Life Span Determined by More Than Genes
Genes. Environment. The two are practically inseparable.
Knowing this, you won’t be too surprised to know that how long and well you live is influenced by a variety of factors ranging from “genetic predispositions, disease, nutrition, a woman’s health during pregnancy, subtle injuries and accidents and simply chance events, like a randomly occurring mutation in a gene of a cell that ultimately leads to cancer.”
If a bus runs me over tomorrow, my genes had nothing to do it.
Today’s most e-mailed New York Times article:
Technorati Tags: longevity, old age, life span, genetics, genes, dna, disease, illness, health
It’s certainly difficult to disentangle the role of genetics and environment, but increasing studies prove what a big influence nutrition really plays on aging.
Genetics may predispose one to live long, but the quality of life during those sunset years depends a lot on environmental factors, nutrition being one of the most important.
ruth: Don’t forget love and its influence on quality of life!