Genetic Heart Disease Risk Reduced by Healthy Habits

Living a healthy life style by not smoking, by exercising moderately and by eating a healthy diet full in fruits, vegetables and grains can lower the worst genetic risk. Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, the director of the Center for Human Genetic Research, said “DNA is not destiny; it is not deterministic for this disease,” Individuals do have control over the problem, even if they have been dealt a bad genetic hand.

Coronary heart disease is the most common type and one of the biggest killers. About 365,000 people die of coronary heart disease yearly in the United States, and 17.3 million worldwide. Researchers found that genes can double the risk of heart disease, but a good lifestyle cuts it in half. They also found that a poor lifestyle removes about half of the benefits of good genetics. There were many studies done on adults that were both men and women forty-five years and older that had heart disease in their family past. Almost all of them lowered their chances by fifty percent if they made little changes in their lifestyle. Researchers developed a genetic score based on fifty genes associated with heart disease. A lifestyle score was developed based on if people smoked, exercised, followed a healthy diet and if they were obese. The best lifestyle score was stated to have at least three or all four of these elements.

Living the best lifestyle possible is very important for an individual’s health and can decrease the risk of heart disease. The new study shows a new way to think about genes and lifestyle. I am glad researchers developed a lifestyle score that is based on if people smoked, exercised, followed a healthy diet and if they were obese. This will help people live a better life style knowing they have to follow these elements. It is great knowing that individuals are able to control heart disease by living a healthy life style. It is the individual’s choice for a healthy and long life.