\'we can control what we put into our bodies\': how bad genes are a problem we can live with
by：Yufengling
2019-08-18
John Felix works out every day.
He runs outside or on a treadmill most of the time.
Sometimes he uses an elliptical machine.
He also lifts weights and follows a lowfat diet.
He never smokes.
At the age of 56, he, considering his family history, has lived longer than his father and grandfather, who both died of heart disease.
His three brothers and sisters also have healthy habits.
\"We can\'t control the DNA we get,\" said Fixx, head of the Madison Country School in Connecticut.
\"But we can control what we put into our bodies and whether we exercise, get enough sleep and manage stress.
The susceptibility to cardiovascular disease does not mean that we cannot extend our healthy lives for many years.
\"There\'s a reason if Fixx\'s name sounds familiar.
His father, Jim Felix, wrote a 1977 best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running, which fueled the run boom.
On 1984, John was 23 years old and had just graduated from college. His father died of a heart attack while running at the age of 52.
Jim Felix started running, losing weight and quitting smoking in middle age, but apparently it was too late to get rid of his family history: his father Calvin Felix, who had his first heart attack at age 36, his second heart attack seven years later killed him.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Research Institute, the risk of heart attack has increased in all men after the age of 45, but for those whose father was diagnosed with heart disease before the age of 55,NHLBI).
The autopsy showed a severe blockage of Jim Felix\'s artery.
But his family believed it.
Still believe-
The health habits he accepts have increased his life for many years, otherwise he will die faster.
Vermont\'s chief forensic officer agreed.
John Felix recalled that she told the Fixx family, \"his heart has become so strong due to years of exercise that it takes more time to be able to pump blood through reduced arteries than it would otherwise have happened.
So he and his sister and both brothers are committed to a healthier life.
Of course, it\'s all anecdotal.
But many cardiovascular experts believe that a family history of early heart disease is a warning, not an automatic death penalty, and vulnerable people can reduce their risk.
These measures include quitting smoking.
Or never started. eating a low-
Regular exercise and weight loss.
In addition, Advances in medication make it easier to control or treat diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes that cause heart disease.
Having bad genes \"doesn\'t necessarily mean you\'re destined to have heart disease,\" says Cashell Jaquish, a genetic epidemiology at NHLBI . \".
\"No smoking, no diet, no exercise and other factors will have a very big impact.
Family history does increase your risk a little, but not much [increase]not doing]
Other things.
\"Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, with more than 600,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 735,000 Americans have a heart attack every year.
525,000 of them had their first heart attack and 210,000 had already had a heart attack, the CDC said.
Family history is one of several risk factors, among which-
In addition to lifestyle behavior and diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure --
Including age, race and ethnicity.
It is also important that families are more important than genes.
They also often behave in the same environment, the same diet and smoking.
This may complicate efforts to comb the role of genetics, as many factors may be involved.
\"When conducting a large-scale study, the results show that there is a double risk if your mother or father has coronary heart disease,\" Eric B said . \"
Rimm, Director of Cardiovascular Epidemiology Program, Harvard UniversityH.
School of Public Health.
\"When your parents were young [he or she]
Suffering from the first incident, the higher the risk to the child.
However, since parents and children have similar living habits, it is not entirely genetic, so it is difficult to solve them completely.
\"Iftikhar Kullo, a cardiovascular genetics researcher at the Mayo Clinic, agrees.
\"If your family is not good for you, it doesn\'t mean you are determined to have a heart attack,\" he said . \".
\"You can reduce this risk. . . .
The first level is the way of life.
The next layer is medication.
The risk is the scale you can dial up or down.
\"According to experts, recent research has shown that at least 161 identified genetic variants are related to heart disease, and most of us have one or more.
\"These are variations with moderate effects,\" says Kullo . \".
\"Each variant raises your risk from 5 cents to 35 cents, depending on the variation.
The more you have, the higher your risk will be.
At present, genetic testing of heart disease risk is only part of the study.
But according to Kullo, Mayo is developing a test that could become wider to clinicians and their patients as early as this year.
\"One day people will have a good understanding of their genetic risks,\" he said . \".
\"At the same time, alternative genome testing is your family history.
Everyone should know their family history.
If your father had a heart attack before the age of 55, or if your mother had a heart attack before the age of 65, your risk will roughly double.
But you can reduce this risk by changing your lifestyle and talking to your doctor about the possibility of drugs to treat cholesterol or high blood pressure.
It can save your life.
Kullo says he believes understanding your personal genetic risk profile may encourage the willingness to change behavior or start medication.
He conducted a 2015 study comparing the use of genetic information with the current conventional method of assessing the risk of heart disease-Framingham risk score.
The study found that \"bad\" cholesterol levels were lower in high-cholesterol populations who knew personal genetic data (low-
Low-density cholesterol and low-density cholesterol ()
Six months later, compared to the control group, they concluded that genetic knowledge prompted them to start treatment.
Jaquish of NHLBI said she believes that the biggest benefit of personal genetic information will be medicinal genetics, an area that studies how genes affect people\'s response to drugs.
\"This will help us understand biology and provide us with new drug targets,\" she said . \".
\"We will use genetics to predict which drugs are effective and which ones are ineffective.
\"For example, patients with a variant of the cytochrome 22 19 19 gene associated with platelet coagulation disorder did not respond to the drug Plavix (clopidogrel)
In order to prevent the formation of the clot, the prescription is often prescribed.
If patients know they carry this variant, \"their doctors can consider different drug strategies,\" Jaquish said . \".
At the same time, experts say the best advice for everyone is
Not just people with family history.
Whether to stop smoking or not, eat healthy diet, exercise and-if necessary —
Take drugs that control high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.
So far, these lifestyle changes have paid off for Fixx.
\"I hope I can live longer because I make adjustments to diet, stress management, healthy sleep, good wife\'s love, work and career that I like to pursue, and keep the promise of lifelong exercise, \"said Fixx.
\"I like to exercise every day, even if some days are tired and really hurt.
\"Felix, he guided the cross of his school.
\"I like to wear sports clothes . \"
I cherish the time among other people who exercise, and I am happy when I run, jump, sweat and complain among young people.
He runs outside or on a treadmill most of the time.
Sometimes he uses an elliptical machine.
He also lifts weights and follows a lowfat diet.
He never smokes.
At the age of 56, he, considering his family history, has lived longer than his father and grandfather, who both died of heart disease.
His three brothers and sisters also have healthy habits.
\"We can\'t control the DNA we get,\" said Fixx, head of the Madison Country School in Connecticut.
\"But we can control what we put into our bodies and whether we exercise, get enough sleep and manage stress.
The susceptibility to cardiovascular disease does not mean that we cannot extend our healthy lives for many years.
\"There\'s a reason if Fixx\'s name sounds familiar.
His father, Jim Felix, wrote a 1977 best-selling book, The Complete Book of Running, which fueled the run boom.
On 1984, John was 23 years old and had just graduated from college. His father died of a heart attack while running at the age of 52.
Jim Felix started running, losing weight and quitting smoking in middle age, but apparently it was too late to get rid of his family history: his father Calvin Felix, who had his first heart attack at age 36, his second heart attack seven years later killed him.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Research Institute, the risk of heart attack has increased in all men after the age of 45, but for those whose father was diagnosed with heart disease before the age of 55,NHLBI).
The autopsy showed a severe blockage of Jim Felix\'s artery.
But his family believed it.
Still believe-
The health habits he accepts have increased his life for many years, otherwise he will die faster.
Vermont\'s chief forensic officer agreed.
John Felix recalled that she told the Fixx family, \"his heart has become so strong due to years of exercise that it takes more time to be able to pump blood through reduced arteries than it would otherwise have happened.
So he and his sister and both brothers are committed to a healthier life.
Of course, it\'s all anecdotal.
But many cardiovascular experts believe that a family history of early heart disease is a warning, not an automatic death penalty, and vulnerable people can reduce their risk.
These measures include quitting smoking.
Or never started. eating a low-
Regular exercise and weight loss.
In addition, Advances in medication make it easier to control or treat diseases such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes that cause heart disease.
Having bad genes \"doesn\'t necessarily mean you\'re destined to have heart disease,\" says Cashell Jaquish, a genetic epidemiology at NHLBI . \".
\"No smoking, no diet, no exercise and other factors will have a very big impact.
Family history does increase your risk a little, but not much [increase]not doing]
Other things.
\"Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, with more than 600,000 deaths each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
About 735,000 Americans have a heart attack every year.
525,000 of them had their first heart attack and 210,000 had already had a heart attack, the CDC said.
Family history is one of several risk factors, among which-
In addition to lifestyle behavior and diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure --
Including age, race and ethnicity.
It is also important that families are more important than genes.
They also often behave in the same environment, the same diet and smoking.
This may complicate efforts to comb the role of genetics, as many factors may be involved.
\"When conducting a large-scale study, the results show that there is a double risk if your mother or father has coronary heart disease,\" Eric B said . \"
Rimm, Director of Cardiovascular Epidemiology Program, Harvard UniversityH.
School of Public Health.
\"When your parents were young [he or she]
Suffering from the first incident, the higher the risk to the child.
However, since parents and children have similar living habits, it is not entirely genetic, so it is difficult to solve them completely.
\"Iftikhar Kullo, a cardiovascular genetics researcher at the Mayo Clinic, agrees.
\"If your family is not good for you, it doesn\'t mean you are determined to have a heart attack,\" he said . \".
\"You can reduce this risk. . . .
The first level is the way of life.
The next layer is medication.
The risk is the scale you can dial up or down.
\"According to experts, recent research has shown that at least 161 identified genetic variants are related to heart disease, and most of us have one or more.
\"These are variations with moderate effects,\" says Kullo . \".
\"Each variant raises your risk from 5 cents to 35 cents, depending on the variation.
The more you have, the higher your risk will be.
At present, genetic testing of heart disease risk is only part of the study.
But according to Kullo, Mayo is developing a test that could become wider to clinicians and their patients as early as this year.
\"One day people will have a good understanding of their genetic risks,\" he said . \".
\"At the same time, alternative genome testing is your family history.
Everyone should know their family history.
If your father had a heart attack before the age of 55, or if your mother had a heart attack before the age of 65, your risk will roughly double.
But you can reduce this risk by changing your lifestyle and talking to your doctor about the possibility of drugs to treat cholesterol or high blood pressure.
It can save your life.
Kullo says he believes understanding your personal genetic risk profile may encourage the willingness to change behavior or start medication.
He conducted a 2015 study comparing the use of genetic information with the current conventional method of assessing the risk of heart disease-Framingham risk score.
The study found that \"bad\" cholesterol levels were lower in high-cholesterol populations who knew personal genetic data (low-
Low-density cholesterol and low-density cholesterol ()
Six months later, compared to the control group, they concluded that genetic knowledge prompted them to start treatment.
Jaquish of NHLBI said she believes that the biggest benefit of personal genetic information will be medicinal genetics, an area that studies how genes affect people\'s response to drugs.
\"This will help us understand biology and provide us with new drug targets,\" she said . \".
\"We will use genetics to predict which drugs are effective and which ones are ineffective.
\"For example, patients with a variant of the cytochrome 22 19 19 gene associated with platelet coagulation disorder did not respond to the drug Plavix (clopidogrel)
In order to prevent the formation of the clot, the prescription is often prescribed.
If patients know they carry this variant, \"their doctors can consider different drug strategies,\" Jaquish said . \".
At the same time, experts say the best advice for everyone is
Not just people with family history.
Whether to stop smoking or not, eat healthy diet, exercise and-if necessary —
Take drugs that control high blood pressure, diabetes and high cholesterol.
So far, these lifestyle changes have paid off for Fixx.
\"I hope I can live longer because I make adjustments to diet, stress management, healthy sleep, good wife\'s love, work and career that I like to pursue, and keep the promise of lifelong exercise, \"said Fixx.
\"I like to exercise every day, even if some days are tired and really hurt.
\"Felix, he guided the cross of his school.
\"I like to wear sports clothes . \"
I cherish the time among other people who exercise, and I am happy when I run, jump, sweat and complain among young people.
