23andme - I have 2% Neanderthal DNA - I'm west African so what does this mean?

[memedear]

Hi all,

Can anyone help me, I have done a dna test on 23&me and they said I have less than 2% Neanderthal dna and I have 3 variants that were found in Neanderthals. However it has been said that sub Saharan Africans usually have a very low amount or none existence - due to migration patterns of the time. I'm 100% west african btw so what does that mean. Maybe waaaaaaaaay back there was admixture but the test said I'm 100% African. So kinda scratching my head at this one lol

I would not be concerned at any result of less than 2% on a home DNA testing kit until you had done the same test with the same company at least three times and got exactly the same results each time..... (quite apart from the general risks of test inaccuracy, unless the person processing your sample is 100% sub-Saharan too, it only takes one sneeze/eye-rub/shed eyelash/flake of dandruff to create a trace contaminant).

I had 4% right at the beginning of 23 an me and over time it has come down to 3% lol
everybody has some of it, apparently it’a a good thing! I blame my severe hay fever on it - hypersensitive immune system (joking) Loads of info if you google