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["Lynn Wigglesworth" <lynnw1366 AT hotmail.com>]

I just finished reading In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan (I got it for 
my sister for Christmas and read it before I wrapped it). It reinforces my 
ideas more than ever that it's NOT genetics, but lifestyle and diet that 
causes "Western diseases". I was so happy to see that he cites people like 
Rodale and Weston Price. The studies show over and over that when a culture 
(any culture) is introduced to Western food and lifestyle, the incident of 
Western diseases goes up..

Lynn Wigglesworth

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "bob ford" <bobford79 AT yahoo.com>
To: <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2008 8:03 AM
Subject: [Homestead] Amish and heart disease


> There has been some recent conversation on the list regarding the Amish; I 
> thought this articvle might interest some
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> U.S. Amish gene trait may inspire heart protection
>
> Fri Dec 12,
>
> 4:46 am ET Reuters –
>
> An Amish horse and buggy are seen in a file photo. (Neal Lauron/Reuters)
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A rare genetic abnormality found in people in an 
> insular Amish community protects them from heart disease, a discovery that 
> could lead to new drugs to prevent heart ailments, U.S. researchers said 
> on Thursday.
>
> About 5 percent of Old Order Amish people in Pennsylvania's Lancaster 
> County have only one working copy rather than the normal two of a gene 
> that makes a protein that slows the breakdown of triglycerides, a type of 
> fat that circulates in the blood, the researchers wrote in the journal 
> Science.
>
> "People who have the mutation all have low triglycerides," said Toni 
> Pollin of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, who 
> led the study.
>
> "This gives us clues that ultimately could develop future treatments."
>
> Triglycerides naturally disappear more quickly in these people than in 
> people without this gene mutation.
>
> High triglyceride levels, often due to a high-fat diet, can contribute to 
> hardening and narrowing of the arteries, raising the risk of heart attack, 
> heart disease and stroke.
>
> New drugs might target this gene, called APOC3, to decrease the amount of 
> the protein it produces, Pollin said in an interview.
>
> Pollin and colleagues looked at the genes of about 800 Amish people, 
> finding that about one in 20 had the mutation, and they also had lower 
> triglycerides and less risk of cardiovascular disease.
>
> They also had high levels of HDL-cholesterol, the so-called good 
> cholesterol, and low levels of LDL-cholesterol, the so-called bad 
> cholesterol.
>
> Having only one working copy of APOC3 left people with half the normal 
> level of the protein the gene makes.
>
> "The Old Order Amish are ideal for genetic research because they are a 
> genetically homogenous people who trace their ancestry back 14 generations 
> to a small group that came to Pennsylvania from Europe in the mid-1700s," 
> Dr. Alan Shuldiner, one of the researchers, said in a statement.
>
> Since then, the devoutly Christian Amish have largely kept to themselves 
> in close-knit farming communities, typically marrying other Amish people. 
> Amish communities also are found in Ohio, Indiana and elsewhere.
>
> The researchers believe this genetic mutation was introduced into the 
> Lancaster Amish population by a person born in the mid-1700s, and the 
> trait seems to be very rare or completely absent in the general 
> population.
>
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081212/hl_nm/us_heart_gene
>
>
>
>
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