Beware, lifestyle diseases can be hereditary, says medic

Did your close relation such as your mother, father or grandparents pass away as a result of lifestyle disease?

Then you have every reason to be worried.

This is after Dr Andrew Owuor, a chest specialist at the Kenyatta National Hospital said some of the genes are plastic and are carried along to the next generation.

The medic further dismissed the common believe that people die ‘peacefully in their sleep’.

He noted that if someone dies in their sleep, it is most likely something went wrong, either they developed a heart attack, a stroke or other lifestyle complications.

“If your mother was diabetic, your grandmother was diabetic, when you ask you will be told your great grandmother was diabetic, or your father and grandfather are hypertensive. What are doing about it? Are you waiting for it to happen?” paused the medic.

He said if there is a case of obesity in the family,  that gene of obesity will be passed on. So the subsequent generations will also be obese.

He attributed this to the lifestyle being experienced currently. He noted that educating women on issues to do with lifestyle will go along way as they are the ones in control of kitchens.

“The only way is encouraging wellness. Genes are plastic and if you inculcate a good habit you will make it better for your future generations,” Owuor said.

“Why do you eat a heavy meal then go to sleep? When you eat and you don’t move, you don’t walk, the body conserves energy in one way, glucose. Glucose in the body is stored as fat.”

The medic was speaking yesterday during the launch Go Plus App, a fitness app by UAP insurance.

Through an app downloaded on the phone, Kenyans will now be able to track and monitor their health and well being.

It is aimed to develop a healthy living where those who participate in various programme activities will be rewarded  with points and redeem at the end of the year.

“We have seen an increase in claims associated with lifestyle diseases and it is an emerging challenge in health not just here but globally. It is becoming the fastest line of claims that is coming,” Isaac Nzioka from UAP said.

Nzioka said the interest is to help customers to see those indicators that tell them they are at risk of developing lifestyle diseases and then give them the ability to start managing those because the diseases can be managed even avoided by keeping fit physically.

“Our objective is to start seeing the claims in payments in relation to lifestyle disease to go down.”

 We believe it will begin to make health insurance affordable because health insurance is one of the critical tools people need to have to protect themselves from getting into poverty trying to meet medical attention, he noted.