Expert: Dana Krempels, Ph.D. - 6/20/2011

Question
This may be out of your expertise, but when I saw "genetics" listed, I thought I'd ask. And, this isn't a homework question. (I'm a 60 yr. old male and more than once was accused of asking a 'homework' question on other topics here, when it wasn't.) Anyway, I was just wondering... both my father and grandfather died of heart disease, one at age 71 and the other at 70. My mother is still living at 88 and her mother died at 93. I know genes are just a part of it, but excluding all the lifestyle and environmental factors and going strictly by genetics, does a male tend to take more after his father's side than his mother's? Or does being the same gender have no bearing on it? Just curious for obvious reasons.  Thanks

Answer
Dear Lee,

Males and females don't necessarily take after the parent of the same sex more than they would the parent of the opposite sex.  There are certain traits you inherited from your father that have no counterpart from your mother (those on your Y chromosome), but other than that, you got two copies of each gene:  one from mom and one from dad.

Whether you take after one parent or the other depends on which parent bequeathed you the dominant version of each gene, and this can vary tremendously.  This is why most people are a pretty equal "mix" of physical traits that resemble those of each parent to varying degrees.  And most traits--including genetic predispositions for conditions like heart or artery disesase--are controlled by more than just one gene.  So the *mix* of genes you get will help determine your risk.

So let's hope you inherited good genes for heart health from your mother's side of the family that might mitigate any unfortunate ones you might have inherited from the paternal side--assuming that genes were the reason for your father's and grandfather's relatively early passings.  And of course, healthy lifestyle will stack the deck in your favor.  :)

Hope that helps.

Dana