By Amy Weinstein
There are many ways to be proactive about your health,
including your genetic health. Healthy eating habits and regular exercise may
improve your general health and wellbeing. When it comes to genetic health,
carrier screening and learning your family health history can help you assess
your risk and provide information to help you make informed decisions. Keeping
track of your health is important for everyone, including members of the Jewish
community, who have increased risk for certain genetic disorders and hereditary
cancers.
One way to be proactive about your health is to eat
responsibly. Experts recommend eating a fiber filled breakfast, and adding
fresh fruits and vegetables to your meals. Regular exercise also provides
health benefits. Personal trainers state that it’s important to make exercising
a habit especially for beginners1. Try to set new goals for yourself and
create more challenging workouts.
If you’re planning for a family, carrier screening is
another important way to be proactive about your health. According to the CDC,
80% of babies with genetic diseases are born to parents with no known history
of that disease2. That’s because people can carry genetic mutations and not
know it. Carriers usually do not develop the disorder, but are at risk of
passing the disorder down to a child. If both parents carry the same genetic
mutation, with each pregnancy, their child will have a 50% chance of being a
carrier, a 25% chance of being affected, and 25% chance of neither being
affected nor being a carrier. Whether the results are positive or negative,
genetic screening and genetic counseling can provide couples with information they need to make
informed decisions. Carrier couples have many options for creating a healthy
family. Even patients who choose not to alter their family approach may benefit
from knowledge that can help them prepare if a future child needs early
intervention.
While carrier screening can help you be proactive about the
health of your future family, learning your family health history provides
insight into your own risk of disease. Collecting medical information about
your parents, grandparents and siblings is one way to identify patterns and
potential risk factors. You can share that information with your medical
provider, who will provide guidance on any next steps to reduce risk.
The Norton & Elaine Sarnoff Center for Jewish Genetics
offers resources to help you start that conversation. Our genetic counselor is
also available to answer questions, provide information and help direct you to
appropriate resources.
References:
1. http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/workout/tips/the-new-get-fit-rules-exercise-dos-and-donts/
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11795/
Image from https://www.flickr.com/photos/genomegov/
