Living DNA: review of DNA tests

Living DNA is a British laboratory founded in 2004 that offers reliable DNA testing for your ethnic research. Thanks to its kits, the company enables individuals to reconnect with their family history and lead healthier lives. We’ve taken a look at Living DNA’s various kits and their prices to offer you our expert opinion on genealogy.

Living DNA summary

Information
🌐 Website	➤ Visit
🗓️ Year established	2016
🧬Type of DNA tests offered	Autosomal DNA tests Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) Y-chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) tests for males
🌏 Geographic regions covered	150+
🧪 Type of sampling	Internal cheek sampling
📜 Reports provided	Detailed ancestry Well-being reports Tracking ancestral migration Reports on Neanderthals and Denisovans
🔬Reliability and precision	100 %
⏳Processing time	About 6–8 weeks
📞 Customer support	help@livingdna.com
💵 Cost	About $99-149
💪Highlights	In-depth ancestry analysis Detailed information by region

The different DNA kits

The laboratory offers several living DNA tests divided into three DNA kits to meet individuals’ needs as closely as possible.

The ancestry DNA kit

The DNA Ancestry Kit will show your various ethnic ancestries and origins, over several thousands of years, right up to the most recent. And all over the world, across many ethnic regions. The advantage of doing this DNA analysis at Living DNA is that it allows you to go even further in precision within 150 sub-regional distributions. What’s more, you can trace your origins not only in the USA, but also in England.

The platform lets you sign up for a family network, find individuals with a genetic match close to yours, and be able to enter in communication with them by message. You’ll have a total experience thanks to your ancestry DNA analysis and related services on their site.

The DNA wellness kit

TheWellbeing DNA Kit helps you understand how your body works. You’ll know exactly how it breaks down the various key vitamins and how it reacts with foods such as gluten or lactose. On the platform, you’ll find information on different types of exercise and recovery, as well as nutritional advice tailored to your genetic make-up. You’ll understand how food influences your DNA and acts on your body.

The DNA ancestry and well-being kit

This DNA kit is more expensive, as it includes all previous ancestry and wellness analyses. If you want to trace your ancestry and improve your quality of life through physical exercise and nutritional monitoring, we invite you to choose this DNA analysis pack. It will trace all your DNA back to your ancestors and origins, but also how your body reacts to foods such as gluten, lactose or vitamin D.

Neanderthal ancestry kit

Living DNA goes a step further in analyzing your ancestry and provides you with a complete report on Neanderthals and Denisovans. Indeed, you’ll find the archaic human DNA remnant closest to yours and find out if you possess archaic traits. You can compare your Neanderthal DNA with the vast database to find out if you have African, European and American ancestors.

Focus on Living DNA’s Ancestry Book

Living DNA offers you the possibility to create and print your personalized ancestry book. This large-format book is designed to help you understand your family history. It contains information on your recent ancestry breakdown, including your results on your maternal and paternal haplogroups.

You’ll also find a sub-regional view of your ancestry in great detail. You can then give it to friends or family as a gift.

Here are just some of the features of Living DNA’s Ancestry Book:

• A detailed breakdown of your recent ancestry, including your maternal and paternal results (if you’re genetically male)
• A sub-regional breakdown of your ancestry
• A unique chromosome painting that gives you an overview of your ancestry over the last 500 years
• A personalized family tree
• Interactive maps that show you where your ancestors come from
• Stories about your ancestral origins

How to take a living DNA test?

If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably chosen your DNA kit from Living DNA, so you’re wondering how to perform a DNA test? It’s very simple, all you’ll have to do is perform it to find out about your ethnic origins and the reaction of foods on your body.
Nothing could be easier, this is painless and non-invasive. It’s as simple as swabbing your cheek with a large cotton swab to take a saliva sample to send back to the laboratory. What’s more, once you’ve received the Living DNA kit at home, you need to:

1. Place the cotton swab in your mouth and rub the inside of your cheek to collect a saliva sample
2. Then place it in the glass tube provided
3. Enter the numbers on the tube sticker to link it to your account
4. Send your DNA kit back to the laboratory, by post, in the letter provided

Then, six to eight weeks later, you’ll have the results of your analysis, which you can consult on the Living DNA website. To explore all your DNA results, log in to your account.

The results we obtained

The percentage of genes by world region

Thanks to Living DNA’s analysis of your DNA, you’ll obtain a map that provides a result disclosing the distribution of all genes by region of the world and with different percentages dissected by ethnic region. You’ll thus have a clear and precise visual of your origins and a result for each ethnic group that runs through your DNA.

The geographical history of our ancestors

With the new DNA ancestry kit technology, you can trace the entire cartographic history of your ancestors back ten generations. You can also follow the migration of your ancestors from Africa, Europe, England or Ireland.

The ability to track down family members

You’ll have the opportunity, thanks to DNA and haplogroup compatibility, to find close, distant or even unknown family members. Whether they’re your cousins, aunts or uncles, the laboratory’s expertise can go up to 13 degrees of kinship.

Living DNA prices

The service proposition is enticing and comprehensive, but it all comes at a price:

• 99 euros for the DNA ancestry kit.
• 129 euros for the well-being DNA kit.
• 179 euros for the complete Kit
• 126 euros for the Neanderthal ancestry kit
• 149 euros for Ancestry Book

With this price, you’ll have a platform available and a whole team at your disposal for personalized advice.
However, for international, you’ll have to reckon with standard shipping at 12.95 euros or express shipping at 24.95 euros.

Customer service

A help center will answer all your questions, whether before, during or after purchase. They’ll be on hand to help you every step of the way.
Also, on the site, you’ll be able to ask questions directly to an advisor who will take care of answering all your questions.

Safety

Your data will be perfectly safe with Living DNA. According to the user conditions, your data will not be sold, but stored on servers and protected databases. Any third parties involved in research who wish to look at your data will not have access to your identity, so you will remain totally anonymous. The laboratory makes it a point of honor to ensure that the highest level of security is established.

Living DNA: Advantages and disadvantages

Verdict on Living DNA

Living DNA is a serious laboratory, with good techniques on DNA analysis. The laboratory enables you to trace your ethnic origins, find your family members, track the evolution and migration of your ancestors across several continents. You can also get to know your body and its metabolism with the Living DNA kit. Living DNA offers comprehensive expertise to help you live healthier and adopt the right gestures in your daily life.

Whether through nutrition or exercise, you’ll get a perfect idea of how genetics and food influence the body. The platform is ergonomic and innovative, offering follow-up and contact options, perfect for getting into discussions with members of your family.

Despite a higher price tag that is justified by more comprehensive DNA analysis, DNA remains affordable.

Living DNA or MyHeritage DNA ?

MyHeritage DNA lets you find out about your origins and perfect your family tree, offering a service for creating it. However, Living DNA, which doesn’t offer family tree management, has a more precise offering in ethnicity results and full DNA analysis on certain foods.

Living DNA or 23andMe ?

23andMe is an American laboratory that offers its service in English only, even for results. However, shipping is completely free, and the laboratory provides genealogical assistance. Its strong point is to explain how DNA makes us unique in facial features, tastes, colors and so on. However, Living DNA goes further with its wellness offer and advice on nutrition or sports, with personalized coaching made available.