CRI Genetics Review: What Can You Learn About Your Ancestry?

Usually used for paternity tests cesd children alimony claims, DNA Testing is now fashionable. It seems to be the new trend for laboratories to exploit their consumers and make money and more money.

However, as a reader of Consumster, you are most certainly aware of Cellular Research Institute quality work and ethics. I bet you know how much research is involved in their product development. Or how much their Turmeric, Probiotics and Fish Oil supplements help our readers every single day.

So why did CRI decide to dig into genetics? And, more important, what exactly is CRI Genetics? What can you learn from it?

Because I was intrigued, I decided to take the test myself. I short-listed the five most important factors, then rated each factor on a scale of 1 to 10:

 

1. Easiness of the Test
2. Speed of the Feedback
3. What Can You Learn
4. Results
5. Safety

 

 

1) Easiness of the Test (9.9/10)

The website is super easy to use. The order button at the bottom of every page will redirect you to choose your package. Women can receive their ancestry and mother’s lineage report, while men can also get their father’s lineage, thanks to their chromosome Y.

Within 3-5 days, you will receive a small box with the instructions, a prepaid return envelope, a sealed bag with your personal bar code and what looks like chopsticks.

The instructions are really easy to follow. Open the “chopsticks” and scrub the inside of your cheek with the mouth swab. Then put the swab in the bag, seal it and log in your personal portal where you will enter your bar code and create a password so only you can later access your results. Finally, put the sealed bag in the prepaid envelope and post it.

The whole process is fast, easy and painless.

2) Speed of the Feedback (9.3/10)

You will get a “Welcome email” with your bar code soon after you checked out, but you might not hear anything from the company until 6 to 8 weeks after you sent your mouth swab. Then, once your results are ready, you will receive the second email. Your “Certificate of Ancestry by DNA” will tell you which of the 4 main population groups you belong to.

6-8 weeks could seem long, especially when you usually get everything within the hour. But DNA tests take a long time, and CRI Genetics compares your test results to all of those they have in stock, so you get the most accurate review of your ancestry.

For example, 10 generations ago–year 1817 at 20 years per generation–, a baby born today has 1024 ancestors. By measuring your ancestral proportions throughout your DNA, CRI Genetics actually measures the average population affiliations of all of these 1024 ancestors. And unfortunately, that takes time.

3) What Can You Learn (9.4/10)

As you may know, DNA is the genetic material found in all living things. Each cell in your body contains a full copy of your genetic material.

Ancestry DNA testing refers to three types of DNA in your cells:

• the Y chromosome, used in direct paternal lineage testing (only men have this chromosome),
• the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), used in direct maternal lineage testing,
• the autosomes—non-sex chromosomes that make up the complement of your genome.

CRI Genetics scans 176 markers in your autosomes to determine your ancestral makeup. These are the most representative autosomes. They are called ancestry informative markers (AIMs).

Your AIMs allows the geneticists to determine which of the founding populations contributed to your genetic makeup: European, Indigenous American, Sub-Saharan African or East Asian.

However, ancestry percentages obtained with CRI Genetics report genetic affiliations, not necessarily recent genealogical histories. They are anthropology-driven AND genealogy-driven: a 10% East Asian result for a European person, could have a very simple, genealogical interpretation (i.e. your recent ancestors were Chinese) or a more complex, anthropological explanation (i.e. you are from an ethnic group with a historical connection to East Asians).

As a result, this test voids the concept of race, as people from different ethnicities in appearance might share ancestry.

 

 

4) Results (9.6/10)

The CRI Genetics test use methods scientifically and statistically established. They are based on testing thousands of samples from populations around the world for DNA markers that can provide clues about your ancestral history. CRI Genetics will give you an estimation of your ancestral proportions based on the evolutionary and geographical history of the human race.

Your results will come in two formats:

• a table report listing your ancestral percentages of the four founder groups
• a bar graph showing the confidence intervals for your percentage ratios.

You will receive a manual to help you understand your results and their signification. That manual describes some DNA basics and information on human evolution and history. It also provides some resources, if you wanted to do more research on your own.

Now, let’s talk about users reviews.

I could identify two trends. Some of the users purchased CRI Genetics by curiosity while others needed specific answers. Both groups commented on how much knowing their ancestry helped them. I also found some happy comments about sharing roots with some of our most famous celebrities…

After I took the test myself, I was surprised to see how deep CRI Genetics could dig. Even when I thought I knew most of my lineage, I actually discovered that I was 3% East Asian!

But, because I am a woman, I could only test my mother’s lineage. So I had my brother tested to know more about our common ancestry–it works with cousins, too btw, as long as they have the same paternal grand-father. Testing siblings is a great way to know more about your family’s ancestry because, even though they share both parents, real siblings can have different ancestral proportions (due to receiving different sets of chromosomes).

5) Safety (9.9/10)

I examined CRI Genetics security policies thoroughly and was really pleased with the results of my investigation. The company stores your DNA sample and results with your bar code only, without any personal information. Your sample, results and personal information are your property. Therefore, you can request for them to be deleted any time.

The labs are in the USA, which means that they have to obey strict procedures, one of the most important ones being confidentiality.

Your payment information—credit card numbers and mailing address—are automatically deleted, once your payment is processed. You can also pay through Paypal, which makes the payment convenient and even more secure.

Summary

My evaluation revealed that CRI Genetics is of tremendous help when you want to know your ancestry. It can help you answer this simple question: “Where are you from?”

In a time of mixture and ample travels, knowing where you come from, knowing where your ancestors lived thousands years ago can help you understand yourself, your dreams and your choices. And decide whether or not you want to pursue them.

You can learn more about CRI Genetics on http://crigenetics.com/