Originally published October 18 2005
Researchers explore ethnic differences to help explain heart disease risks
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Catherine L. Davis, clinical health psychologist at the Medical College of Georgia, suggests that heredity may be behind the higher levels of HDL cholesterol and the low levels of triglycerides in the blood of African-Americans.
Coronary artery disease rates in the United States are similar or lower in blacks yet blacks have higher mortality rates.
Dr. Davis and her colleagues at MCG's Georgia Prevention Institute examined heritability -- the percentage of a variable attributable to genes -- to better understand the influence of genetics and environment on heart health.
Heritability studies were enabled by data MCG is collecting on 500 pairs of twins -- blacks and whites, identical and fraternal -- to determine whether environmental stress is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.
Across both races they found that lipid levels, which include so-called good cholesterol, HDL, and bad cholesterol, LDL, as well as triglycerides, are 60 percent to 80 percent determined by genetics.
A separate study found heart rate variability -- the heart's ability to respond to changing demands -- was heritable and equally so, about 70 percent, among young blacks and whites, Dr. Snieder says.
"We would have expected environmental influences to be more important in blacks," adds Dr. Snieder.
"Even having these genes doesn't make blacks into long-lived healthy people necessarily," says Dr. Davis.
"But maybe that link could help scientists develop medicines that target the protein that gene encodes, to help people who have high triglycerides try to correct them or try to help them raise their HDL."
Researchers wanted to explore the relationship between these genes and lipid levels -- in general, lipid levels worsen when weight increases -- as well as any racial differences, Dr. Davis says.
A mutation in a second candidate gene, ApoB, seemed to predict total cholesterol but the total varied with body mass index: heavier people were more affected by the gene.
The effect of that variant wasn't seen in adults, making researchers suspect its activity might be tied to puberty.
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