Learn How Your DNA Impacts Your Health

For a walkthrough of getting set up with SelfDecode, please see our Quick Start Guide. 

Something we tell people new to the site is: There are a lot of ways to use SelfDecode. You can go as surface-level or in-depth as you want. DNA Health Reports are a great place to start. 

You can see an overview of your genetic risks on your account dashboard. If you scroll down, you’ll see a diagram of a body. Anywhere that there is an exclamation point shows a genetic risk that’s been identified in one of your Health Reports. By viewing the reports that show a genetic risk has been identified, you can decide where to focus. 

One strategy many customers find helpful is to pick the reports that relate to current health issues they’re dealing with.

If you would like individual help with interpreting your results, you can purchase a consultation plan with one of our health coaches here.

Please read this before shipping your DNA sample back to us.*

Shipping from Australia? Click here.
Shipping from Canada? Click here.
Shipping from Israel? Click here.

For all other countries, please see below: 

We include all of the return shipping materials that you will need to return your DNA sample to our lab, including a prepaid return label. 

Here are the steps to follow to ship your kit to our lab: 

1. Once you have collected your sample, place your sample in the biohazard bag. 
2. Put the biohazard bag containing the sample into the SelfDecode box.
3. Put the entire box in the return envelope and seal the envelope. 
4. Schedule a pickup or drop your sample off with the correct courier. See your return label for the correct courier (USPS, UPS, or FedEx), or email support@selfdecode.com if you’re not sure.

Please make sure you are sending the sample back with the correct courier. Unless you are shipping your sample within the United States, your local post office is not the correct courier. It’s better to email us to confirm the courier if you aren’t sure to avoid having your sample lost in transit.

Links to Schedule Pick-Ups and Find Drop-Off Locations

For customers in the United States, schedule a USPS pickup here or drop the kit off at your local post office. 

If your return label is from UPS, schedule a pickup here or drop your package off at a UPS location.

If your return label is from FedEx, please visit their website to schedule a pick-up or find a drop-off location.

Additional Information

We recommend that you record your tracking number so you can track your sample’s journey to our lab. (You also should have received the tracking number in an email when your DNA kit shipped.)

If you want to use a different courier, you are welcome to purchase your own return label from them. Please email support@selfdecode.com for the correct shipping address. 

If the courier or customs requests any additional information or documentation from you, please email support@selfdecode.com and we will be happy to provide it to you.

Your results come in the form of Health Reports and Trait Reports. These reports are the interpretation of your raw DNA file.

Health Reports are health-related reports. They provide a risk score for different health conditions, and when applicable, offer diet, lifestyle, and supplement recommendations for improving your health.

Trait Reports look at how your DNA influences your traits. 

Here are instructions for accessing your Health Reports:

1. Please log in to your SelfDecode account. 
2. Select  DNA > Health Reports from the top of the screen. 
3. On this page, you can scroll down through the Health Reports (sorted from highest to lowest risk) or you can filter your options using one of the report category options:
   
   

   

4. Once you find the Health Report you want to view, click anywhere on the card to open the report.
   
   

   

   Your Health Reports should already be generated, but if they aren’t for some reason, you may need to click Generate Report and wait for it to generate. It usually only takes a few minutes, but it may take a few hours.
   
   

5. Your report will open in a new tab. Click More on how this works to learn more about SelfDecode, and how we determine your risk scores.
   
   

   

Here are instructions for accessing your Trait Reports:

1. Please log in to your SelfDecode account. 
2. Select DNA > Traits from the top of the screen. 
3. On this page, you can scroll down through the Trait Reports or you can filter your reports by selecting one of the category options provide
   
   

   

4. Once you find the Trait Report you want to view, click anywhere on the card to open the report.
   
   

   
   
   Your Trait Reports should already be generated, but if they aren’t for some reason, you may need to click Generate Report and wait for it to generate. It usually only takes a few minutes, but it may take a few hours.
   
   

5. Your report will open in a new tab. Click More on how this works to learn more about SelfDecode, and how we determine your trait likelihood.
   
   

   

The SNP tables show what genotype you have for different genetic variants (SNPs).

Here are definitions for each column on the SNP tables:

SNP: pronounced “snips”, these are Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms or genetic variants; please see this video to learn about SNPs
Genotype: The alleles or variants you carry in this particular SNP
Frequency: Allele frequency; the relative frequency of the allele for this SNP in a population (based on your ethnicity choice when you signed up)
Risk Allele: Please see this article here
Importance: The importance scores reflect how much research there is to back up a particular association. The higher the importance score number, the more research here is.

If you have any other questions, please see Genetics 101 and Science FAQs.

Did you know that you can search for any SNP or gene you are interested in, within your SelfDecode account?

1. Click the blue magnifying glass on the navigation panel
   
   

   

2. Type the name of your search topic into the text box that appears, and hit Enter on your keyboard.
3. You will then see all of the items that relate to your search in our entire database! 
4. Select the specific gene from the search results or suggestions that appear:

   
   

5. You will be directed to the SNP or gene page.
   Here you’ll find your personalized SNP table*, information about the gene, its functions, and related research.
   
   

You can see a guide for reading the SNP tables here.

What’s important to note is that it’s rare for a single SNP to have a major influence on your health. It’s better to look at all of your SNPs related to a topic together, which is what we do for you within your DNA reports.

*Please note that the availability of results for specific genes may depend on the genetic testing data you have uploaded to your SelfDecode account. If you have not uploaded your genetic data or if the specific gene is not covered in your genetic test, there may not be any results available for that gene.

If you want to share your Health Reports or save them, you can do so by generating a PDF, which you can then print, save, or email.

1. Visit the Health Reports page. You can navigate to this page by selecting DNA > Health Reports from the top of the screen.
2. Scroll down or search for the report you want to generate a report for and select the downward-facing arrow in the right-hand corner of the report:
   
   
3. Choose which sections to want to appear on the report. 

   You can select the ‘full’ or ‘simple’ view for your recommendations, depending on how detailed you want the report to be. Full View shows the complete details about the recommendation; Simple View shows just the header. You can also choose to only show lab results or risk assessments that are outside the optimal range:
   
   

   Note: Clicking ‘Save my preference’ will save your selections for next time. 

4. Customize which recommendations you want to appear on the page:
   
   

   

   Note: you may notice some different recommendations here vs. in the actual report. We include all of the recommendations here so that you can pick and choose which ones are a good fit for your client. 

   If you don’t want to see a particular recommendation anymore on any reports, you can deselect the recommendation and then select “Uncheck by default”. This recommendation will automatically be deselected when you generate future PDFs

5. Feel free to add any notes.

   

6. Select ‘Generate PDF’ and allow a few moments for us to generate your client’s report!
   
   
7. Click ‘Download’ to save the report directly to your computer, or ‘Copy Link’ to share it via your preferred method of communication:
   
   

   

SelfDecode Labs (formerly known as Lab Test Analyzer) is a service that allows you to upload lab test results from your doctor or our Lab Shop* and then we analyze them to tell you whether your markers are in the optimal range and offer recommendations to help you improve your markers. 

We created SelfDecode Labs because having your markers in the normal range doesn’t mean they are optimal. The optimal range is the range that research has shown to be correlated with the lowest risk of death and illness. 

SelfDecode Labs brings together all the available information about lab tests from medical literature. Not only do we explain what the labs are, but we also explain to you the reasons why they’re ordered and what your results mean to you. In addition, you will also have a list of both natural and medical options to improve your health based on your lab results, which you can discuss implementing with your doctor.

More often than not, if you’re struggling with some health issues that the doctors cannot pinpoint, you may have normal but suboptimal results. Understanding which of your test results are suboptimal can often give you insights into what’s malfunctioning in your body, even when you don’t have a diagnosis yet. For several of our customers, these insights led them to become successful health detectives for themselves.

*The Lab Shop is only available in the United States. It’s not available in AZ, NY, NJ, and RI. 

SelfDecode is designed to be as user-friendly and actionable as possible, but we do understand that some customers want one-on-one attention with a professional. We have genetic counsellors on staff if you are interested in consultations.

We do offer single session genetics results review consultations. The genetics results review is an hour long 1:1 meeting, where we give you an overview of how to interpret your reports. We typically go through one report thoroughly so you can see how to best use the rest of your reports. You can learn more and sign up for the single session here: https://get.selfdecode.com/genetic-results-review/

The genetics results review session is a great place to start, but it is more so geared toward helping you understand how to read your reports. It doesn’t get into specific health issues.

If you’re looking for a more in-depth consultation program, the 1:1 consultation membership may be of interest. This is a monthly subscription where you can meet with a Health Coach every month to discuss your results! You can learn more and sign up here: https://selfdecode.com/en/consultation-membership/

Please follow these instructions to cancel your subscription.

1. Please log in and visit https://selfdecode.com/app/account/.

Tip: You can also access this page while logged in by hovering over the icon pictured below in the top right of the screen and choosing My Account.

2. Then select  Plans from the sidebar on the left-hand side
   
   

   
   

3. Click Cancel Subscription on the window that appears.
4. Enter your login credentials.
5. Choose the reason that you are canceling and click Cancel Subscription.
   
   

   

This will set your subscription to non-renewal. If you would like to close your account immediately instead, please email support@selfdecode.com. Please note that auto-renewals on subscriptions are non-refundable.