How your family background might affect your health

Knowing granny had heart trouble or there is a history of breast cancer in the family can be important information. You can use it to prevent the past from repeating itself.
Your family medical history is vital information, as if a relative has suffered from a condition, there's often an above-average risk of you developing the same thing, due to the similarity in your genetic make-up. But knowledge is power, and if you know you're more at risk, you can take steps to prevent illness. So ask in many questions as possible. There may well be gaps, as previous generations didn’t discuss their medical details as openly in we do today, and some family members may be reluctant to talk about their health issues. But armed with the facts and with a few lifestyle changes, you could copy those relatives who lived to a ripe old age!

Ovarian Cancer

Ovarian cancer isn't common, but one in 20 sufferers have a family history. Blood tests and scans are used to screen women at higher risk; research into whether all women should be offered screening is ongoing.

Prevention

• The contraceptive pill, pregnancy and breastfeeding cut your number of ovarian cycles and reduce ovarian cancer risks. It's not clear why, but hysterectomy may also be protective
• Report any persistent pelvic/abdominal pain, bloating, difficulty eating/ feeling full easily, or changes in your menstrual cycle
• Talk to your GP if your family history is worrying you, especially if a close relative developed ovarian or breast cancer before the age of 50. If you have several relatives affected by ovarian, breast or bowel cancer, you maybe referred to a clinical geneticist
• Until possible links between HRT and ovarian cancer have been clarified, you may want to discontinue HRT once your menopausal symptoms have finished

Circulatory Diseases

Coronary heart disease (heart attacks and angina), stroke, heart failure, poor circulation, high blood pressure and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are the biggest cause of premature death and disability.
Heredity plays apart, but so does lifestyle. Smokers are five times more likely to have a heart attack before 40, while four in 10 adults have raised blood pressure, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke. Lowering blood pressure by just five points can cut the risk by 20 per cent, so avoiding the lifestyle mistakes of our forebears can increase life span. Stress more than doubles the risks, while seven out of 10 adults over the age of 45 have raised cholesterol levels, linked to almost half of all heart disease deaths.
Regular exercise halves the risk of coronary artery disease, yet seven out of 10 of us take less than the recommended amount AAA (ballooning of the body's main artery) can be hereditary and affects mainly older men and smokers; without surgery it may lead to fatal rupture. If you're over 60 and have a family history of AAA, ask your GP about ultrasound screening.

Prevention

• Screening/checks for individual disease
• Low-dose aspirin and drugs called ace inhibitors, such as ramipril, protect against stroke, heart and kidney damage for people at high risk. Only take aspirin on your GP’s advice.
• Statins help control cholesterol levels

Breast Cancer

Breast cancer affects one in 12 women, so although, sadly, many women will have an affected female relative, in nine out of 10 cases, this will be due to bad luck rather than inherited tendency. Women at high risk of carrying the breast cancer gene can now be referred to a breast cancer family history clinic.

Prevention

• Eat at least five portions of fresh fruit and vegetable a day to cut your risk
• Talk to your GP if your family history worries you, particularly if more than one relative is affected by breast or ovarian cancer or a close relative developed breast cancer before the age 50
• Be breast aware know what’s normal for you
• Go for mammograms from the age of 50 onwards
• Consider stopping HRT once menopausal symptoms have finished

Diabetes

A family history of diabetes increases your risk, as does being older, overweight or "apple-shaped" (your tummy is bigger than your hips). Diabetics suffer more heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure.

Prevention

• Early diagnosis can reduce the risk of complications, so watch out for symptoms such as thirst, fatigue, weight loss, excessive urination or blurred vision
• Keep your waist circumference below 80 cm/ 3l.5in (women), 90cm/35in (Asian men) and 94 cm/37in other men

Dementia

One in five of us has dementia by age 80. More than half of cases are due to Alzheimer's and another quarter to vascular dementia, due to poor brain circulation. No cause has yet been found for Alzheimer's, though it maybe due to a genetic defect. Lifestyle factors may also be to blame - which may also link to vascular dementia.

Prevention

• Consider genetic testing if three or more close relatives have early-onset Alzhrimer's
• Eat five to seven portions of fruit and veg a day
• Eat oily fish once a week
• Watch your weight
• Exercise for 30 minutes a day, five days a week
• Don’t smoke
• Drink in moderation
• Keep your brain active by socializing and reading etc
• Make sure your blood pressure is well controlled
• Wear hamlet if you cycle

Bowel Cancer

Seventy five per cent of people who develop bowl cancer have no family link. But your personal risk is more than doubled if your parent, child, brother or sister had bowel cancer, especially if they developed it young. Talk to your GP if you're concerned.

Prevention

• Limit meat intake, especially processed meats, such as sausages, burgers and bacon
• Keep your weight down
• Take regular, moderate exercise; it's thought it may halve the risk
• Eat plenty of fiber
• Eat folic acid, found in chickpeas, cereals and dark, leafy, greens
• Eat foods rich in selenium, such as Brazil nuts, and calcium, found in dairy
• Smoking is thought to double the risk
• Five to 10 years'HRT use may halve the risk
• Report any change in bowel habit, rectal bleeding or slime (jelly) in the stools to your GP
• Look out for information on the National Bowel Screening Programme, which offers screening every two years to all men and women aged 60 to 69