Experts identify genes linked to chronic diseases

So what?

"Researchers in South Korea have identified genes that are linked to key indicators such as blood pressure and bone density that have a bearing on chronic diseases such as hypertension and osteoporosis.

In an article published in Nature Genetics, the scientists said they studied the DNA of nearly 9,000 people in South Korea and were able to identify genes that controlled indicators such as blood pressure, bone density, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, height and pulse rate.

'We found some genes affecting systolic blood pressure, bone density etc,' Hyung-Lae Kim of the National Institute of Health in Seoul, South Korea, told Reuters by telephone.

These bodily measurements affect key chronic diseases including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and osteoporosis that are becoming massive problems in many countries.

And knowing which genes are involved can potentially open the way for better prevention, management and control of these conditions in the future."

Wanna bet?

"Four 'Perspective' articles in the April 16 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine hashed out the pros and cons of whether these expensive genomic studies continue to be worth pursuing.

Even the defenders of such studies do not dispute that, thus far, they have failed to realize early promises that genomics would revolutionize clinical medicine...

When focused on common chronic disorders such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, these studies have uncovered a vast array of genomic variations associated with disease.

But these variants confer relatively modest increases in risk and are found in only small portions of the population. Most of the incidence of chronic diseases still cannot be attributed to genetics."

We need to find the gene that shuts the mouths of meaningless researchers.

You wanna get rid of or prevent "hypertension and osteoporosis"?

Get fit.