Family holiday gatherings offer time to discuss health, heredity
With the holidays on the horizon, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find yourself in contact with at least a few members of your extended family soon. In between mouthfuls of turkey and stories about your Uncle Bob’s high school glory days, it’s the perfect time to discuss something even more important: Your family health history.
Depending on the culture, and the personalities within any given family, just how much information is shared about your hereditary health can vary greatly. If you find yourself in a quiet group, asking the right questions can get the ball rolling on a conversation filled with information that may prove extremely valuable to how you approach your health and your lifestyle.
“I think we’re seeing an upsurge in people looking into family history for all sorts of reasons,” said Travis Sheffield, applied genomics director for Intermountain Precision Genomics. “People want to know who they’re related to, why they have a particular tendency, or why they dislike a certain food.”
Participating in what Sheffield calls “boutique genetic testing” can be an interesting place to start and may even lead to helpful conversations with a healthcare provider. But it is also beneficial to speak with family who might be able to offer insight into heredity matters specific to your family. For example, certain individuals may wonder why they’ve never liked cilantro, but it could be due to a genetic variation that makes this particular herb taste like soap to some individuals.
“Something like a taste for cilantro is pretty benign, but when you discover you have that in common genetically with people in your family line, it can make you feel less ‘abnormal’,” Sheffield said. “Sharing our family history helps us make these discoveries about ourselves.”
As the operations director for the HerediGene: Population Study research project at Intermountain Healthcare, Sheffield has a real passion for the data that can be gleaned from a person’s DNA. He is equally passionate about the need to share that information for the benefit of your family members and society at large.
“In my opinion, health information should be shared with family members out of love, care and concern,” Sheffield said. “Having the right information increases the likelihood of receiving efficacious therapy, and the opportunity to reduce the suffering, and possible early demise, from certain hereditary health issues because someone was willing to have those hard conversations with a family member.”
If you have concerns about your risks or especially if you’ve spoken with your family and know there is a pattern of disease, you should speak to your healthcare provider about it sooner rather than later. Your provider can make recommendations and figure out if genetic testing is appropriate.
There is still much to be discovered about human DNA, which is why HerediGene’s primary goal is to study the genes and health of its participants. These discoveries may help doctors be even more proactive in treating health conditions in the future.
However, HerediGene is also helping the community in the present. One of the benefits of joining the HerediGene: Population Study is the opportunity to be notified if the researchers discover you are at genetic risk for certain health concerns.
“If we find something actionable in the results, one of our genetic counselors will contact you to discuss options for further screening or treatment,” Sheffield said.
Such actionable items could include a genetic predisposition for cancer, like genes BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 commonly tied to breast cancer, greater likelihood of heart disease, liver disease, diabetes, or other similar known genetic markers. These predispositions can also be discussed with family members to further encourage early screenings.
“We often have these social constructs around family gatherings that we should only talk about happy things, but if you can save someone from suffering or death by sharing this information, it’s worth being vulnerable in a difficult conversation,” Sheffield said.
To find out more about the HerediGene: Population Study, go online to www.heredigene.org and click the link to join the study.
This LiVe Well column represents collaboration between healthcare professionals from the medical staffs of our not-for-profit Intermountain Healthcare hospitals and The Spectrum & Daily News.
This article originally appeared on St. George Spectrum & Daily News: Family gatherings offer time to discuss health, heredity
