The Male Health Center - Genes & Heart Health

It's the Fit of Your Jeans, Not Your Genes

The numbers are in: For the first time since 1980, deaths from heart disease and stroke increased in 1993, and as usual, the majority of the dead were men. During the same year, the number of people 20 or more pounds over their ideal weight increased to nearly a third of the U.S. population.

To me, the association is pretty obvious, but a lot of guys just don't seem to get it. All too often, I hear one of the following excuses: "I know this guy who ran five miles every day and keeled over at 39," or "My granddad ate two eggs sunny-side up and a rasher of bacon every morning and lived to be 90." They want to believe that their genes, not their behavior, hold their fate.

To tell the truth, genes do seem to make a difference. But they don't offer anything close to either a death sentence or a free ride.

Cardiologists, the doctors who specialize in the heart, have long recognized that some people seem especially prone to clogged arteries. One theory holds that a molecule in the blood called lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a), is particularly damaging to arteries.

Some studies have suggested that people with high levels of Lp(a) are particularly at risk of heart disease, and we do know that Lp(a) levels don't respond to changes in diet or exercise. Recent studies, however, have failed to find any link between Lp(a) and heart attack.

So, whatever pitch your genes may toss, a healthy diet and regular moderate exercise remain two of the best ways to make the best of it. Besides, if your genes do put one strike against you, that's all the more reason to make the best of your other three pitches.

There is also some evidence that some guys get a special break when it comes to heart disease. A small study of students who ate four eggs a day suggests that a mutant gene called apo-A-IV-2 (present in about 15 percent of us) may protect from the effects of dietary cholesterol on arteries. Of course, even if you're one of the lucky 15 percent—and there's no practical way to know at present—high blood pressure or being overweight might get you.

Studying what health problems and advantages run in your family makes good sense. It helps you know what to concentrate on, so you can make the best of what you've been given. We may inherit our genes, but each of us gets to fill our own jeans.

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