54% of Americans who get genetic background testing are surprised by the results.
In 2017, many consumers are eager to find out more about their genetic lineage, and numerous companies now provide metabolism-oriented (saliva) genetic testing for the masses.
The growth in popularity of home DNA testing kits has risen so much that it’s poised for growth to an estimated $10bn by 2022. With that growing popularity in mind, a new study from YouGov’s Omnibus research sought to find out about people’s experiences with DNA testing.
It turns out that over half of those who get their results back are surprised by the results. Among them, 1/5 of respondents were very surprised by the results, whereas only 1 in 10 received results that were not surprising at all.
While genetic testing provides insight into a wide variety of information about your DNA, YouGov asked respondents how they would feel if they found that they had a different racial background than they had previously thought. By a large majority, most respondents (58%) said that they would neither be pleased or displeased by this potential result. Another 12% said they would be very pleased to find out their racial background was different than they had thought.
