Speaker 1: Have you ever thought about how incredibly complex I spit is.
Speaker 1: It may only be water, but just aliva isn't simple.
Speaker 1: That remaining one percent holds incredibly meaningful information that could
Speaker 1: change everything. And I'm not just talking about your family
Speaker 1: treat Hi. I'm barrittun Day Thurston and on this season
Speaker 1: of Spit and I Heart Radio Podcast with twenty three
Speaker 1: and Me, we explore how DNA isn't just about ancestry,
Speaker 1: it can also be key to understanding your health. Yo,
Speaker 1: it's baratun Day, Welcome back. Samantha McVeigh and Annie Reese
Speaker 1: are no strangers to tackling the tough questions. Their show
Speaker 1: stuff Mom Never Told You is a wildly successful go
Speaker 1: to for conversations on what it is to identify as
Speaker 1: female and with research based discussions around feminism and how
Speaker 1: it impacts everyday life. It's no wonder they have an
Speaker 1: audience the size of a small country. So for this episode,
Speaker 1: I was especially interested in how they would tackle the
Speaker 1: question of health and DNA and how our genetic makeup
Speaker 1: not only holds the keys to our past, but can
Speaker 1: reveal certain health insights that may impact our future as
Speaker 1: an adoptee, especially a transracial adoptee. Samantha shares how it's
Speaker 1: not unusual to seek out more information about one's biological family,
Speaker 1: but to date, information about her health history has remained
Speaker 1: a mystery. She's taken the twenty three and ME health test,
Speaker 1: and she's both excited and anxious, all while recognizing the
Speaker 1: need for a strong support system, as this can be
Speaker 1: an emotionally triggering experience for many. Samantha's approach to preparing
Speaker 1: herself for the test, it's extremely important, especially given her
Speaker 1: personal history. As she herself acknowledges, it's also very empowering
Speaker 1: to have control over your own information, with the choice
Speaker 1: to learn as much or as little as you like.
Speaker 1: That's the benefit of this experience. It's about you. It's
Speaker 1: up to you. Your DNA may be unbelievably small, but
Speaker 1: it's incredibly powerful. Samantha shares how mildly surprised she is
Speaker 1: by what she learns, but more importantly, how the experience
Speaker 1: has been giving her a lot to think about. Let's
Speaker 1: listen as Samantha shares her journey of discovery and how
Speaker 1: by learning more she feels like she's winning. Check it out, Hey,
Speaker 1: this is Annie and Samantha, I'm not going to Stephane
Speaker 1: never told your protection of I Heart Radio, and this
Speaker 1: episode is gonna be a little different. Just so you know,
Speaker 1: this episode is sponsored by three and Me and as
Speaker 1: always when it comes to companies and programs like these,
Speaker 1: make sure you're reading the fine rent, know your options
Speaker 1: and your rights, and keep informed. Yes, definitely, I think
Speaker 1: that's a good take on all the things, as I'm
Speaker 1: signing many of papers right now for many other things.
Speaker 1: But yes, I know your rights and things do change,
Speaker 1: so understand your rights, keep informed and updating it on
Speaker 1: all of it. Yes, that's the first morning. We also
Speaker 1: have a content morning, mentions of childhood trauma and overall
Speaker 1: discussions of health and wellness. It's uh, we're not gonna
Speaker 1: go too deep into them. But yes, I'm getting really
Speaker 1: personal y'all. So thank you Andie for giving me the space.
Speaker 1: Oh no, thanks for being open with us. All right,
Speaker 1: here we go. Yeah, so it is a fairly special
Speaker 1: and uh, fairly personal episode. Again, this is what we do, right.
Speaker 1: I feel comfortable, you feel comfortable and sharing these things
Speaker 1: with our people's Yes, perhaps too comfortable. Something. We just
Speaker 1: let it all out and you'll are still so patient
Speaker 1: with us, so thank you. But we are taking a
Speaker 1: moment to look into our own health traits and DNA
Speaker 1: specifically mine. But again, before we talk about some of
Speaker 1: the information, let's talk about how we got ready for
Speaker 1: this episode. And I say we because Annie was absolutely
Speaker 1: pivotal to me going should I do this? Do you
Speaker 1: think I'm mentally healthy enough to do this? And will
Speaker 1: you support me? Yes? Yes, I hope you know listeners,
Speaker 1: Smith and I are legit friends, um, and we do
Speaker 1: look out for each other, and we do take that
Speaker 1: seriously because we know that, you know, you can really
Speaker 1: do yourself some harm in this kind of medium when
Speaker 1: you're you're being so open and you're digging up these things. Um.
Speaker 1: And our very first thing that we started out doing
Speaker 1: was this mini series on trauma, right, and we hadn't
Speaker 1: like our check ins and making sure like both of
Speaker 1: us are okay and that we're not doing ourselves harm
Speaker 1: um by being open with this. So this it was
Speaker 1: very important to me, and because I knew you were
Speaker 1: interested in it, and I know you'll talk about why
Speaker 1: uh in a minute, but it was very important to
Speaker 1: me to be like, Okay, if you're gonna do this,
Speaker 1: what is our game plan, whatever we're gonna do to
Speaker 1: make sure that this is going to be a healthy,
Speaker 1: non traumatizing experience for you. And yeah, as in fact,
Speaker 1: when I would take the test and send it off,
Speaker 1: we would do a check in with each other. When
Speaker 1: I got the results, we did a check in, and
Speaker 1: then you checked in again with me about a day later,
Speaker 1: like how are you. I don't even know if it
Speaker 1: was day later, like a few hours later, and how
Speaker 1: are you? And I think that's really important for us
Speaker 1: to talk about because many of you already know when
Speaker 1: it comes to my identity, I have a lot of
Speaker 1: trauma surrounding it. As in fact, that was part of
Speaker 1: my therapy session I had when we did our Trauma
Speaker 1: mini series when I started on this podcast. And it's
Speaker 1: not unusual for adoptees, especially transracial adoptees, to seek out
Speaker 1: more information of their biological family um and there's a
Speaker 1: lot of abandonment and attachment issues that come along with it.
Speaker 1: And with the advancements of these types of results and companies,
Speaker 1: people are able to dig a little bit for information
Speaker 1: when it comes to their ancestry, their family and possible
Speaker 1: health traits. We've talked about personal experiences previously when we
Speaker 1: talked with author Nicole Chung about her memoir all we
Speaker 1: can ever know and even for myself, a part of
Speaker 1: that journey has to include protecting my mental and emotional health.
Speaker 1: And uh, we all know therapy is something we talk
Speaker 1: about a lot on here and also to go ahead
Speaker 1: and put this caveat therapy is a privilege, but it
Speaker 1: is important to stee get out if you can, UM.
Speaker 1: And also finding a good therapist and finding a therapist
Speaker 1: that you specializes in what you need very very important,
Speaker 1: very important, UM. And I will tell you I did
Speaker 1: choose a therapist. If you all remember when we did
Speaker 1: our Trauma Many series, that was one of the big
Speaker 1: things that we started out with as well, that both
Speaker 1: Annie and I would have therapeutic sessions so that we
Speaker 1: could discuss the really heavy topics that we were talking
Speaker 1: about at that point in time. And any I think
Speaker 1: you're still talking to that therapist, correct, M. Yes, we
Speaker 1: loved her, and uh, I stepped back a little bit
Speaker 1: because I got too busy, I didn't have enough money
Speaker 1: all those things. So I came back UM and researched
Speaker 1: a new therapist whom I found through the world of interwebs. Um,
Speaker 1: who is actually a transnational adoptee herself, so I'm very
Speaker 1: glad to hear this, and she specializes in childhood trauma,
Speaker 1: is a woman of color. I believe she's Korean as well,
Speaker 1: so all of these check marks that I found. We
Speaker 1: had a beginning session and we had a phone conversation UM,
Speaker 1: and everything is fit and aligned, and it was really
Speaker 1: nice and different to have a moment to be able
Speaker 1: to talk about my identity issues and her to fully
Speaker 1: understand and to kind of call it out because a
Speaker 1: lot of the times I've had many therapists who would
Speaker 1: be like, oh man, that's hard, how did you react
Speaker 1: to that? Try to figure out how to respond to me?
Speaker 1: And because she kind of understood, she knew how to
Speaker 1: So it was really interesting or refreshing. And it's a
Speaker 1: whole new turn for me because I've not had uh
Speaker 1: an Asian woman being my therapists. I've had a black woman,
Speaker 1: and then I've had a lot of white women who
Speaker 1: are my therapist, and so this is this is definitely
Speaker 1: a different experience and UM, I'm interested to see how
Speaker 1: far we can go. But yeah, we're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: a lot of unpacking and trauma work. But I did
Speaker 1: also let her know the very beginning, Hey, I'm doing
Speaker 1: a thing with DNA reports, and I know this could
Speaker 1: be triggering for me because there's a lot of what
Speaker 1: ifs in my head that I've been able to kind
Speaker 1: of ignore, but with these I it gives me a
Speaker 1: way to research deeper. So we talked about that and
Speaker 1: why we're doing this. Yeah, I'm very curious, and I
Speaker 1: was very curious. But also with that, I knew that
Speaker 1: I had trauma and triggers and I needed to recognize
Speaker 1: those as well. And I the reason we wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about this, And you're the one who came to
Speaker 1: and that thinkes sent me an article talking about how
Speaker 1: it can be traumatizing to discover new information. Yes, so
Speaker 1: that can come from this types of reports, and I
Speaker 1: was very grateful, like, oh dang, yeah that's true. And
Speaker 1: so we wanted to talk about and highlight that it
Speaker 1: is important to put yourself in a good place m hm,
Speaker 1: so that it doesn't break you down right right and
Speaker 1: where you know, as we've been saying, we're very big
Speaker 1: proponents of that because I think for a lot of
Speaker 1: people they might not consider that aspects of of getting
Speaker 1: a DNA report. And it's not like more information is good,
Speaker 1: but just being prepared that there could be things that
Speaker 1: you find out or that possibly possibilities that you're made
Speaker 1: aware of that maybe you weren't prepared for and maybe
Speaker 1: it can be maybe it would be something that's sharing
Speaker 1: for you. So just like making sure, yes, you're in
Speaker 1: that good place, so you've got a plan in place,
Speaker 1: you got a friend to support you or have your back,
Speaker 1: because you know, we're all about supporting women, supporting women
Speaker 1: and being there for each other um and we also
Speaker 1: are just very aware of like potential triggers and traumas.
Speaker 1: On the show, I feel like we talked about it
Speaker 1: quite often, right, and it's important because we've experienced it,
Speaker 1: and sometimes having a name for what you're going through
Speaker 1: without realizing it is nice to be like, oh again,
Speaker 1: because I do recognize my triggers, I'm able to prepare
Speaker 1: so big events and discoveries can undo some things for me.
Speaker 1: And therefore being able to recognize like the physical tills,
Speaker 1: it's really important to prepare. And I say prepare in
Speaker 1: the big ways, but yeah, information like this can give
Speaker 1: you a chance to take control of a few things,
Speaker 1: whether you're made aware of things, um, how you proceed
Speaker 1: with things, just overall life things. I guess for me specifically, um,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk a little more about it in
Speaker 1: a second. But I made some headway and discovering a
Speaker 1: little history about my past, including getting in contact with
Speaker 1: possible family members, distant relatives possibly, so a lot of
Speaker 1: things and that could be traumatizing, especially for me. Yes, yes, yes,
Speaker 1: that's what we know. But yeah, so that's a way
Speaker 1: that I did want to prepare and would tell people
Speaker 1: who are doing these types of reports, uh, to to
Speaker 1: be aware uh of your triggers and and be having
Speaker 1: a plan in place, whether it's to go to a
Speaker 1: supportive friend, taking breaks, taking naps because I love naps.
Speaker 1: Stuff like that is really important, y'all. It's uh. I
Speaker 1: did get my report and going through it it kind
Speaker 1: of made me laugh, and go through it kind of
Speaker 1: made me laugh again. Like I said, I've been interested
Speaker 1: to learn about my background, about digging into what can
Speaker 1: be emotionally taxing, but you know, I wanted to find
Speaker 1: out a little more, get some healthy information, um, and
Speaker 1: get a kind of a start of some of the
Speaker 1: things that I had no clue, so I have no
Speaker 1: access to you all know. I am a Korean adoptee.
Speaker 1: Came into the U S when I was seven, lived
Speaker 1: in an orphanage for two to three years. I don't
Speaker 1: have a lot of information other than the information that
Speaker 1: was brought with me and given to my parents. I
Speaker 1: can't even remember the orphanage I was in. I'm sure
Speaker 1: my parents have that information. I was adopted through Whold International,
Speaker 1: and Whole International is the biggest adoption agency within Korea,
Speaker 1: as in fact, a majority of people probably were adopted
Speaker 1: through Holt International. And just for a little history on
Speaker 1: who Hold International Services were, it was created by Bertha
Speaker 1: and Harry Holt, who actually adopted eight what they call
Speaker 1: war orphans themselves. So during this time, there are a
Speaker 1: lot of children out in the streets, as historically said,
Speaker 1: because they were by racial usually white soldiers with Korean women,
Speaker 1: and that brought a lot of shame. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of factors to this um and so you saw a
Speaker 1: lot of orphaned young kids, young children, and they adopted
Speaker 1: eight and from that it kind of just grew into
Speaker 1: a large service that grew internationally. A huge amount of
Speaker 1: adoptees went to Norway, did Mark, Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland,
Speaker 1: and Germany, and eventually into the US. We know, a
Speaker 1: lot of Western Christianity and religion kind of popped into
Speaker 1: play as well. And it was during this time up
Speaker 1: until I would say the nineteen nineties, that international adoption
Speaker 1: like that, transracial adoption like that, was huge, and from
Speaker 1: what I gathered, was a pretty big money market for
Speaker 1: South Korea. Of course, there's a lot of backlash now
Speaker 1: there's a bigger conversation about that and and the trauma
Speaker 1: that it has caused. There's also this idea that a
Speaker 1: majority of the adoptees were young girls or girls or
Speaker 1: baby girls because the lineage and um the patriarch essentially
Speaker 1: kind of trumps matriarchal lines and apparently can't be as
Speaker 1: traced when it comes to legacies and inheritances and such,
Speaker 1: so hold all these things. Apparently there was this whole
Speaker 1: print in what was called the Pound Pup Legacy that
Speaker 1: was written in The Progressive, which was an article I
Speaker 1: think based in South Korea, talking about a lot of
Speaker 1: the effects and everything that happened, even talking about there
Speaker 1: was a city supply of healthy children being shipped to
Speaker 1: these different these different countries. There's also the same conversation
Speaker 1: and we've talked about it before when we talked about surrogacy,
Speaker 1: where women were told that they were just going to
Speaker 1: be cared for at these orphanages and then kind of
Speaker 1: tricked into sighting over rights. So there's a lot of conversation.
Speaker 1: I know we've heard that with Nicole Chung. She had
Speaker 1: a little conversation about how not everyone was informed on
Speaker 1: what happened, and that happened a lot in in these
Speaker 1: kind of agencies. They're trying to do a lot more
Speaker 1: transparency when it comes to adoptions, but still a lot
Speaker 1: of questions, uh, and a lot of things that had
Speaker 1: happened in the past where people can't reconnect. I will
Speaker 1: say I believe Wholt International had a service for adopted
Speaker 1: because who grow up and want to find out about
Speaker 1: their families and having them travel back to South Korea.
Speaker 1: I don't have a distinct memory when I was in
Speaker 1: the orphanage of an older woman, a young woman coming
Speaker 1: back with her adopted parents to visit the orphanage and
Speaker 1: kind of looking back on her history. So that was interesting.
Speaker 1: I have very little memories. I remember her showing up
Speaker 1: and everybody being very excited about that. Within that culture
Speaker 1: also was a really kind of sad uh which that
Speaker 1: I kind of believed is that whole like these girls,
Speaker 1: if they weren't adopted, they would go into prostitution. That
Speaker 1: was the immediate reaction. And so we were being saved
Speaker 1: from a world of prostitution, and not that that couldn't happen,
Speaker 1: but it was such a cautionary tale that was told
Speaker 1: to white Americans to save children that it became a
Speaker 1: whole persona And for me, I grew up hearing that, like,
Speaker 1: be grateful, be grateful because you could have lasted this way.
Speaker 1: And don't get me wrong, in that orphanage, I remember
Speaker 1: a lot of young girls who are aging out, kind
Speaker 1: of a lot like the foster system here in the US.
Speaker 1: They were just aging out and no one was helping them.
Speaker 1: The government wasn't helping them, the people were not connecting
Speaker 1: people with them. Of course, it could be also that
Speaker 1: you know, these young kids have been traumatized in the
Speaker 1: system and just want to be out, and so they
Speaker 1: try to rush out. So it was very interesting to
Speaker 1: look at that history. But with that type of history
Speaker 1: that also means things get lost in translation, so we
Speaker 1: would lose a lot of records. I was told that
Speaker 1: I did have chickenpox vaccine, that I actually did have
Speaker 1: measles at one point in time, um, and that that
Speaker 1: was about it, and like, and I was told that
Speaker 1: my parents were divorced, um and I was not allowed
Speaker 1: to live with my stepfather, so they gave me to
Speaker 1: my grandmother because my stepfather, my real biological father, was
Speaker 1: not able to care for me. And then after that
Speaker 1: she took me to the orphanage because she couldn't care
Speaker 1: for me either. So those are the things that I
Speaker 1: remember distinctly as being told my history. But outside of that,
Speaker 1: I don't have anything. I don't know. I have a
Speaker 1: picture of what I thought was my brother, but again
Speaker 1: I have in and out dreams that are not necessarily true.
Speaker 1: All these things um that came with me. So having
Speaker 1: this kind of breakdown was interesting. So let me talk
Speaker 1: about that, because now that I'm giving you the sad
Speaker 1: history of adoption in my life, and everybody want to
Speaker 1: thinking about that. So according to my twenty three and
Speaker 1: me ancestry composition report, I am one that Korean or
Speaker 1: at least very highly likely, and according to the rundown
Speaker 1: of the report. It really says Korean. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if you've been able to look at these reports
Speaker 1: or view these reports. It has kind of a color
Speaker 1: wheel and it tells you kind of the breakdown of
Speaker 1: ancestry or DNA right down. Of course, it changes apparently
Speaker 1: with more and more people get reports or take on
Speaker 1: the twenty three and me and actually sit in their
Speaker 1: kit um. So the overall breakdown was interesting and made
Speaker 1: me take a deeper look at my own history. So
Speaker 1: the way it breaks down, it shows me the different
Speaker 1: administrative regions. So it says, quote, South Korea has sixteen
Speaker 1: administrative regions, and we found the strongest evidence of your
Speaker 1: ancestry in the following nine regions. So the top five
Speaker 1: is one is Soul, second is three is Jella num Do,
Speaker 1: and then four's Bussan, and then and then five is Chon.
Speaker 1: So it's really interesting. I didn't like reading these, and
Speaker 1: now I want to go and research it more because
Speaker 1: those regions are not so of course I know Soul,
Speaker 1: I'll so no Busan. I was told Signam City and
Speaker 1: I think that's in the region of Soul, so I'm
Speaker 1: interested in seeing that to be able to see those
Speaker 1: regions um as well. And like I said, I did
Speaker 1: try to contact someone who's like fifth removed cousin because
Speaker 1: I found out they were adopted as well, and they
Speaker 1: live in the States. So there's a chunk of people
Speaker 1: that live in the States. And several of the people
Speaker 1: that I went through that had connections or it shows
Speaker 1: as possible relatives for me that has that list. Uh,
Speaker 1: several of them were adopted, so that says a lot
Speaker 1: to me. And I didn't understand the history behind that,
Speaker 1: and I want to learn more because I'm like, wow, uh,
Speaker 1: this seems to be so common. I wonder why. And
Speaker 1: so there's a whole breakdown. Of course, I also did
Speaker 1: my cyberstalking and went through like Facebook trying to find them.
Speaker 1: Instagram LinkedIn was a big one, um, But I just
Speaker 1: reached out to the one person because it turned out
Speaker 1: she and I had been adopted the same year and
Speaker 1: I really kind of wanted to see if we could connect.
Speaker 1: Haven't made it beyond that other than we shared each
Speaker 1: other like as in like we confirmed and I guess
Speaker 1: you can friend them. It's the best way I can
Speaker 1: think of it. As like in Facebook, you can friend
Speaker 1: them and so I don't know, we'll see, but it's
Speaker 1: there and there's an option there, and it was nice
Speaker 1: to know that I had an option with that. So listeners,
Speaker 1: if I go beyond, I'll let you know, yes. But
Speaker 1: uh so, moving on, we want to talk about the
Speaker 1: help and Trades reports. And I didn't know it exactly
Speaker 1: to expect since my background and my ancestry is a
Speaker 1: big mystery for me. But looking through the reports, I
Speaker 1: was my oldly surprised. Um. And just for reference, in
Speaker 1: the in the reports, the way it's phrased, when you
Speaker 1: see it, it's it is quote variants not detected, typical likelihood,
Speaker 1: slightly increased risk, and increased likelihood, So that's kind of
Speaker 1: how they report it. So in my report, type two
Speaker 1: diabetes was at an increased likelihood with it being at range,
Speaker 1: so it gives you kind of a range of compared
Speaker 1: to other how likely, and also states with it that
Speaker 1: overall it can depend on different factors, which is always
Speaker 1: important to remember because for me, I get my yearly
Speaker 1: physical exam with the blood words. Of course that helps
Speaker 1: our insured stuff. Um, and I know that I'm in
Speaker 1: a good place right now. We will definitely have to
Speaker 1: keep a close watch on it because things change and
Speaker 1: your age and that all factors in as well. Yes,
Speaker 1: And it's also worth noting that according to the c
Speaker 1: d C for women, quote, diabetes increases the risk of
Speaker 1: heart disease, the most common diabetes complication, by about four times,
Speaker 1: and women but only about two times. And men and
Speaker 1: women are also at a higher risk of other diabetes
Speaker 1: related complications such as blindness, kidney disease, and depression. Right.
Speaker 1: And I didn't actually know the statistics until after I
Speaker 1: started my research. I was like, Okay, let's see what
Speaker 1: this is about. I wanted to dig deeper and just
Speaker 1: being able to get and attain this information as good
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh wow, I didn't I didn't
Speaker 1: know that women were higher risk. I feel like there's
Speaker 1: other factors that I wanted to talk about in that,
Speaker 1: but you know, we'll get to that later. Um. And again,
Speaker 1: it also says in the City City Report that it's
Speaker 1: quote different among women African American, Hispanic, Latina, American, Indian,
Speaker 1: Alaska Native, and Asian Pacific Islander women are more likely
Speaker 1: to have diabetes than white women, which, of course, being
Speaker 1: an Asian woman, that's good for me to know. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: indeed yeah. UM. Also in that increased likelihood category was
Speaker 1: coronary artery disease, which Smithy has talked about before as
Speaker 1: it can present differently in women UM than men. But
Speaker 1: also starting to remember according to the CDC quote heart
Speaker 1: diseases sometimes thought of as a man's disease. Almost as
Speaker 1: many women as men die each year of heart disease
Speaker 1: in the United States. UM. And not knowing my history,
Speaker 1: that is something that I definitely want to keep in check.
Speaker 1: And I'm glad to know of this because right now, again,
Speaker 1: everything was great with my blood work this year, but
Speaker 1: things changed swiftly. Things change, and when it comes to
Speaker 1: health wise, so I want to know these things and
Speaker 1: so being able to be informed of that feels like
Speaker 1: I'm winning. I don't know. And for many the b
Speaker 1: r C A one or the breast cancer gene and
Speaker 1: b r C A two can be alarming as it
Speaker 1: stays on the twenty three Many reports UH specific genetic
Speaker 1: variants and the b r C A one and b
Speaker 1: r C A two genes are associated with increased risks
Speaker 1: of developing certain cancers, including breast cancer in women and
Speaker 1: men and ovarian cancer. And also they do have a
Speaker 1: great disclaimer about this, and I don't I do want
Speaker 1: to read it off. The twenty three and me b
Speaker 1: r C A one and b r C A two
Speaker 1: Genetic Health Risk Report is intended for use and adults
Speaker 1: to report three genetic variants in the b r C
Speaker 1: A one and b r C A two genes associated
Speaker 1: with a higher risk of developing breast of variant and
Speaker 1: prospect cancer. Report does not include variants and other genes
Speaker 1: linked to hereditary cancers. Not intended to diagnose any disease
Speaker 1: or tell you about your overall risk of developing a disease.
Speaker 1: Not intended to be used to determine any treatments, and
Speaker 1: results should be confirmed in clinical settings before taking any
Speaker 1: medical action. And it's not a substitute for visits to
Speaker 1: healthcare professionals for recommended screens or appropriate follow up, which
Speaker 1: I think is really really crucial to know. Again, this
Speaker 1: is not a tool for you to just bank your
Speaker 1: decisions on, but just the way for you to be like,
Speaker 1: let me go check this out and get more information.
Speaker 1: I think it's smart for any and all of these
Speaker 1: traits being reported, even though it's a likelihood that yes,
Speaker 1: I still will go and check it out with a doctor,
Speaker 1: just as that reminder for me myself. The report showed
Speaker 1: zero variants detected, but again a good reminder from the report. However,
Speaker 1: more than a thousand variants in the b r C
Speaker 1: A one and b r C A two genes are
Speaker 1: known to increase cancer risk, so you can still have
Speaker 1: a variant not included in this test. In addition, most
Speaker 1: cases of breast and A variant cancers are not caused
Speaker 1: by inherited variants, so women without a variant are still
Speaker 1: at risk of developing these cancers. Is important to continue
Speaker 1: with any cancer screenings your healthcare provider recommends. And yes,
Speaker 1: I will absolutely be going to my screenings. What it
Speaker 1: is time to squish the boobies. That's how I see it.
Speaker 1: As they say the technical term, I'm pretty sure yes,
Speaker 1: And as you said, I think, you know, being informed
Speaker 1: and getting that more information and being clear on what
Speaker 1: that information means is so key. My family does have
Speaker 1: a history of breast cancer, so the women in our
Speaker 1: family especially are always make sure you get tested, make
Speaker 1: sure you do this, and make sure you check for this,
Speaker 1: and kind of having that in the back of my
Speaker 1: mind that it is something that I needed to keep
Speaker 1: an eye on and I think that is incredibly important,
Speaker 1: as we all should. So these were some of the
Speaker 1: hell things that we did want to talk about and
Speaker 1: that came up when I did get my report. But
Speaker 1: there's some other interesting things I note from this report,
Speaker 1: the wellness report in the case that I am likely
Speaker 1: to flush as an alcohol flush reaction. So uh, this
Speaker 1: is not news to me, as I discovered this when
Speaker 1: I first started drinking, and I was like, WHOA, what
Speaker 1: is happening? And I had to research about what was happening,
Speaker 1: and I was like, this is this is really mean
Speaker 1: of my genetics to tell on me. So I was like, okay,
Speaker 1: they okay, this one's okay. And then the next one
Speaker 1: was a muscle composition. So it's common in elite power athletes.
Speaker 1: I really wish someone would let my muscles know that
Speaker 1: this is supposedly something that is a trait. And the
Speaker 1: report states quote studies have found that almost all elite
Speaker 1: power athletes, including sprinters, throwers, and jumpers, have a specific
Speaker 1: genetic variant in a gene related to muscle composition. You
Speaker 1: have the same genetic variant as these athletes. That is
Speaker 1: not obvious to me, and I'm very sad that I
Speaker 1: can't say that's obvious to me. I really wish it were,
Speaker 1: but I was like, I'm just gonna glowed about it anyway,
Speaker 1: even though it's not physically seeing here um And according
Speaker 1: to the Trades Report, I am quote more likely to
Speaker 1: be able to match a musical pitch, more likely than
Speaker 1: average to have had a bunyan, more likely than average
Speaker 1: to be afraid of heights. It is very true, likely
Speaker 1: bitten by mosquitoes more often than others. This explains a
Speaker 1: lot between you and I any and likely to wake
Speaker 1: up around seven a m. I have not put that
Speaker 1: to the test, but I kind of want to check
Speaker 1: and see if I feel better for some reason. But
Speaker 1: you know whatever, I thought, those are all very interesting.
Speaker 1: They're very specific, and I want to know more. And
Speaker 1: they all made me laugh a little bit and giggle
Speaker 1: a little bit. And also it makes me feel superior
Speaker 1: to have said I may have had a buncheon more
Speaker 1: before you. That makes you feel worse, you know, So
Speaker 1: there you go. This has given me a lot to
Speaker 1: think about. It has been really interesting to read and
Speaker 1: has led me to do some more research for the
Speaker 1: sake of my health and my ancestry and I'm glad
Speaker 1: to have had this information on hand. And yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I keep digging and as in fact, I got a
Speaker 1: new alert from twenty three and me and saying that, hey,
Speaker 1: here's another trait you might not know about. So it
Speaker 1: keeps updating, I believe, as it continues with other kids
Speaker 1: being sent in. So I'll keep you informed of anything new. Yes,
Speaker 1: please do and thank you for sharing this with us,
Speaker 1: letting me oh so much love, so much love on
Speaker 1: this show. Well, listeners, if you have any thoughts about
Speaker 1: what we talked about today, you can always email us.
Speaker 1: You know we'd love to hear from you. Our emails
Speaker 1: Stuff Media mom Stuff at ihart video dot com. You
Speaker 1: can find us on Twitter at mom Stuff podcast or
Speaker 1: on Instagram as stuff I Never Told You. Thanks as
Speaker 1: always to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina, and
Speaker 1: thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told You.
Speaker 1: Protection of I Heart Radio for more podcast on my
Speaker 1: Heart Radio because the heart Radio app, Apple Podcast or
Speaker 1: revery listen to your favorite shows and that's it on
Speaker 1: another dope show. Did this episode inspire you to take
Speaker 1: a closer look at your health history, your genetic makeup,
Speaker 1: Who new DNA could reveal so much about our past,
Speaker 1: while also holding the keys to certain health insights that
Speaker 1: may impact our future. I continue to be inspired by
Speaker 1: these stories, and I hope you do as well. Catch
Speaker 1: you next time. Listen to Spit, an original podcast from
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and twenty three in the on the
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast. H