escape your family history of heart disease

Page: 1 2 3 4 (of 6)	Previous | Next

The link between genes and heart disease

In the past three years, scientists mapping the chemical rungs of the human DNA ladder have found three genes that specifically affect heart disease.

The genes control:

• The body’s regulation of HDL, or “good" cholesterol

• How much an individual’s blood pressure is influenced by salt consumption

• The likelihood of having an early heart attack

As yet, the impact of each specific gene is not well understood. Furthermore, scientists believe that many factors—genetic, environmental, and behavioral—may work together to cause cardiovascular disease, making the contribution of any single gene to heart risk relatively small.

The risk is perhaps “half a percent of the variation that we see in people,” says John Blangero, Ph.D., lead investigator of the San Antonio Family Heart Study, a long-term study exploring the genetics of heart disease in Mexican-American families.