Articles
Diet can overcome genetic predisposition to heart disease, study |
The Globe and Mail, Thu Oct 13 2011
It may be true that we are pretty well stuck with the genes we were born with. But for people carrying a common genetic signature that predisposes them to cardiovascular disease, it appears there is a way to get around their DNA. A pair of studies involving about 27,000 subjects has shown that people with the genetic anomaly can reduce their chance of having a heart attack or stroke with a diet rich in fruits and vegetables, especially those eaten raw or lightly cooked. "Despite potentially having a family history of heart disease, or an implied genetic increased risk, you can actually turn off the bad genes by adopting healthy dietary patterns," said co-principal author Sonia Anand of the Population Health Research Institute at McMaster University in Hamilton.
"And I think this is important because sometimes people feel that their family history and their genes are not modifiable, so they just have to live with it," Dr. Anand said. "So this kind of gives them that message that you actually can change supposedly non-modifiable risk factors." Scientists have known for some time that a region of genetic variants called 9p21 is a strong predictor for cardiovascular disease and is commonly found in different ethnicities around the world. In their study, published in this week's issue of PLoS Medicine, the researchers analyzed the effects of various types of diets on subjects from five ethnicities European, South Asian, Chinese, Latin American and Arab both those who carry the 9p21 variants and those who don't.
Their results suggest that individuals with the genetic variation who consumed a "prudent diet," composed mainly of raw vegetables, fruits and berries, had a similar risk of heart attack to those with a low-risk genetic profile. "We know that 9p21 genetic variants increase the risk of heart disease for those that carry it," said Jamie Engert, a cardiovascular geneticist at McGill University in Montreal and joint principal investigator of the research. "But it was a surprise to find that a healthy diet could significantly weaken its effect."
Last changed: Jan 22 2012 at 9:57 PM
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