Maybe I’m just embarrassed?

May 12, 2008 – When I came into work this morning, I did my usual routine. Can of V8 and a bag of veggies go in the fridge, for later. Turn on the computer. Pour myself a cup of coffee. Check the e-mail.

This morning’s e-mail was more of the usual. One piece of junk mail, quarantined. One note from a scientist on availability. A couple of e-mails from friends about lunch and replies to questions. But there was one that stood out.

“Subject: Your Genetic Profile is Ready at 23andMe!”

And my first thought was, I hope these people are better at testing DNA than they are with capitalization.

My second thought, though, was, Oh man, OK, are you ready? Are you ready to find out something bad? It’s been a couple of months now – are you ready to read the book written on your genes?

Well, I wasn’t ready enough. Getting in there is simple, but understanding is something else entirely. The first thing I noticed was that four letters kept popping up – A, T, C and G. Why? Because those are the four components of DNA. I’m nothing but long strings of adenosine, thymine, cytosine and guanine.

After boning up a little on the basics, I got back in there and noticed something else. There are a few studies they say are top shelf, meaning the scientific community has done some widespread tests and replicated results and everybody pretty much agrees on the results.

Take alcohol flush reaction, for instance. They’re pretty confidant that the ALDH2 gene has something to do with whether you get flushed, dizzy and nauseous when you drink alcohol. Those with two adenosine proteins are very likely. Lucky for me and my slowly growing wine collection, I have two thymine proteins there, which means I don’t turn red or immediately get sick when I take a sip of the good stuff.

I’ll report back on more revelations of my genome soon, after I’ve taken a little more time to explore. In the meantime, leave any questions or wine scores in the comments.