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NaturalWay – Margit Slimáková

care about your health

Alter your genes by eating more fruits and veggies

A recently published nutrigenomics* study suggests that a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables appears to mitigate the genetic risk of a heart attack. The study looked at data from more than 27,000 people from various ethnic ancestries and is one of the largest gene-diet interaction studies done on cardiovascular disease.

Among all the study subjects, those who had the high-risk genotype and ate a diet low in raw vegetables and fruits had a higher risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease. On the other hand, eating a diet high in vegetables and fruits seemed to have a protective effect -- that group had a heart attack risk that was comparable to people with a low-risk genotype.

The study findings suggest that lifestyle does matter, no matter what your genes have dealt you.

*Nutrigenomics defines the way genes interact with nutrients

Do R, Xie C, Zhang X, Männistö S, Harald K, et al. (2011) The Effect of Chromosome 9p21 Variants on Cardiovascular Disease May Be Modified by Dietary Intake: Evidence from a Case/Control and a Prospective Study. PLoS Med 9(10): e1001106. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001106

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001106;jsessionid=0E34411428FCA326555F84B2F74D7B57.ambra01

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20111011/diet-may-cut-heart-risk-due-to-bad-genes

My comment

Genes are powerful but your lifestyle and most importantly nutrition is even more. This research is not only a good reminder to eat your greens but also negates the commonly held belief that you can't change your genes.