Heredity and Health: Tracking Family History

Newsweek Magazine has an article that should be required reading by all genealogists. After all, we are the ones who keep the family records. Not all of us realize the power that we have. It is not too dramatic to state that genealogists have the power to save or prolong our own lives and possibly the lives of our loved ones, all by simple record keeping and analysis.

In the Newsweek article, Dr. Howard Lewine, chief editor for Internet publishing at Harvard Health Publications at Harvard Medical School, writes:

Each of us inherits a unique set of health risks from our ancestors. For some diseases, family history is defined by a single scrap of DNA. Anyone cursed with the gene for Huntington's disease will eventually suffer the symptoms, but hereditary risks are rarely so straightforward. Most medical conditions involve multiple genes, which get passed along in different combinations. As a general rule, having a first-degree relative with heart disease, asthma, osteoporosis or type 2 diabetes doubles your own risk. When two or more cases occur in the same immediate family, the odds increase by fourfold or more. The same pattern holds for cancers of the breast, colon and prostate. Yet none of these conditions is inevitable, even in people at high risk. With a detailed knowledge of your family medical history, you can often take the steps needed to protect yourself.

If you discover that a serious health problem runs in your family, don't despair. By eating well, exercising and monitoring your intake of essential nutrients and vitamins, you can offset and sometimes even neutralize your genetic susceptibilities.

This is a "must read" article at http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7529182/site/newsweek.

Comments

[Ann Turner]

Thomas Shawker has a good book on the topic, "Unlocking Your Genetic History," with lots of practical tips and examples that are interesting from a genealogical standpoint. For example, a certain mutation for familial hypercholesterolemia found in South Africa and Western Canada can be traced back to a village in the Netherlands.

He says our goal should be "to account for every descendant from at least our four grandparents, and ideally, from our eight great-grandparents."

[Joyce]

It is very true that you can find genetic maladies and the meaning of your illnesses through genetic research. This recently happened to me at a trip to the dermatologist. He noticed a rash on my face which I have had for many years, that is barely visible. My father had it and so did his twin brother. My uncle had it the worst of all, and also had 3 children who were all severely retarded. Naturally I did not make any connection until my dermatologist confirmed that the rash is a sign of Tuberous Sclerosis. This disease is the result of 2 malformed genes, which was not known until the mid-1970's. The symptoms include retardation, seizures, Crohn's Disease, calcium spots on the brain, leaf-shaped birth marks, as well as white confetti-like spots on the skin. I had seizures as a child and Crohn's Disease as an adult, as well as a leaf-shaped birth mark on my leg, and found out from my neurologist that my children and I also have calcium spots on the brain. Both my children have had seizures as well. My father told me when I was an adult that he had a younger sister who died at an early age of many different maladies and also had seizures. Through my geneology research I found out that she died at 5 years of age from peritonitis from Crohn's Disease. My father could never understand why I had developed Crohn's as a child, stating that "no one else in the family ever had such a thing". The discovery of Tuberous Sclerosis by my dermatologist ties all my various symptoms together, as well as some that my children were born with. He also alerted me to the fact that the malformed genes in this disease are passed on by only one carrier to their offspring. As a result, I have now written a medical history of our family for my two children to keep handy, since they can pass this disease along to their children.