USNews
Say your grandfather recently had a stroke, your mother takes cholesterol-lowering medications and your cousin has high blood pressure. You might be wondering if you’re at risk of heart disease – and for good reason.
A family history of heart disease, meaning one or more of your blood relatives has or has had heart disease, is one of the primary risk factors in experiencing cardiovascular issues, according to the National Institutes of Health. And if one of your parents experienced cardiovascular disease at a young age (before 55 or 65), your risk of developing heart disease is 60 to 75 percent higher than it would be otherwise, according to a 2014 paper published in the journal Canadian Family Physician. According to the study, having a sibling with CVD raises that risk by 40 percent.
The reason largely comes down to genetics, explains Cleveland Clinic cardiologist Dr. Haitham Ahmed. “Genetics can impact the cardiovascular system in profound ways and influence many of our cardiac risk factors, ranging from lipid levels to our predisposition for obesity and Type 2 diabetes,” he says. In fact, a 2016 article published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that having unlucky genetics can double your risk of heart disease.
However, it’s important to realize that genes don’t act alone. The emerging field of epigenetics studies how your lifestyle, including diet, exercise, weight and even pollution and exposure to pesticides can influence if and how genes express themselves, says Dr. Regina Druz, a board-certified cardiologist in Mineola, New York. “These environmental interactions with genes are more powerful that simply having a ‘blueprint’ genetic makeup that predisposes you to heart disease,” she says.
“You have immense power to overcome your family history,” Ahmed says. Below, cardiologists explain a step-by-step plan.
Find out how you can lower your chance of heart disease – even if it’s in your genetics – at USNews.com