For health, lifestyle is more important than heredity

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The study answered a question that people often scientists are asked: what is more important for human health – heredity or lifestyle. It turned out that from a certain age, the set of genes is not so decisive.

The entire science of geriatrics, dedicated to longevity, still cannot answer the question of why people live to be 100 years old or more. Some talk about a set of genes that allow people who smoke and drink alcohol to set longevity records, and those who lead a healthy lifestyle die at 60 from cancer.

Some say that it is a whole combination of factors, including the right habits Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley were able to answer this question. It turns out that after 55, the influence of genes becomes less decisive.

In recent years, scientists have well understood how genetic variability manifests itself. And now they have assessed the effects of genetics, age and lifestyle on the expression of about 20,000 genes.

This expression can be used to monitor a range of biological processes, including hormone levels, metabolism and the release of enzymes that heal the body.

According to the set of genes that we get from dad and mom, you can predict the expression, and this prediction turns out to be very accurate, but only up to 55 years. And then this set of genes becomes of secondary importance. Although it is after 55 that characteristic age-related diseases such as senile dementia, diabetes and cardiovascular pathologies appear.