What Makes You Who You Are? Ancestry Testing Can Give you Answers

An increasing number of people are interested in finding out what their DNA can tell them about who they are and where they come from. DNA testing can help with this, helping you to place yourself both in terms of your wider family, and your ethnic origins.

DNA testing for ethnic background is particularly interesting in the UK. As an island nation, suffering from frequent raids and conquests throughout its history, and with a constant flow of traders and workers from other countries over the past 1000 years, nearly everyone in the UK has a diverse racial background. Finding out where you fit into that mix may be one of the most interesting things you can do.

This type of DNA testing may be particularly interesting for those from more recently settled countries who visit the UK or Ireland looking for their family connections. This particularly applies to countries like Scotland or Ireland, where a good percentage of annual visitors are those who are trying to trace their ancestry.

So What Does Your DNA Say About You?

Every cell in your body contains a sample of your DNA. You inherit half of your DNA from your mother, and half from your father. This relationship between your DNA and your parents’ DNA is what makes it an accurate way to establish paternity. The chromosomes you inherit from your parents are random, however, which is why you look different to your siblings, although you may share the same eye colour, build or hair colour.

DNA provides a constant thread through the generations, which is why DNA testing can take your DNA and discover your ancestral genetic origins. It will also tell scientists whether you are predisposed to any diseases or other medical conditions, which may be important when you come to make lifestyle changes about what you eat, how often you exercise or what medicines you can take.