Studies have shown for years that certain ethnic groups are more prone to certain diseases. For example, African Americans are more susceptible to sickle cell anemia and hypertension. Chinese Americans are more likely to have liver cancer and Vietnamese women are more apt to contract cervical cancer.

While you may be aware of the health risks associated with your ethnic group, you may not be aware of all the different ethnic groups that may have contributed to your genealogical makeup. It’s with good reason that most providers of DNA testing materials caution users to be prepared to receive potentially life altering information when they receive their results. No one can be one hundred percent sure, without a DNA ethnicity test, of what will show up in their genetic background information. If you’ve been suffering ongoing health problems, a DNA ethnicity test may reveal the answers.

While DNA testing can often give you surprising insights into who your ancestors are, it can also provide the opposite result of letting you know who your parents or ancestors are not. Looks can be deceiving and just because you look like a member of a certain ethnic group doesn’t necessarily mean you are. DNA ethnicity testing can be used to determine parentage as well as legal rights for inheritance purposes.

Another important reason to have a DNA ethnicity test is to establish your legal rights. As in the case of many Native Americans of mixed ethnic backgrounds, establishing the fact that they really are a member of the tribe may entitle them to some hefty financial benefits as well as additional legal rights that are afforded to Native American tribes because they act as their own government.

But many people have a DNA ethnicity test simply because they want to learn more about their ancestry. In this day and age it’s no longer a crime to be of mixed heritage, in fact, it’s really something to be proud of. When you think about it, all of our ancestors worked hard to get us to the point where we’re at today. Each different ethnic group has it’s own stories and it’s own traditions that only add more flavor to this melting pot we call America. Whether your ancestors were slaves or pilgrims or pirates or adventurers, they are the reason you are who you are today. Isn’t it worth finding out where you came from and who to thank for the great person you turned out to be? Wouldn’t you like to know who your ancestors really are?

Because federal laws and tribal laws focus on the tribes relating as a group, their cultural continuity and their tribal land-base, many people who have Native American biological ancestors are unfortunately ineligible for federally recognized tribal status because they either don’t live with the tribe, don’t function with the tribe or their heritage has become mixed. To these Native Americans, DNA testing often is their only recourse to be legally recognized as a tribal member. Without this recognition, they may lose access to land, financial aid and even gaming business licenses. Some people even suggest that DNA testing become a legal requirement for proving Native American ancestry.

Tribe members themselves are also considering this mandate. For the wealthy casino tribes there’s a lot at risk. They disburse monthly payments to their members that can sometimes total thousands of dollars so it’s no wonder that they would want to protect their enrollment by excluding those who cannot legitimately claim to be tribe members.

But just how effective and reliable are these Native American DNA testing facilities and products? Native American DNA tests may be able to determine is actually a Native American, but they can rarely identify markers for specific tribes. And in today’s mobile society most Native Americans, in fact most people in general, are of more than one ethnic orientation. These test may indicate genetic markers that are ‘common’ in Native Americans but the problem still remains that ‘common’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘only found in’ Native Americans.

One supplier of Native American DNA tests has chosen to fall back on a Native American Paternity test. But those results only go as far as examining the genealogical information from the parents or possibly grandparents and still don’t confirm that all members of the family are legitimately members of the tribe. Again, this leaves the recognized tribe members at financial risk.

As long as Native American DNA tests continue to provide answers that are not quite fool-proof it falls on the shoulders of the individual to research and carefully document his ancestry to back up the DNA test results and assure his membership in the tribe. And if falls to the tribal leaders to carefully consider each applicant until these test are made more reliable.

Do you have Native American ancestry? DNA may give you the answer.

You are able to take either a Maternal Line Test (mtDNA for males or females) which examines DNA from the maternal line and the tested individual in a haplogroup. Particular haplogroups are linked with Jewish populations. For instance, recent scientific evidence indicates that approximately 40% of current 8 million Ashkenazi have originated from four females. The approximated globe Jewish population is about 13 million. They might have inherited their genetic signatures from women ancestors who lived in the Near East. Each woman left a genetic signature that shows up in their descendants nowadays. Together, their four signatures appear in about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews, whilst being virtually absent in non-Jews and found only rarely in Jews of non-Ashkenazi origin, researchers have said.

Ashkenazi Jews are a group with mainly central and eastern European ancestry. In due course, though, they may be traced back to Jews who migrated from Israel to Italy within the first and second centuries.. At some point this group moved to Eastern Europe from the 12th and 13th centuries and expanded greatly, reaching about 10 million just before World War II. Most historical records reveal that the founding of the Ashkenazi Jewry took place within the Rhine Basin, followed by dramatic expansion into eastern Europe. It is estimated that they represented 3 million with the worlds Jews inside the third century and 80% of Jews worldwide currently. The four genetic haplogroups contain three subgroups of Haplogroup K (K1a1b1a, K1a9, K2a2a) and one subgroup of Haplogroup N (N1b).

The Paternal Line Jewish DNA Test (Y-chromosome for males only) examines DNA from the father’s line and places the tested individual in the haplogroup. Particular haplogroups are associated with Jewish populations. The Cohen Modal Haplotype, for instance, belongs to haplogroup J. The main ethnic element of Ashkenazim (German and Eastern European Jews), Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews), Mizrakhim (Middle Eastern Jews), Juhurim (Mountain Jews from the Caucasus), Italqim (Italian Jews), and most other modern Jewish populations from the globe is Israelite. The Israelite haplotypes fall into haplogroups J and E. Ashkenazim also descend, in the smaller way, from European peoples such as Slavs and Khazars. The non-Israelite haplogroups contain Q (normally Central Asian) and R1a1 (generally Eastern European).