If you are looking to complete a DNA kit at home, you likely will have heard of CRI Genetics.
For a relatively new company, CRI Genetics has boomed in the USA and is a very popular option for those people who are looking to find out more about their history through their DNA.
The tests produced by CRI Genetics have the added bonus of including health analysis too, which also allows you to make changes that could have a positive impact on your lifestyle and your future.
With that in mind, today we’re taking a look at the products that CRI Genetics offer and whether or not they are worth your money.
What is CRI Genetics?
Before we look at all the excellent products that CRI Genetics offer, let’s take a look at the company’s history.
CRI Genetics is quite a new company, and it was first founded in 2016 in the USA. While most companies have a CEO, CRI Genetics instead have a Chief Scientific Officer who is the brains behind the operation.
With over 35 years of experience in genetic and molecular biology, with a focus on DNA, the company’s CSO, Alexei Fedorov has made this company his entire life. Fedorov has created a patented form of DNA analysis that is completely unique to CRI Genetics, ensuring that if you choose this company, your DNA testing experience will be unlike any other.
As a company, CRI Genetics aims to educate you about biology and genetics by looking at your own DNA. They take your sample and aim to unlock information that is personal to you which has been hidden away within your DNA structure.
They then take this information and present it in an interesting and lay-man friendly manner, allowing you to find out lots about yourself without necessarily needing to know the science behind it.
It is philosophies like that of CRI Genetics that have made DNA testing such a popular thing in recent years. Something that was once reserved for scientists is now accessible to the general public, and as predicted it has been met with great interest.
In general, human beings know a lot about ourselves, but what is quite often a mystery is what is hidden in our DNA. This is an area where we all differ from one another, and research into our DNA can be used to find out so much more. The information that is hidden in our DNA can be used to improve our lives, and CRI Genetics recognizes this.
It is identifying this mysterious information that motivates CRI Genetics. The company believes that by using our DNA to find out more about our history and our own health, we can use this information to improve our quality of life. This information can allow us to make minor changes to our lifestyle that can help us lead happier and healthier lives.
As well as completing commercial DNA testing, CRI Genetics is also a company that is still active in the scientific research community. The company believes that genetic testing is a key player in medical research and that it is only through genetic testing that we will gain answers.
Due to this, the company actively partakes in genetic research and testing to help solve complex medical problems. But this doesn’t happen at the expense of your DNA testing results.
Although they are active in research, the company has a huge focus on their commercial DNA tests and even provide in-depth advanced genetic reports alongside your results.
As CRI Genetics is a new company in DNA research, there is the potential that their testing process could differ from those of companies that have come before them. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the sampling and analysis process that CRI Genetics completes.
How does it work?
We have established that CRI Genetics is a relatively new company, but does this impact the way that they complete their DNA testing? Let’s take a look.
The answer is no, just because CRI Genetics is a new company, the sampling part of their DNA analysis is no different from other companies. The first thing that you need to do if you decide that you are going to use a product by CRI Genetics is to purchase the kit that you want online.
While the sampling kits themselves are extremely similar, the extracted DNA is used to look at different things depending on the test that you buy so you must buy the test that you want. Once you have ordered your kit, it should arrive in 3-5 days of posting.
Once you have received your kit, you will find that it contains everything that you need to gather your DNA sample. It also comes with a set of detailed instructions so that you know exactly how to gather your sample to ensure that it is viable for testing.
The sampling process requires you to swab the inside of your mouth for a set amount of time depending on the kit that you have bought. Once you have completed the swab, simply bag it up, place it in the pre-paid envelope included and send it back to the laboratory.
It is once your sample reaches the lab that the fun starts. From your small swab of DNA, the CRI Genetics Scientists can analyze for 642,824 markers in your DNA. These markers are then compared against science and past research to pinpoint the different parts of your DNA sequence that make you unique.
Depending on the type of test that you buy, this allows the scientists to compare your unique strands of DNA against markers for different ethnicities, health conditions, and common allergens to see which you have the most in common with.
Once all of the research is complete, you will receive the results of your DNA test. This usually takes 6-8 weeks as the research completed by CRI Genetics is highly scientific providing you with results that have a 99.9% accuracy rating. When your test results are ready, you will receive an email to the address that you signed up with, notifying you that they are ready to view.
You can then login to your CRI Genetics account and gain full access to your results. As we have mentioned, your results will be presented in an in-depth report which is packed full of information about you that is all gathered from that small DNA sample that you sent off.
So now that we’ve established how the testing process at CRI Genetics works, let’s take a look at why you might choose to complete your DNA kit with this company.
Why choose CRI Genetics?
Purely based on the information that we have covered so far, it is clear to see why CRI Genetics is a popular choice if you want to complete an at-home DNA kit.
But as well as their active part in genetic research, and their unique algorithm for DNA testing, there are lots of other reasons why CRI Genetics might be the perfect choice for you. Although they also offer allergy and weight loss tests, the main products that CRI Genetics offers are ancestry and health tests.
First, let’s take a look at the benefits of the ancestry test that CRI Genetics offers. From your single DNA sample, the company is able to pull all sorts of information to tell you about your history. For this company, the ancestry test acts as the base test, and then you have the option to also add the health test if you wish.
The ancestry test presents its results in a dual report, as it looks at two different key factors that make up your ancestry. The first part of the test looks at your family’s most recent ancestry and gives you a breakdown of this.
Whereas the second part of the test traces back through the centuries to look at the ancient ancestry of your bloodline. The report comes with a detailed breakdown of your family’s ancestry and looks at a wide range of different ethnicities to try and provide you with the most accurate report possible.
When your report is ready you will be notified, and you can log in to your account to explore your family’s history. You will find a detailed breakdown of your family history, with maps and tables used to help you understand your results and what they mean. This is especially helpful if you are using the DNA kit to aid your family tree research as you can use the results to trace back centuries.
If you purchase the health test as an add on, this will be presented in a separate report to the ancestry one. This test aims to supply you with information that you can use to optimize your daily routine and lead a better and healthier life. This includes testing you for allergies, looking at health traits and also, vitamins that you may be deficient in.
These results can help you improve your quality of life, by avoiding things that you may be allergic to and taking supplements to help your vitamin balance. While it is not the most in-depth of health reports available from DNA testing, this kit supplies you with all the information that you need to make real changes to your lifestyle.
A final reason why CRI Genetics may be a good choice is because of their 8-week guarantee. The majority of DNA testing companies report that results will be ready in 6-8 weeks, but CRI Genetics ensures this. With every product that you purchase from them, the company offers a money-back guarantee should you not receive your results within 8 weeks of sending your sample to the lab.
This is very unique to CRI Genetics and a great option if you want your results within a certain amount of time. While the company has an 8-week guarantee, the majority of customers will be able to view their results within 4 weeks.
But the 8-week guarantee is excellent for peace of mind if you are wary of ordering a DNA kit due to the wait time.
Issues with CRI Genetics
Although CRI Genetics has products that are full of excellent features, every product will have its faults and those produced by CRI Genetics are no different.
One issue that people might encounter is the company website. It is a very busy website and can be difficult to navigate, especially if you have not got much experience with technology. As the website is so busy, it can be difficult to find the product that you want and even more difficult to buy it.
From the website alone it can be difficult to determine exactly what is included in each test, and how you will receive your results when they are ready. Considering the company is so advanced in terms of their DNA and genetic research, it can be off-putting that their website seems so out of date. However, even though their website is difficult to navigate, it doesn’t change how excellent the products that CRI Genetics produces are.
Another thing that could potentially discourage you from purchasing a test with CRI Genetics is the fact that you cannot buy health and ancestry tests separate from one another. You can purchase an ancestry test alone, but you cannot buy the health test without completing the ancestry test.
While it is a good thing that you are able to purchase the ancestry test alone, it might be disappointing to some people that they do not have the same option for the health test.
That being said, it is better for them to sell the health test as an add on rather than the health test as the core product, as people are likely to be more uncertain about getting a health test than they are about having their ancestry revealed.
Finally, another thing that might put people off purchasing a test from CRI Genetics is the price. They are a very costly brand, and even their basic ancestry test is significantly more expensive than some of its main competitors. The pricing is made even more of a concern when you look at the combined health and ancestry test.
As the company does not offer separate health and ancestry tests, and the health test is advertised as an add-on to the traditional ancestry test, you would expect the price to reflect this. However, this is not the case.
To purchase the ancestry and health test you are essentially paying the cost of the ancestry test twice. This would not be a problem if you were able to buy the health test separately.
But as you are unable to, it is likely that the high cost will put people who just want the health test off purchasing from CRI Genetics. That being said, although the costs of these tests are expensive, there are lots of other companies that are more expensive than CRI Genetics.
Alternative Options
If the issues that we have observed with CRI Genetics are enough to discourage you from purchasing from this company, there are some alternative options that you have.
However, before we talk about those, it is worth noting that CRI Genetics is an excellent company, and the issues that we have found with them are common among a lot of genetic testing companies.
Both ancestry tests and health tests are now common among the majority of DNA testing companies. They have been made popular by the likes of Buzzfeed and other independent vloggers completing these tests as videos for their channels, and now a lot of the general public have also completed these tests.
CRI Genetics is one of the lesser-known competitors in this field so you have a lot of options to choose from. If you would prefer to complete your DNA test with one of the larger companies, 23andMe offers a combined ancestry, health, and wellbeing test.
If you would prefer to complete either a health test or an ancestry test, several companies offer these tests separately. If you wish to gain insight into your family history, some of the most popular options are AncestryDNA and MyHeritage.
Both of these companies also offer the family tree function and subscription services to access their vast array of records which can be a huge help when researching your family.
Alternatively, if you want a company that offers tailored health tests, Orig3n could be an excellent option for you because they offer lots of different tests which look at different elements of your DNA for specific health conditions.
Summary
In short, CRI Genetics is a great option if you want your DNA to be analyzed using a unique algorithm.
They offer both ancestry, and ancestry and health tests giving you a range of options should you decide that they are the company for you. That being said, the combined health and ancestry tests are quite costly when compared to some of CRI Genetics’ competitors.
However, with CRI Genetics you are paying for the unique experience and research that their CSO, Alexei Federov has produced to look at your DNA in a way that no other company will.