Genes and Health

One thing that we see a lot on the internet is the person who lost a ton of weight with some diet and saw their blood glucose levels revert to normal. Then they write about their diet and imply that it will work for everyone.

But it won't. We need to find the diet that works for us.

I remember long ago, when I thought I was fat because I weighed 110 pounds (I'm small, and in college I weighed between 100 and 105), so I went on the Weight Watchers diet, which at that time was low-carb. A Hungarian colleague who saw that I was dieting said to me, "I hate to tell you this, but you don't have to diet to lose weight." I asked what you had to do. "Just give up sour cream," she said. I told her I didn't eat sour cream. She was aghast, as she put sour cream on almost everything she ate.

But that's typical of the "It works for me, so it must work for you" attitude. But we can have different genes that affect how we react to different diets.

Here is an article about a population in a remote part of Greece who eat a very high animal fat diet but have low levels of triglycerides and LDL. Now, low-carb diets reduce triglyceride levels, but they don't usually reduce LDL and sometimes make it go up. And as this wasn't a diet study, they didn't describe the participants' diets, but most Greeks don't follow low-carb diets.

So people from this area of Greece could tell others that their diet (whatever it is) reduced LDL so it should work for everyone. But it's apparently their genes, not their diet, that is important. Anyone who wishes to read the full text of the article can see it here.

Another recent article, this one in the New York Times, describes a similar situation, but in an American woman: very low levels of LDL and triglycerides. Both the woman and some of her siblings were found to have a rare gene that caused a lack of plaque in their arteries. One sibling with the gene had been a heavy smoker and had high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes but still lacked plaque in his arteries.

Again, it was no particular lifestyle that resulted in low levels of some lipids. It was their genes.

So if some diet or some exercise program or some drug makes your blood glucose return to normal, of course that's wonderful. But before proselytizing on the internet, remember that our genes may affect how we respond to any regimen. By all means, let people know the wonderful results that you got. But don't expect the same regimen to work for everyone.