your health
F
Will You Inherit Your
Family’s Health?
When it comes to your health, knowing your family history is key. But that’s only part of the story. By Jill Provost
Fifteen years ago at the age of 38, Duane Klosterman realized what it meant to have a family history of heart disease. The realization didn’t come the day his dad died at age 65 from a heart attack. Or even the day his uncle suff ered the same fate at 49. No, the moment of realization for Klosterman came when he received the results from a work physical and was told that his cholesterol was 300. “I don’t think my father’s dying woke me up,” says Klosterman, an environmental engineer. “It was the high test scores that really made me evaluate my habits.”
Heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes are among the most common killers in the United States. So, chances are, you probably have a relative or two–or even three or four—with one of these conditions. But even if your family tree is riddled with high blood pressure or colon cancer, that does not mean you’re destined to inherit your parents’ fate. You have their genes, but that’s only part of the story. According to Muin Khoury, M.D., Ph.D.,
director of the National Offi ce of Public Health Genomics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 95 percent of the world’s diseases— like heart disease and most cancer cases—are not predetermined by your genes. “For people who have close relatives with one of these diseases, their risk is higher than the average population, but more often than not, it doesn’t refl ect genetics. It refl ects environmental factors and shared eating habits,” he explains. In general, one immediate family member with
heart disease, cancer or type 2 diabetes doubles your own risk. Having two or more relatives increases your chances by four or more. If that feels unbeatable, think of it like this: 5 percent of the population will get colon cancer in their lifetime. If your mom or dad had it, your risk
climbs to 10 percent. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can annihilate your risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes by a whopping 80 percent. The numbers are still highly in your favor. The genes we’re born with interact with our
environment, and some can even be turned on and off . While we can’t change our genes, we can infl uence how active they will be. In 2008, Dean Ornish, M.D., put 30 men with prostate cancer on a healthy living program that included a low-fat, mostly plant-based diet; three hours of exercise per week; an hour of meditation a day; and weekly psychosocial support groups. “In just three months, their genes and their risk for cancer progression changed,” says David Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center. “There’s danger in thinking that your genes are your destiny, because we have powerful evidence that is not the case.” For Klosterman, his extended family shared
a history of being athletes through their 20s and 30s, but not making daily exercise part of their 40s and beyond. And their shared eating habits were best described as being a traditional meat and potatoes diet. Today, Klosterman exercises four times a week; limits the amount of fat and red meat in his diet; eats whole grains, nuts
PHOTOGRAPH BY DWIGHT ESCHLIMAN
Your Power
There’s danger in thinking that your genes are your destiny, because we have powerful evidence that is not the case.
SUMMER 2010 | HEALTHY ADVICE 23
STYLIST: HIROSHI YOSHIDA
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