Tag Archives: Genes

Lifestyle Maybe you know a smoker who never exercises and is living happily into old age. Or perhaps you read about a veggie-loving marathon runner who had a heart attack in middle age.These kinds of stories can’t help but make you think: If your health is simply written into your genes, what’s the point of all that exercise and healthy eating? Why not just do what you want?But, says Laura Zimmermann, MD, medical director of the Rush University Prevention Center, these stories stick with us because they are unusual. They are examples of what scientists call “outliers.”The reality is that, for most people, lifestyle habits like eating healthy foods and getting regular exercise have a big effect on age-linked health problems like heart disease, type 2 diabetescancer, and Alzheimer’s disease, Zimmermann says.So it’s only about...