Acne
Go ahead and fault your parents for your pimples.
Studies have shown that many school-age boys with acne have a family history of
the skin condition. As well, having parents who endured a bad case of zits
makes one more likely to suffer from severe acne too.
Alcoholism
Children of alcoholics are not destined to be
alcoholics too. But recent research reports about 50 percent of the risk for
alcoholism is genetically determined. The environment accounts for
the other risky half. The disease is considered genetically complex,
meaning that several genes come into play and they can affect individuals
differently.
Baldness
Although baldness is common in men,
scientists don't understand much about why so little is going on up there.
Genes do play a role, but your mom is not the only one at fault. Baldness is
likely due to abnormalities in several genes from one or both parents. People
with a rare type of permanent baldness called alopecia universalis, lose hair
all over their bodies and carry defective 'hairless' genes.
Breast Cancer
The cause of most breast cancers is still a
mystery, however researches have discovered that mutations in particular
genes, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2, cause some cancers. Women who inherit the
mutation tend to get cancer early in life and in both breasts. Men with BRCA1
have an increased risk of prostate cancer, while BRCA2 increases the likelihood
of cancers in the male breast, prostate, pancreas, and elsewhere.
Bullying
Next time you're in the principal's office with a pink
slip for roughhousing on the playground, point the finger at your family. A
gene that increases an individual's risk for violence has been discovered.
Researchers have also found aggressive behaviors in boys are more
likely to be inherited than non-aggressive antisocial behaviors like stealing
someone's lunchbox. But genes play a bigger role in female thieves.
Color Blindness
Ten million men in the U.S. cannot distinguish red from
green. Yet the disorder only affects less than 600,000 American women. Why? The
genes for red and green receptors sit near each other on the X-chromosome.
Men only have one X-chromosome, which they inherit from their mother.
Meanwhile, women have two, and a normal gene can often balance out a defective
one.
Having Twins
Although identical twins are random events,
fraternal twins pop up in families again and again. A mother doing double
diaper duty carries a gene that makes her release multiple eggs during
ovulation, called hyperovulation. Although a man who carries the gene will
probably not father twins, passing the family trait to his daughter could make
him a grandfather of twins. This is why twins sometimes appear to skip
generations, even though there's no evidence that twins are more likely to
occur every other generation.
Heart Disease
A family history of heart disease, diabetes, stroke or
high blood pressure isn't good for your heart. Children of parents with heart
and blood vessel diseases are more likely to develop them too. Plus, a person
with a congenital heart defect is slightly more likely to have a baby with a
heart defect.
Lactose Intolerance
The Chinese distaste for milk was thought to
be a cultural one, until scientists in the 1960s discovered lactose intolerance
in Asians, Africans, and southern Europeans. Within the past 10,000 years, a
genetic change allowed the ability to digest milk to evolve, but only
where dairy farming was the norm. If you can't tolerate milk, your
relatives probably left cow udders alone.
Obesity
Super size fries and a heavy set of genes is
a recipe for obesity. One scientific theory suggests the same genes that helped
our ancestors survive famines are now working against people living in places
where food is plentiful. Genes have been shown to be the cause of obesity
disorders such as Bardet-Biedl syndrome and Prader-Willi syndrome. Many of
today's bulging waistlines have only to do with eating too much of
the wrong foods, however.
As always, stay safe and be happy !
-Bird
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