Living long: all in the family


        LIVING LONG: ALL IN THE FAMILY

Though many hospitals are equipped with Orwellian, high-tech equipment that can read your genetic legacy from a single drop of blood, the easiest way to know what's in your genes is to look at your family tree, says Dr. John J. Mulvihill of the University of Pittsburgh. "You can definitely see your prominent risk factors in your family history," Dr. Mulvihill says. "And we're learning more all the time. Ten years ago, we didn't think there was any family linkage to prostate cancer. Then people started talking about it and uncovered a strong family connection. The problem is that most men don't know their family history."
Worse, even when they do know, most don't give it a second thought. Of the 58 people interviewed for one study, nearly half of those having family members who suffered from heart disease or cancer did not believe that their family history had any bearing on their own risk. And men were much less likely than women to think that having a family member afflicted with cancer was relevant to their own risk for the disease. Despite their disbelief, studies show clear connections. In Japan, for instance, researchers comparing 363 people with colorectal cancer with an equal number of people who were cancer-free found that those having one first-degree relative (a parent, sibling, or child) with colorectal cancer had almost twice the risk of developing the disease as those with no family history of colon cancer. In a similar Canadian study, researchers found that 15 percent of 640 men with newly diagnosed cases of prostate cancer had at least one blood relative who also had the disease, while only 5 percent of 639 men who did not have prostate cancer had any family ties to the disease.
And almost nowhere is family history a stronger link than it is for heart disease. As mentioned earlier, just inheriting one tiny bit of faulty DNA from both Mom and Dad can double your risk for developing heart disease In the final analysis, we're all likely to be at genetic risk for something, concludes Reed E. Pyeritz, M.D., Ph.D., professor of human genetics, medicine, and pediatrics at Allegheny University of the Health Sciences in Pittsburgh. "I'm fairly convinced that, to some degree, all disease is genetic. So far, the major common diseases to which we've identified genetic links include Alzheimer's disease; arteriosclerosis and all that comes with it, like heart disease, hypertension, and stroke; diabetes; and, of course, most forms of cancer. There's surely more to come."
That's all the bad news. The better news is that studies show these genetic risk factors can be largely offset by making appropriate lifestyle changes or by seeking early medical help in some cases.

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GENERAL HEALTH
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