Here at Navigenics, some of the questions people ask us frequently relate to genetic testing and family health history. Doesn’t family history provide enough health information all on its own? How do genetic test results work with family history?

The short answer is that family history is important, but it can’t provide the whole story.

Many women who develop breast cancer, for example, have no family history of the disease. And someone who lost a grandfather and a father to heart attacks is not necessarily destined to have the same fate. Your genetic makeup is very individual in some important ways, making personal genetic information a valuable addition to family history.

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Cancer deaths among African-Americans have been steadily declining in recent years, but are still much higher than they should be.

For most types of cancer, blacks continue to have the highest death rate – and shortest survival – of any racial or ethnic group in the United States, the American Cancer Society reported recently in a sweeping review of African-Americans and cancer.

All too often, when cancer is diagnosed in an African-American patient, the disease is more advanced and harder to beat, the scientists found.

The issue has more to do with social and economic disparities – and a lack of early screening – than any biological differences associated with race, the scientists concluded. Inequalities in wealth, education and health insurance are partly to blame.

But cancer also is not being detected early enough.

As a result, more than 63,000 African-Americans will die from cancer this year.

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Many women equate ultrasound screening with pregnancy, having undergone the painless procedure on their growing abdomen to get a precious first look at baby. But don’t be surprised if your doctor soon orders an ultrasound for something entirely different – the health of your breasts.

The same tool that so precisely monitors and measures a growing fetus – without exposing mother or child to radiation – is also being employed in the detection of breast cancer. New research shows that ultrasound picks up small tumors that mammograms sometimes miss.

Although mammograms are still considered the gold standard for breast cancer screening, ultrasounds are increasingly being recommended as an adjunct in women at high risk for the disease, with good reason. In one recent study of ultrasound screening on 2,809 women, doctors found cancer in 12 breasts that mammography had failed to detect. 

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An apple a day isn’t enough anymore. Now you also need to think fish or flaxseed in your diet to help keep the doctor away. That is why Navigenics has new recommendations to encourage our members to be sure they get enough omega-3 fatty acids in their diet.

Omega-3 fatty acids aren’t snake oil, promising to cure all ills; rather, they are oils from fish or certain nuts and plants, and researchers have found strong evidence that they have many potential health benefits.

These polyunsaturated fatty acids are found primarily in fish and fish oils, but also in some plant-based oils, such as canola oil or flaxseed oil, and certain leafy green vegetables, including spinach, kale, broccoli and seaweed.  They are essential to human health, but cannot be made by the body. That is why it is so important for people to make sure they get sufficient amounts of them through diet or supplements—and to know how much they need.

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Common genetic variants and the role they play in breast cancer have been popular topics in scientific journals lately.  I recently mentioned a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine that found women with 14 of the genetic markers associated with breast cancer had 6.3 times the risk of breast cancer as women with none of the markers.  “A few susceptibility alleles may distinguish women who are at high risk for breast cancer from those who are at low risk,” the study determined.

Now comes more research that supports the notion that analyzing a woman’s genes can be a useful weapon to add to the arsenal physicians and patients have in the battle against breast cancer.

Scientists had already established that there are several environmental links to breast cancer, including a woman’s age at first period, her family history and current age. Recently, researchers have had the tools to start identifying the other pieces of the puzzle – genetic risk factors. 

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Medical experts have long been aware that vitamin D has its benefits.  Known to prevent rickets and osteoporosis, it is added to the bulk of the U.S. milk supply to help the public maintain healthy bones.

An abundance of new research suggests that the valuable vitamin is much more important than once thought – and that many of us are not getting enough of it.

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If you’re a woman in your 20s or 30s, you probably haven’t had a mammogram. The people who calculate the need for medical tests figure it’s not worth it to screen most women at such a relatively young age.

But if you already knew, from your genes, that you were at elevated risk for breast cancer, you might feel differently. Now, some researchers feel differently about it too.

Researchers at the University of Cambridge found that women with 14 of the genetic markers associated with increased risk of breast cancer had about six times the risk of breast cancer as women with none of the markers. They recently reported their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Their research could mean a big change in the timing of cancer screening for some women, as well as the ways doctors detect early signs of the disease.

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