From Old Age to Pollution, Science Keeps Changing How We Understand Illness

Just a generation ago, heart disease and other chronic diseases like dementia were felt to be an inevitable consequence of getting old. Since the 1960s, however, we have learned that only a small percentage of chronic diseases (for heart disease perhaps 25%) are explained due to genetic origins. The majority of chronic illness are determined by our lifestyle choices. Whether we smoke, sit a lot, eat fried and processed foods, sleep poorly, and pack on the pounds may all trump even favorable genes to accelerate chronic diseases. In fact, the risk of heart attack is 85% lower in persons that take simple and inexpensive measures on a daily basis to preserve their health. Since the Framingham Heart Study was launched in 1948, risk factors for most chronic diseases that rob us of the quantity and quality of our years have been determined and have set the stage for public health campaigns. Health care providers assess for elevated blood pressure, blood sugar, elevated cholesterol, smoking, and a history of first degree relatives with early disease. Yet only about 50% of patients suffering a heart attack and stroke are identified by these measurements. Additional advances in the last decade have extended the search for risk markers including advanced lipid panels, inflammatory markers like high sensitivity C-reactive protein, measures of metabolism like homocysteine levels, and genetics parameters such as MTHFR and apolipoprotein E status. Although it is certain that the hunt ...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news