fact, Tower Hamlets has the largest Bangladeshi population in England.

As an adult, I worked at places like Accenture (where I met zero Bangladeshis) and Penguin Random House (where I met zero Bangladeshis) before packing it all up to travel the world (where I met zero Bangladeshis). Suddenly I realized that people were very interested in my roots. Being Bangladeshi was suddenly a point of curiosity, a topic of conversation.

Peter jokes that when we travel as an interracial couple, he plays second fiddle because as soon as we introduce ourselves to someone new, the attention turns to me and my original heritage.

To definitively answer this question - and to try and provide Peter with an interesting origin story - we tried out the 23andMe DNA test kit before our trip to Asia this year. I was curious to see if there were any East Asians in my family as I am often asked if I have Thai, Singaporean or Malaysian in my “mix”. I was always sure the answer was no.

alt="International Woman of Mystery, they call me">Atlas & BootsInternational Woman of Mystery, they call me

23andMe's DNA testing kit revealed that I am 93% South Asian (yup), 5% East Asian (wat?), and 2% Unassigned (huh). As I understand it, this means that there may be an East Asian ancestor in my family from four or five generations ago. I wondered how far the test could go without losing accuracy.

Jhulianna Cintron, an ancestry expert at 23andMe, explains that "The Ancestry Composition Report goes back 5-10 generations. Each of these generations accounts for approximately 25 years, so the total years in the report can be up to 250 years."

A span of 250 years is clearly impressive, but what about “unassigned” DNA? Why can't it be categorized?

Jhulianna says: "There are certain pieces of DNA that can be found anywhere in a particular region and not outside that region. Anything that you think of as largely European, largely Western European, can only be found in those regions. Any pieces of DNA that can be found in multiple regions - so Europe, Asia, West Asia, Middle East - are marked as Unassigned. We are simply unable to reliably assign them to a specific reference population. Instead of just randomly assigning them, these will be your “Unassigned” label.”

My DNA test had revealed some interesting information about my ancestors - but what about Peter? Did he get the story he craved?

Unfortunately, Peter is 99.9% European and only 0.1% unidentified. I pointed out that his European share includes 6% Scandinavians, at which point he perked up and started calling himself a Viking.

alt=“Traveling as an interracial couple often raises questions about our roots”>Atlas & BootsTraveling as an interracial couple often raises questions about our roots

The 23andMe DNA test also provided insight into general characteristics. Apparently I have a <1% chance of having red hair and a 10% chance of being blonde. More doubtfully, I am a “probable sprinter” and have “reduced” pain sensitivity. Anyone who has run with me knows that's not true. With this in mind, I wondered whether DNA testing, and particularly ancestry tracing, are really just forms of genetic astrology, as some have claimed.

Jhulianna says: "In terms of the Ancestry Composition report, we look at a lot of data [including] private datasets and public datasets. We're looking at a genetically similar group, so it's not that we're just assigning you an ancestry based on what we think you might be, it's because that's actually what's in your DNA; you're genetically similar to the reference population."

She adds: "We like to think of your DNA as little cars on a train. We look at specific windows in your DNA and then compare those windows to the windows of known data sets and so we assign you to a reference population. We are very confident in these results."

alt="Peter had hoped for more colorful ancestors">Atlas & BootsPeter had hoped for more colorful ancestors

In terms of trust level, 23andMe offers three flavors. Speculative is the most granular but has a 51% confidence level, Standard is tied to 75%, while Conservative offers a 95% confidence level.

Jhulianna explains: "Any lineage that 'disappears' when you go to Standard or Conservative is moved into a broader category. It doesn't completely disappear from your results, it just goes into the broader category."

Confidence is key, especially in the Genetic Risk Factors and Inherited Diseases sections of the Health and Ancestry Test. This explains why our results do not include heart disease and diabetes, which run in my family, nor cancer, which runs in Peter's family.

Stacey Detweiler, medical affairs associate and genetic counselor at 23andMe, tells us: "We don't have a report on cancer, heart disease and diabetes as a whole. There are so many different types of heart disease and the same is true for cancer, so we don't believe there are just one or two genes that influence this risk overall. We believe there are likely many genes at play and many environmental and lifestyle choices. So we don't have enough information at this point to produce a genetic test result and To give you something usable.

Some may say that DNA testing, especially when it comes to health, is risky because you may come across something you don't want to know. Perhaps customers should equally be warned that they may not find anything special at all. Like Peter, your ancestry may be less exotic than you hoped.

Although, maybe that's unfair. Peter's 'unassigned' ancestry includes the possibility of him being <0.1% Yakut, so he's sticking to that.

If you would like to learn more, order a 23andMe DNA test kit on Amazon or directly from 23andMe. We took the integrated Health & Ancestry test.

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