People with a genetic variant, 9p21, predisposing them to heart disease lowered their risk with a healthful diet. Katherine Harmon reports. Even with a healthy lifestyle, genes are the deciding factor in whether someone gets a chronic illness, such as heart disease. Right? Well, maybe not. A new study suggests that we might be able to exercise some control over our genetic destiny—just by lifting a fork. People with the genetic variant 9p21 have an increased risk for heart disease—one of the most common killers worldwide. Researchers collected genetic and dietary information from more than 8,000 people of various ethnicities, as well as data from 20,000 Finish subjects. People who had the genetic variant, but who ate a diet rich in fruits, raw vegetables and nuts, ended up on average with a heart attack risk close to people who don't have this genetic propensity. While those with the trait who did not follow such a prudent diet had as much as twice the chance of having a heart attack. [Ron Do et al., "The Effect of Chromosome 9p21 Variants on Cardiovascular Disease May Be Modified by Dietary Intake: Evidence from a Case/Control and a Prospective Study," in Public Library of Science Medicine, link to come] So a healthful diet might actually be changing the expression of the gene, in effect turning it off. Which suggests that there might be more diet-gene interactions than you can shake a carrot stick at. —Katherine Harmon

通過健康飲食，染色體9p21基因變異、易患心臟病的人降低了自身的風險。凱瑟琳·哈曼報道。

即便有著健康的生活方式，基因也是決定人們是否羸患類似心臟病等慢性疾病的因素。對不對？唔，也許不是這樣。一項新的研究顯示，我們或許可以對自己的基因宿命加以控制——僅舉起餐叉即可。
染色體9p21基因變異者有著激增的羸患心臟病的風險，心臟病是全球最常見殺手之一。研究者從來自各種族的8000多人身上收集了遺傳與飲食信息，還從20000例完成的課題中獲得了數(shù)據(jù)。有著這種基因變異、飲食結(jié)構(gòu)卻富含水果、新鮮蔬菜及堅果的人，其患心臟病的平均死亡率與不具備這種遺傳傾向性的人接近。而具備這種遺傳特征卻不遵循如此明智飲食方案的人則有著兩倍的羸患心臟病的機率。［羅昂·杜等在《公共科學圖書館·醫(yī)學》期刊上發(fā)表《染色體9p21變異體對心血管病的影響或可由飲食攝入量改變：取自病例對照研究及前瞻性調(diào)查的論據(jù)》，點擊鏈接訪問］

所以，健康的飲食或可改變基因表達，使之有效地轉(zhuǎn)向正軌。這意味著飲食與基因兩者之間的相互作用可能會多得枚不勝舉。

——凱瑟琳·哈曼